Measuring Progress is Essential
Measuring Progress is Essential
As a leader, it may be challenging to consistently ensure you and your team are moving toward your company’s goals. Depending on the flow of projects, it can sometimes be easy for teams to lose focus as new priorities emerge and workloads shift. How can you ensure sustained progress toward your goals and alignment with your team? You must clearly outline the actionable steps to reach the goals and regularly assess how your team is tracking toward desired outcomes. One of the most effective ways to achieve this is by leveraging frameworks like OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), which provide a structured approach for setting, tracking, and evaluating goals.
OKRs are designed to help teams focus on what truly matters, incorporating the primary goals that a company or team is looking to accomplish. By clearly defining the key objectives of your team, and setting 3-5 manageable and measurable benchmarks or key results, you create a shared understanding of what success looks like. This clarity helps your team stay aligned, especially when multiple projects are running simultaneously. Creating OKRs and key results for your team ensures that each team member knows the specific results they are contributing to, reducing ambiguity and driving a unified effort.
When a company’s goals and objectives are not clearly defined, teams may lose sight of priorities, leading to inefficiencies or missed opportunities. Team members may think their actions are contributing to the company’s overall goals, but without clear benchmarks for success, their actions could be less effective than they realize. By focusing on a select number of key results, you help your team prioritize the most impactful work, ensuring that energy is directed where it matters most.
To maintain momentum and ensure that your team remains on track, it’s essential to assess progress every 60-90 days. These regular check-ins offer a critical opportunity to evaluate what’s working, what’s not, and adjust if needed. When done thoughtfully, these assessments provide a pulse check, revealing whether your team is on the right path. It is better to know if something is not working sooner, rather than later. For instance, if a particular key result is falling behind, you can reallocate resources or adjust the strategy to get back on track. Frequent evaluations also allow you to recognize and celebrate progress, both on a team and individual level. These milestones, however small, serve as motivational boosts that can re-energize your team. Celebrating wins builds a culture of achievement, where every step forward is recognized.
Setting clear, actionable, measurable, and time-managed goals will help you navigate your team to success. Regular progress assessments, particularly when using frameworks like OKRs, ensure that your team stays focused on its objectives. By reviewing your benchmarks every 60-90 days, you not only maintain alignment with your company’s goals but also enhance your ability to meet and address challenges proactively. Keeping your finger on the pulse of progress allows you to steer your team toward success with confidence and with fewer detours along the way.
by Heather Richard
Above Par Business
