OKR (Objectives and Key Results) is a goal-setting methodology and critical thinking framework that allows organizations to align goals and make sure everyone in the organization works collaboratively to achieve them.
Finance OKR refers to milestones set by finance departments in organizations. Finance OKR examples can help in accomplishing these milestones. Here we have discussed the benefits of implementing finance OKR in your organization.
Focus
An organization that implements OKR methodology wants every department to be focused on achieving its objectives. The finance department's goals can be:
- Strengthen and make the audit process transparent,
- Achieve budget variance of less than 5%, or
- Improve budget planning.
Whatever the objectives, the finance team needs to focus on achieving its objectives.
It is always good to have more than one objective but try to keep the number of objectives less than seven. You should be able to explain finance OKR examples in one line, like improving budget planning.
Once your finance OKR cycle starts, you need to ask yourself one question - what is the most important thing you want to achieve in the first three to 6 months.
The time-bound query in the OKR methodology helps in bringing important initiatives to the surface. It can make a huge difference as you will be more focused on the important ones, and you can tackle the less urgent ones later.
Alignment
The real work begins after objectives are set. As you move from the planning of finance OKRs to their executions, managers and all stakeholders align their day-to-day activities to achieve the company-wide vision. Alignment is the best word to describe the shift from OKRs planning to execution. The top performers in your organization are more likely to be employees who are highly aligned to OKRs.
In the alignment stage, the finance team takes ownership of delivering financial OKRs to help the company move forward. Ownership mentality cannot be assigned. It comes naturally to the teams who are trusted with the job, and they have a sense of responsibility towards achieving collective goals for company progress.
Commitment
It is necessary to achieve financial OKRs. Commitment refers to all employees, and stakeholders' agreement that all OKRs agreed upon will be achieved. It also mentions the resources and schedules would be shared and adjusted to ensure the OKRs are delivered.
The tracking of commitments is an important task, and you should do it transparently. Every team member should create and send clear signals for everyone in the finance team to work successfully towards achieving their OKRs.
They can use Google Sheets to share their progress or use OKR software tracking tools to share OKR progress with all stakeholders. They can create slides every month and share or take printouts of their OKRs progress and post them for everyone to see. This kind of sharing OKR progress is essential as it tells you and others what you are striving for and whether you can achieve your goals or not.
In the end, it doesn't matter how you share your OKR progress with others unless there is transparency and alignment in your efforts.
Tracking
The reason why the OKR methodology is popular in organizations is the ability to track their progress. It would help if you tracked every finance OKR you create, and the metrics for tracking should be established when the OKRs were created. There is no need to track OKRs daily, but weekly tracking is a necessity to prevent slippage.
You need to have reference points to rate/grade your finance OKRs at the individual level. You should know whether the OKR can achieve its objective and, if not, what the reasons behind it are.
Stretching
Stretching is a unique methodology in achieving your objectives. The model behind this approach is your objective should be stretched 10x. For example, if you want to reach the Moon, you should aim to reach Mars. This way, you can double your efforts that will ensure you will reach the desired OKR results.
OKR is an excellent methodology that allows organizations to push for something that was not reachable in regular efforts. Every OKR should have 4-5 key results that define what you want to achieve. The results are the measurable success of all finance OKRs.
Remember, critical results are not the exact objectives you aimed for. They refer to measurable outcomes that you had set to achieve. OKR methodology is vital in an organization because completing 50 tasks each day will not take your business forward. The main thing is what you have achieved through these tasks and how they have helped the business grow.
To sum up, these are some benefits of implementing financial OKRs in your organization.