Ben on OKRs

At the end of your OKR cycle, it's time to "reflect and reset." Many skip this step. Others do a retrospective that just looks back. You'll want to document your learnings and use them to inform your OKRs for the upcoming next cycle. When you apply learnings to make your next set of OKRs better, you are building your GOAL SETTING MUSCLE. This is Ben's favorite part of the coaching program since this is where he holds your KR Champions accountable.
Here is the sample KR that Ben walks you through in this episode along with the 3 columns you'll need to include in your OKR Tracker (1-Final Score, 2-Learning, and 3-Keep/Modify/Remove):   
Here is a Sample Email you can use to announce Step 3 of the OKRs Cycle --- Reflect and Reset:
When to Send: Two to three weeks prior to the end of an OKRs cycle
Email Subject: Preparing for our upcoming OKRs reflect and reset sessions
From: OKRs Project Lead
To: In this case, it was sent to 12 team leads setting OKRs. However, an email like this may also be sent to an entire group of attendees from the initial OKRs workshop or the entire list of key result champions who will reflect and reset on their key result during the session.
[Email Body:]
All,
As you recall, our OKRs coach helped us get through Step 1: set and align OKRs and Step 2: check-in and monitor. As we prepare for the end of our first OKRs cycle, it is time to for Step 3: reflect and reset. In this last step of the cycle, we document learnings and draft OKRs for the upcoming quarter.
Timeline for creating OKRs as we enter our next cycle in Q4:
By Oct 1: Reflect and reset with [COACH NAME]
By Oct 8: Review draft OKRs with CEO to confirm direction
By Oct 15: Refine OKRs with [COACH NAME]
By Oct 22: Publish to the OKRs tracker
Instructions: At the end of each cycle, we take an hour to reflect on the prior period’s OKRs and apply what we learned. The outcome of a reflect and reset session is that each key result: (1) gets final scoring, (2) has a documented learning, and (3) is classified into one of three buckets:
Keep: The key result’s final score is not where we want it to be. We need to KEEP focused on moving this metric forward.
Modify: The key result needs to be adjusted based on learning. For example, we may have set a key result: “$5 million in new customer revenue” and achieved $10 million with a single customer only to learn that we need a more diverse set of customers. In this case, we might MODIFY to “five customers with $1 million+ revenue each.”
Remove: The key result is no longer worth pursuing or is best monitored as a health metric.
All key result champions attend reflect and reset sessions. Other interested team members are encouraged to join as well.
Thanks,
[OKRS PROJECT LEAD NAME]
 
The 3 Tips for Success with Reflect & Reset are:
Purpose: (1) Agree on final scores for key results, (2) capture learnings from the OKRs cycle, and (3) apply these learnings to the next cycle.
Duration: Thirty to sixty minutes, depending on the number of key results. Limit the time per key result to ten minutes. If more time is required, agree who will meet after the group discussion to resolve.
Attendees: Key result champions must attend this session; ideally, the entire team attends. Consider conducting a reflect and reset coaching session with two teams to optimize learning.
To request your free 1:1 OKRs Consult, contact Ben@OKRs.com
Thanks for listening and best of luck closing out your OKR cycle! 
 

After you publish OKRs and complete step 1 of the OKR cycle, you're excited and ready to go! But then, reality hits and it's time for step 2 - check in and make progress on OKRs.
Here's where the rubber meets the road: The #1 reason OKR projects fail is called "set-it-and-forget-it" and it could happen to you. This episode is about EXECUTION and how you can avoid the set-it-and-forget-it pitfall so that you make progress on your most important goals at work.
Here's the 2x2 template we use at OKRs.com with our clients to standardize the check-in process:
Please post a comment about your OKR check-in process! Is it working well? If not, contact Ben@OKRs.com for your free 1:1 OKR Consult...
Bonus: Video overview of OKRs Cycle Step 2 - Check In
Thanks for listening!
 
 

This episode is long, but VITAL!
It kicks off your OKRs journey with the most critical step: setting and aligning effective OKRs.
Many teams try OKRs to gain focus, but fall into common traps like:
Defining too many objectives
Writing key results as task lists
Working in silos without clear alignment.
This leads to "busy teams but no progress" 
You’ll learn how to avoid these pitfalls by focusing on 1-3 objectives, distinguishing outcomes from activities, and clearly defining why each objective matters now.
Ben also walks you through the importance of mission and alignment to  ensure your OKRs connect vertically to strategy and horizontally across teams.
Using real client examples, you’ll see how strong objectives, measurable key results, and cross-functional collaboration come together to create clarity, focus, and impact. If your organization has struggled with OKRs before, you’re not alone, this episode shows you how to get them right from the start.
Sample OKR from today's episode for a marketing team:
Marketing Team Mission: Provide tools to enable our sales team to sell and beat the competition Alignment Check: We depend on sales, product, and customer success. Sales and finance depend on us. Objective: Increase the quality of leads, cost effectively Why Now? We are not measuring the return on investment (ROI) of major marketing spend at events, and our new CEO wants visibility now to create an ROI-based marketing plan next year. Cost per lead at $105 is not viable as we scale and is a key driver in the financial plan. The sales team reports that the quality of leads we deliver is poor. 
Key Results:
Obtain baseline ROI of marketing as measured by reporting revenue/cost for 5 conferences where we spent $50,000 or more
Reduce overall cost per lead from $105 in Q4 to $75 in Q1 
Double the quality of leads as measured by an increase in leads that convert to opportunity within six weeks of creation from 20% to 40% 
Team-Level Mission Exercise:
 
Characterists of Effective Key Results:
“Key” not “all” – Is the key result just “business as usual” or is it a “key” result
Specific –  Using specific language improves communication and avoids ambiguity
Measurable – Progress should not be subject to opinion
Results not tasks –  Key results are results/outcomes, not tasks
Clear – Use High School English with only standard acronyms
Aspirational –  You achieve more when you set the bar high
Scored – Use 0-1 scores to clearly communicate targets, manage expectations
Owned – All KRs have an owner who agrees to update progress and ensure the KR does not slip through the cracks
Further Reading: Team-Level OKRs in 7 Steps
For your free 1:1 OKR consult, contact Ben@OKRs.com
Video Training of OKRs Cycle Step 1
Video Training featuring 3 Steps of OKRs Cycle
Thanks for listening and see you next time!
 

Ben's favorite workshop - this is the one his clients ALWAYS LOVE!
The OKRs Expert Workshop is designed to help organizations build the internal capability to sustain and scale their OKRs program long after the external coach is gone.
First developed in 2014 with Zalando, this workshop pioneered a structured approach to developing internal OKRs coaches—leaders who can guide teams, strengthen alignment, and keep the OKRs process alive quarter after quarter.
Unlike introductory OKRs sessions that focus on writing OKRs, the Expert Workshop focuses on coaching skills. Through highly interactive breakout groups, participants rotate through three roles—coach, coachee, and observer—learning how to ask powerful questions, clarify outcomes, and support teams in drafting effective OKRs. The emphasis is simple: the only way to learn OKRs is to do OKRs.
Ideal for organizations running team-level OKRs, this 6–8 hour onsite workshop works best with 12–18 cross-functional participants and is built around hands-on application, shared learning, and real coaching practice.
This workshop is also for smaller groups of 6-12 trainees via remote delivery over two mini-workshops of ~2 hours each.
Key Takeaways• Build internal OKRs coaches• Practice structured coaching in small groups• Strengthen long-term OKRs sustainability and scale
Sample Agenda for an Onsite OKRs Expert Workshop (Idea for large group of 12-18, max 24 trainees)
9:00–9:30 am: Welcome and introductions
9:30–10:00 am: OKRs theory
10:00–10:45 am: Group exercise: Draft key results for a top-level OKR
10:45–11:00 am: Break
11:00–11:30 am: Creating team-level OKRs in 7 steps
11:30–12:30 pm: Breakout round 1: A coaches B, C observes
12:30–1:30 pm: Lunch
1:30–2:00 pm: Share backs
2:00–2:30 pm: Rapid breakout round 2: B coaches C, A observes
2:30–3:00 pm: Share backs
3:00–3:30 pm: Wrap-up: feedback, next steps, and key takeaways
Contact Ben@OKRs.com to learn more or for a free 1:1 OKR consult.
Thanks for listening!

OKRs are failing everywhere I look, not just according to Reddit! That's because "IDEAS are EASY, EXECUTION" as Doerr declares is spot on.
And once your OKRs are in place and everyone is excited, things fall apart for many of you. Your execution is weak, for 3 reasons:
PROBLEM 1: Zero OKRs review = “Set-it-and-forget-it” OR introducing ad-hoc “OKRs-specific” meetings & processes. SOLUTION: Integrate OKRs into existing team meetings & processes*
PROBLEM 2: Inconsistent scoring (historical, predictive, color-coding). SOLUTION: Apply standard scoring system during the cycle; use 4-column check-in update template (progress, predicted score, blockers/risks, action items)
PROBLEM 3: Not clear about who’s accountable for updating key results. SOLUTION: Each KR has a champion (can be 2 champions, max 3) who updates progress
But there's more to this. You'll learn how the KR Champion workshop stacks the deck in your favor that you'll make real progress on your KRs! In other words, you'll execute, you'll get what John Doerr calls "EVERYTHING"
And as a bonus, Ben gets into how coaching KR champions right before check-ins during your first cycle can create more accountabilty, focus, and progress so you move the needle on your OKRs.
This episode features new content that was not included in Ben's 2022 OKR book.
To learn more about how to deliver a KR champion workshop in your organization, contact Ben@OKRs.com to get your 1:1 consult.
 
 

This is the second episode in a series of "Real-OKR Implementation" stories that I hope you find super-useful.
When organizations adopt OKRs, the early excitement is usually high. Executives align around strategy. Teams draft, refine, and publish their OKRs. 
Then comes the hard part:
Scaling across departments
Structuring OKR check-ins that add value, at a set cadence
Maintaining quality after that initial set of solid OKRs 
Sustaining momentum beyond the initial rollout
One of the clearest examples of how to scale OKRs the right way comes from Zalando, Europe’s leading online fashion platform for women, men, and children, founded in 2008 in Berlin.
Their journey illustrates why scaling OKRs isn’t about better templates or better software. It’s about building internal capability.
And that insight ultimately shaped what we now offer at OKRs.com as the OKR Expert Workshop, our Train-the-Trainer (TTT) program.
The Scaling Challenge: From Pilot to Enterprise
Zalando began using OKRs within a single department with roughly 80 employees, Brand Solutions, before rolling them out more broadly across the company.
Like many fast-growing organizations, they wanted:
Greater alignment across teams
Increased transparency
Clearer articulation of strategy
A system that encouraged stretch and collaboration
They adopted a version of the Google model which was super-popular when they first got started with OKRs which features:
KRs are scored on a 0-1.0 scale
0.7 as the “sweet spot” or “target”
Public grading
No linkage to bonuses or compensation
That last decision was critical. By keeping OKRs separate from compensation, they protected stretch thinking and avoided sandbagging.
The pilot phase allowed teams to learn:
What a great objective looks like
How to write measurable key results
Why scoring KRs is critical
How transparency can enable alignment
But after the pilot, a major challenge emerged. While it is easy for most teams to draft objectives, coaching people to develop measurable and impactful KRs that represent achievement of their objective at scale is quite a challenge.
The Turning Point: Build Internal OKR Experts
As OKRs expanded beyond the initial department, Zalando recognized that central oversight wouldn’t scale. Reviewing every OKR from the top would create bottlenecks and slow execution. Instead, they invested in building in-house OKR expertise. They invited Ben Lamorte to develop a program to create internal OKR coaches so that they could embed OKR expertise throughout their organization. We co-developed a workshop to effectively train OKR coaches with Zalando.
Managers and selected team members (often agile coaches and HR business partners) were trained to:
Facilitate OKR drafting sessions
Identify KRs that look like a task on a to-do list
Guide alignment conversations across teams
Run structured quarterly check-ins
Support peers in refining KRs
This approach laid the foundation for what became known as the OKR Expert Workshop, and later evolved into a formal Train-the-Trainer (TTT) model.
The lesson learned from our work with Zalando is obvious: if you want OKRs to scale, you must build internal capacity to support and sustain the OKR program.
A small group of trained OKR facilitators can sustain quality across hundreds or thousands of employees. Without that layer, OKRs often degrade into:
Restatement of roadmaps into KRs that look like a “to-do list”
Compliance exercise that is at best a waste of time
“Set it and forget it” documents that fail to deliver value
What the OKR Train-the-Trainer (TTT) Model Teaches
The OKR Expert Workshop, which we now call our Train-the-Trainer program, goes far beyond theory.
Participants practice:
Shifting from an output to outcome-mindset to define KRs that reflect results not tasks
KR scoring criteria defined upfront for alignment and expectation management
Facilitating alignment sessions across functions
Running OKR development workshops to move from draft->refine->publish
Coaching leaders by asking clarifying questions that improve OKR quality
Challenging the action plans proposed by KR champions to focus on impact
The goal is distributed capability and when done well, OKRs become a shared operating language, not a compliance exercise.
Alignment Week: Designing Alignment Into the Process
One of the most powerful scaling mechanisms Zalando implemented was an “alignment week” at the beginning of each quarter.
Instead of hoping cross-functional conversations would happen organically, they designed time for them.
During alignment week:
Calendars were intentionally lighter
OKR owners met with dependent teams
Cross-functional buy-in was secured before finalization
This simple structural choice prevented downstream conflict and strengthened shared ownership.
Alignment isn’t accidental. It must be designed, or “embedded into every element of your OKRs program” (See the 6th OKR mantra)
Transparency as an Alignment Multiplier
Zalando reinforced transparency through:
Quarterly company-level OKR presentations
Department all-hands meetings
Public grading
Broad visibility into team OKRs
Ongoing training and education
Transparency created:
Clear direction
Shared accountability
Faster resolution of dependencies
Stronger cross-team convergence
When OKRs are visible, alignment improves naturally.
Critical Insight: Tools Alone Do Not Create Maturity
Interestingly, Zalando operated successfully for an extended period using simple Google Docs/Sheets prior to implementing a dedicated OKR platform.
This reinforces a fundamental principle about OKR implementations:
Tools can make a process more efficient and even amplify the effects of a system, but they cannot create that system.
The early priorities in an effective OKR program must be:
Quality of objectives and key results
Coaching capability
Alignment behavior
Check-in discipline
Leadership sponsorship
Software becomes powerful once those foundations are strong.
Results: From Framework to Operating System
As OKRs matured, Zalando experienced:
Greater cross-team alignment
Clearer company direction each quarter
Stronger strategic conversations
A self-sustaining OKR expert community
Reduced dependency on centralized oversight
Most importantly, OKRs became embedded in how the organization operated.
They were no longer a “program.”
They were part of the culture.
Lessons for Organizations Scaling OKRs
If you’re implementing or scaling OKRs, here are the key takeaways:
1. Pilot Before You Scale
Start in one department, learn quickly, and refine the approach before broad rollout.
2. Build Internal OKR Experts
Train a cohort of leaders to facilitate drafting, alignment, and check-ins.
3. Protect Alignment Time
Create structured windows (like alignment week) for cross-functional coordination.
4. Separate OKRs from Compensation
Preserve stretch, learning, and honest scoring.
5. Focus on Behavior Before Software
Strengthen capability and cadence before investing heavily in tooling.
Why the Train-the-Trainer Model Works
Many OKR rollouts fail because organizations underestimate the human component.
OKRs change:
How teams prioritize
How leaders communicate
How tradeoffs are resolved
That requires facilitation skill, not just documentation.
The OKR Expert Workshop, now offered as a formal Train-the-Trainer (TTT) program at OKRs.com, exists to build that internal capability. And some of our clients who already have an OKRs program in place but feel it is not scaling well benefit from our TTT program which can add exponential value even in just one month!
It ensures OKRs scale through people, your people.
Scaling OKRs successfully can happen in your organization so long as you build the internal capability to make the framework your own.
To explore TTT for your organization, contact Ben@OKRs.com
Thanks for listening! 

Armed with your deployment parameters, it's time to get going with OKR training!
A great OKRs workshop has two essential parts.
First comes theory, where leaders align on why OKRs matter, how they work, and how the organization will deploy them.
Then comes application, where teams actively draft and refine real OKRs through interactive exercises and discussion.
Ben explains how to structure both parts for maximum engagement, alignment, and real outcomes. And it all starts with the top-level workshop, the first in a series that details the four most valuable OKR workshops OKRs.com has delivered over the years!
To make the theory section more engaging, here is a sample 10-minute exercise that Ben mentions in this episode to get your group involved right from the start!
Instructions for Sample Workshop Exercise
Present a slide like the one shown above
Ask participants to share several metrics that they are currently tracking
Classify each metric as a health metric or a key result
Duration: five to ten minutes
Key points to reinforce:
Just because you measure it, does not mean it is a key result
Health metrics often take priority over key results if they move out of their ‘healthy range’
A given metric may shift from a key result to a health metric over time and vice versa
Ben introduces 3 of the 4 OKR Training Workshops in THIS VIDEO
Want to run your own OKRs workshopContact Ben@OKRs.com to get a sample agenda, a complete OKR workshop slide deck, and even a ready to use email you can send ahead of the workshop to prepare participants.
 
 
 
 

Ben once chanted mantras as he stretched his arms and legs. He repeated these mantras hundreds of times and internalized them as a student of yoga.
The OKRs Field Book introduced the first five mantras for OKRs coaches. You should internalize these mantras!
But Ben introduces the sixth mantra for OKRs coaches based on a recent interview in as a guest on another podcast.
The sixth mantra for OKRs coaches is to “build alignment into the fabric of your OKRs coaching engagement.”
If you are looking to take your OKRs coaching skills to the next level or contribute to a future edition of The OKRs Field Book, here are THREE things you can do now:
Get your copy of The OKRs Field Book
Join The OKRs Coach Network
Request a free 1:1 OKR Consult via Ben@OKRs.com
Thanks for listening, see you next time!
PS Here's my initial post announcing the 6th mantra