As we kick off the new year, many of us are setting our 2023 goals. I have talked to many MSPs who are good at setting KPIs but not so great at developing strong goals that motivate the entire company to improve those numbers. For example, how does increasing MTTR on tickets help the company move forward on its overall objectives? If I am a tier 1 tech, how do my contributions to improve that number make an impact on the goals we have at a top level? Am I REALLY making an impact?
Don’t get me wrong, I am still a strong advocate for KPIs. I simply believe that as you mature as a company, they are not enough to drive the kind of outcomes you want to see in your business. Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) were pioneered by Andy Grove at Intel and have been used to provide clarity on what matters most for some of the most successful companies such as Google.
In this article, I will be discussing some of the main benefits to adopting OKRs for an MSP and introducing Viva Goals, Microsoft’s new OKR software offering that is built into Teams.
OKR Structure
There are plenty of books and written material on OKRS, but the original publication is called Measure What Matters by John Doerr. OKRs are a goal-setting framework that helps organizations set clear, measurable goals and track progress towards achieving them. They consist of an objective, which is a broad, ambitious goal that the organization is trying to achieve, and a set of key results, which are specific, measurable outcomes that will help the organization reach its objective. OKRs are typically set at the company or department level and are meant to be challenging and aspirational, encouraging teams to stretch and think big.
OKR Benefits
1. Focus
Something that is commonplace for an MSP of any size is distractions. Microsoft has come out with 20 new features for Intune, a client just had a server go down, Jim at customer XYZ just clicked on another phishing link an email….you name it. Additionally, its is very easy to get caught up in the day to day with customers and lose sight of the most important thing: Growing the company. OKRs provide a level of focus to help an MSP easily the noise to help them understand what is most important to work on.
2. Empowerment
When instituted correctly, OKRs can empower all members of the organization to deliver a high output of work and enjoy the process of doing so. Everyone from the top level to a Tier 1 technician should clearly understand how their work impacts the goals of the MSP as a whole and feel that their contributions are helping to achieve that goal.
3. Alignment
With the continual rise of remote and hybrid work, alignment is more important than ever. Communication breakdowns are more common and its easier for people to feel like their work does not matter because the feedback loop is lower. OKRs provide additional alignment and clarity to what is driving business outcomes and individuals better understand how their work impacts other teams.
4. Tracking
Leveraging OKR software, individuals should be checking in weekly, if not daily, to update progress on their own objectives. This reinforces the focus of the work they need to get done and how they schedule their week. MSPs can constantly pay attention to this to understand if they are on track to meeting goals.
5. Innovation and Ownership
Studies have shown that when individuals set their own goals and take ownership over those goals are much more likely to achieve them. While leadership sets objectives at the top level, the purpose of OKRs is also to allow everyone in the organization to set their own goals as well which may not necessarily be DIRECTLY linked. This creates more ownership and can even spark new innovation since people are finding their own creative ways to solve problems vs being told what to do.
Viva Goals
Pricing
$6/User/Month
Setting it up
Set up is pretty easy here. After you procure the licensing, all you have to do is assign the license to users and then users will be able to add the Viva Goals App from within Teams. As an admin, you could pin the app to their sidebar as well.
Demo: