Comparing The Effectiveness of OKR Workshop Vs. DIY Goal Setting

Goal setting is the core of every successful business. However, how you go about setting goals can define the success or failure of the process. Workshop-style OKR (Objectives and Key Results) sessions and the DIY (do-it-yourself) approach are two very popular techniques. Although both are meant to assist teams to gain clarity and focus, but there is a difference regarding the degree of facilitation of the two.

The Role of Professional Facilitation

The most notable difference is the facilitation factor The OKR feedback workshops are usually facilitated by competent facilitators who can provide structure, well-proven practices, and objectivity. Hiring services from Wave Nine, staffed with highly skilled OKR advisors plays a crucial role. They empower you to implement the OKR framework and operational flow successfully. This makes your team stay focused, drive in a precise direction and enhances accountability. Such direction removes a lot of the guess work, making OKRs implementation much easier and comfortable.

Workshop OKR: Structured and Collaborative

A workshop environment will enable a free discussion, brainstorming and alignment with any project. The facilitator navigates through the session and keeps everyone on the big picture without losing sight of measurable key results. This orderly format helps in making sure that all the voices are heard yet it also eliminates the ways in which meetings go out of control. This approach makes workshops the best place to instill a powerful OKR culture in an organization that has implemented the system but has yet to develop an OKR culture.

DIY Goal Setting: Flexible but Risky

On the one hand, the DIY character of OKRs is more informal. You do not need the coordination or time of your staff to hold drafting objectives workshops and there are no scheduling issues. In some cases, DIY approach can take on fuzzy objectives or department misalignment or even goals of being overly ambitious or too safe. Without proper guidance how to proceed often causes unequal adoption and insufficient impact on the entire organization.

Finding the Proper Balance

There is no standard approach to doing OKRs.

It depends on your company size and what is your work atmosphere.

• In case your team is new to OKRs, workshops can help clarify and bring everyone up to speed more quickly.
• When teams are already aware of how the OKRs work, it does not cost much time and is more likely to provide the teams with more freedom.

Workshops are also a good idea to have the team aligned and after that allow them to write their own OKRs.

Why Facilitation is More Important

Ultimately, the way you lead the process determines whether OKRs really serve as a means to do better or become a yet another task which you have to do at work. A third-party consultant will offer a new dimension and expertise that your own personnel may not possess.

Going it alone means your team needs to be focused and have a strong work culture to make it work. Deciding between workshops and doing it yourself depends on whether your team does best with guidance or can confidently take charge.