The end of a cycle—whether it’s quarterly or yearly—shouldn’t be viewed as a finish line but as a crucial checkpoint. In the world of OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), this is the time to take a moment to pause, consider what has been accomplished, identify any gaps that could have been avoided, and reassess strategies for the future. Reflection isn’t just retrospective, where everyone gathers and reflects on their OKRs, but it’s a key strategy to address questions like
- Which Strategies were effective?
- What did work and What did not?
- If it did work, then how?
Answering these questions help teams and individuals clarify what to carry forward in the next cycle and what to leave behind.
In this blog, we’ll learn how reflection, as part of OKR best practices, promotes valuable insights, and how resetting guarantees that your OKRs remain relevant and impactful as you move into the next cycle.
Setting, Reviewing, and Adjusting OKRs Each Cycle
At the start of each quarter, everyone sets their OKRs. Ideally, each objective should have 3–5 key results. The key results should serve as a measurable milestone for tracking progress of the objectives. Throughout the cycle, it is important to regularly check-in your Key Results either weekly, or bi-weekly to assess the progress and to adjust the parameters as needed.
Prioritizing tasks and adding weightage to important Key Results ensure that teams can then focus on what truly matters. Regular feedback from managers ensures that the team stays on the right track and can make any necessary adjustments before the cycle ends.
When the cycle ends, the Reflect and Reset phase begins.
Reflection Process
Reflection is an important step in OKR framework allowing teams and individuals to evaluate their progress over the previous cycle. This process focuses on answering key questions to identify any potential gaps, uncover successes, challenges, and lessons learned. Here are some questions to help reflect:
- Did you achieve your objective?
- What factors contributed to or hindered the desired outcome?
- What obstacles did we encounter, and how did they impact progress?
- What valuable insights from this cycle can shape the next OKRs?
- Should any goals, priorities, or actions be redefined, removed, or added?
- Were there any misaligned efforts or unexpected outcomes?
- Which efforts went well, and which ones fell short of their potential?
- What would we like to achieve and improve in the upcoming cycle?
While these are sample questions, tailoring them to your organization’s structure ensures relevance. The key is to promote open and honest discussions that result in meaningful insights and actionable steps.
The Reset Process
According to OKR best practices, it is necessary to evaluate the objectives before resetting Key Results for the next cycle. Is this objective still relevant for the next cycle? Will it help us achieve our target for the target? If the answer is yes, proceed to review its key results.
By the end of the cycle, you will find that your Key Results generally fall into two categories:
- Completed
- Not Completed
Actions for Unfinished Key Results:
1. Extend Key Results Without Changes
If the key result remain relevant for the next cycle, extend it to the next cycle without changing it.
Example: if the goal was to increase the number of customer sign-ups by 500, and you’ve achieved 200, continue working toward the original target of 500 in the upcoming cycle.
2. Move to Backlog
If the key result isn’t relevant to the next cycle, it can be moved to Backlog. This ensures employee focus on objectives that truly matter while unfinished tasks are not forgotten.
3. Revise and Restart
If the key result is still relevant, but require adjustments, then the target can be adjusted based on the progress made. Cloning feature can be utilised to clone the OKR while changing the target and closing the previous cycle.
Example: if the goal was to launch a new product line and only the R&D phase is complete, but yet to be launched, the target can be reset to focus on finalizing the launch in the upcoming cycle.
4. Close and Celebrate
If the key results are fully achieved, then it can be marked as completed. This is also the time to acknowledge and celebrate the team’s achievement in moving on to the next objectives.
The resetting process, in line with OKR best practices, ensures that OKRs stay fresh, aligned with business priorities, and focused on driving improvements for the next quarter.
Conclusion
Reflecting and resetting your OKRs ensures that your goals always stay relevant and aligned with your business objectives. Synergita user-friendly OKR software optimizes the reflection and reset process, making it easier to track, adjust, and achieve your quarterly goals. Start today to make your life easier.