The OKRs Field Book

CHAPTER 3Playbook for Phase 1 – Deployment Coaching

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to …

• Explain why OKRs coaching begins with deployment parameters.
• Help your client define 10 universal deployment parameters.
• Identify other parameters to capture client nuances.

IN 2015, I FLEW to Paris to facilitate an OKRs training workshop. My client requested that I spend a full day with their leadership team to introduce OKRs. So, I took the project and did exactly what I was hired to do. At the time, I was still figuring out my approach. I did not know about the three phases outlined in Chapter 2. I was not clear about how best to prepare for the workshop. My client suggested we have a couple calls prior to the workshop to align on the agenda. After these two brief calls, I packed my bags and headed to the airport.

The workshop in Paris did not go so well. Although we eventually drafted some decent OKRs, we spent most of the afternoon debating how to deploy OKRs. I was bombarded with questions like (1) “How will these OKRs work with our current system of KPIs?” (2) “I read that OKRs should be decoupled from performance reviews, but how is that possible given they represent our most important goals?” and (3) “If top‐level key results do not become team‐level objectives like John Doerr's football team example, how can we ensure alignment?”¹

I had plenty of time to reflect on that training workshop in Paris. I spent the 12‐hour flight home writing in my journal, uncovering ...