OKRs can be a powerful tool
in your individual career
development goals

The past five years have presented a myriad of challenges and as we wrap up 2022, the business community expects to face several headwinds that include geopolitical tension, as well as rising inflation and supply chain issues, to name a few.

Whether you are running a bank, a manufacturing business or a hotel, you will have to keep a keen eye on your realised strategy and how it is tracking against your set goals.

Absa CIB has invested in Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) as a tool to help them do this. As previously published, 'The superpowers of OKRs', OKRs provide the bridge between strategy and execution; and have been used by some of the biggest and most innovative businesses in the world in the pursuit of successfully executing a business strategy.

In supporting colleagues to realise their aspirations, CIB recognise that OKRs don’t need to simply be viewed as tools that can be applied to large corporates and organisations, rather, they can be used as a powerful tool to support personal professional development and key aspects of individual career development goals as well.

We recently offered colleagues wanting to focus on their professional development two OKR workshops facilitated by Oliver Deacon (who is part of the OKR Coaching team assisting CIB with their rollout of the OKR offering). “Development is 51% on the individual,” was a key point Deacon raised. He highlighted that this knowledge should be applied by an individual, not to be confused with the Human Resources (HR) function as it clearly differs from traditional Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

An interesting dynamic often seen in organisations is that the individual is looking for rapid career development but looks to internal HR systems and interventions to help them develop professionally. Often, they find themselves interacting with departments focused on compliance as opposed to professional development. A one-size-fits-all approach will not work for the organisation of the future, and it is therefore imperative that individuals not only understand the value of OKRs within an organisation, but also see the value thereof for themselves on their personal professional development journey. Ultimately, OKRs help an individual prioritise what they need to do to help them achieve their professional objectives.

Absa has adopted OKRs to not only help the organisation achieve its goals, but also to measure what truly matters while continuously adapting to what is working and what is not.

OKRs focus on excellence in strategy execution that determine successful outcomes and each of these pillars can be applied to individual goal setting as well:

• Stretch
• Alignment
• Focus
• Measurement

For the individual, we can perhaps bring this into focus with key questions such as:

• What is your “Why”?
• What do you ultimately want to achieve?
• What do you need to focus on to move toward achieving your objectives in the next (x amount of time)?
• What do you need to do first to ensure that you achieve your objective?
• How do you measure success?

With OKRs focused on prioritisation, the individual can identify what they need to focus on to help them reach milestones on their journey and have a clear idea of how they are tracking in real time to ultimately achieve their goal.

“One of the things that I really love about OKRs is the accountability that they bring,” was a common theme in the workshops with Deacon where he highlighted that one of the key components for successfully implementing OKRs was finding somebody who held you accountable for the goals that you set for yourself. The trick is finding that person who is going to hold you accountable without being hyper-critical when you miss short-term goals. Rather, you want somebody who understands the longer-term objective and keeps you pushing in the right direction.

CIB has set itself a bold strategy for the continent that teams are working hard in achieving. OKRs are an ideal tool for teams with a growth mindset and a desire to achieve stretch targets. When the individuals within these teams independently understand the value of the OKRs Framework, CIB will not only be able to realise this strategy, but also do so with teams of people that feel empowered to achieve their unique professional goals.

While rolling out the OKR strategy within CIB, take time to apply them to your own professional development and discover that the sky is the limit.