9 OKR examples for Project Leadership
What are Project Leadership OKRs?
The Objective and Key Results (OKR) framework is a simple goal-setting methodology that was introduced at Intel by Andy Grove in the 70s. It became popular after John Doerr introduced it to Google in the 90s, and it's now used by teams of all sizes to set and track ambitious goals at scale.
Creating impactful OKRs can be a daunting task, especially for newcomers. Shifting your focus from projects to outcomes is key to successful planning.
We've tailored a list of OKRs examples for Project Leadership to help you. You can look at any of the templates below to get some inspiration for your own goals.
If you want to learn more about the framework, you can read more about the OKR meaning online.
Best practices for managing your Project Leadership OKRs
Generally speaking, your objectives should be ambitious yet achievable, and your key results should be measurable and time-bound (using the SMART framework can be helpful). It is also recommended to list strategic initiatives under your key results, as it'll help you avoid the common mistake of listing projects in your KRs.
Here are a couple of best practices extracted from our OKR implementation guide 👇
Tip #1: Limit the number of key results
The #1 role of OKRs is to help you and your team focus on what really matters. Business-as-usual activities will still be happening, but you do not need to track your entire roadmap in the OKRs.
We recommend having 3-4 objectives, and 3-4 key results per objective. A platform like Tability can run audits on your data to help you identify the plans that have too many goals.
Tip #2: Commit to the weekly check-ins
Don't fall into the set-and-forget trap. It is important to adopt a weekly check-in process to get the full value of your OKRs and make your strategy agile – otherwise this is nothing more than a reporting exercise.
Being able to see trends for your key results will also keep yourself honest.
Tip #3: No more than 2 yellow statuses in a row
Yes, this is another tip for goal-tracking instead of goal-setting (but you'll get plenty of OKR examples below). But, once you have your goals defined, it will be your ability to keep the right sense of urgency that will make the difference.
As a rule of thumb, it's best to avoid having more than 2 yellow/at risk statuses in a row.
Make a call on the 3rd update. You should be either back on track, or off track. This sounds harsh but it's the best way to signal risks early enough to fix things.
Building your own Project Leadership OKRs with AI
While we have some examples below, it's likely that you'll have specific scenarios that aren't covered here. There are 2 options available to you.
- Use our free OKRs generator
- Use Tability, a complete platform to set and track OKRs and initiatives
- including a GPT-4 powered goal generator
Best way to track your Project Leadership OKRs
The rules of OKRs are simple. Quarterly OKRs should be tracked weekly, and yearly OKRs should be tracked monthly. Reviewing progress periodically has several advantages:
- It brings the goals back to the top of the mind
- It will highlight poorly set OKRs
- It will surface execution risks
- It improves transparency and accountability
We recommend using a spreadsheet for your first OKRs cycle. You'll need to get familiar with the scoring and tracking first. Then, you can scale your OKRs process by using a proper OKR-tracking tool for it.
If you're not yet set on a tool, you can check out the 5 best OKR tracking templates guide to find the best way to monitor progress during the quarter.
Project Leadership OKRs templates
We've covered most of the things that you need to know about setting good OKRs and tracking them effectively. It's now time to give you a series of templates that you can use for inspiration!
You will find in the next section many different Project Leadership Objectives and Key Results. We've included strategic initiatives in our templates to give you a better idea of the different between the key results (how we measure progress), and the initiatives (what we do to achieve the results).
Hope you'll find this helpful!
OKRs to enhance collaboration and stimulate thought leadership
- Enhance collaboration and stimulate thought leadership
- Conduct 4 leadership training workshops to foster thought leadership
- Identify topics and designing the content for the leadership workshops
- Coordinate with facilitators and arranging the necessary resources
- Send invitations and schedule the four leadership training workshops
- Implement 5 successful cross-functional projects to boost team collaborations
- Develop clear communication guidelines and timelines
- Identify and assign cross-functional team members for each project
- Establish metrics for success and regular progress checks
- Increase the average audience engagement rate on team discussions by 20%
- Implement interactive activities during team discussions
- Incorporate feedback sessions post-discussions
- Provide comprehensive training for engagement techniques
OKRs to enhance my soft skills competency
- Enhance my soft skills competency
- Complete a recognized soft skills course with a score of 80% or higher
- Research and select a recognized soft skills course
- Take the course exam aiming for 80% score
- Regularly study the course material
- Receive a 20% improvement in feedback scores on leadership and empathy
- Schedule one-on-one mentoring sessions regularly
- Implement weekly round-table discussions for feedback
- Attend leadership and emotional intelligence workshops
- Successfully lead one team project displaying improved collaboration and communication
- Utilize collaboration tools like Asana or Slack
- Assign clear roles to each team member
- Implement regular team meetings for open communication
OKRs to elevate programming skills to become a senior programmer
- Elevate programming skills to become a senior programmer
- Obtain proficiency in at least three advanced programming languages
- Participate in coding challenges or hackathons to apply and showcase your proficiency
- Practice coding regularly to strengthen your skills in advanced programming languages
- Collaborate with experienced programmers or join forums to gain insights and guidance
- Enroll in online courses or tutorials to learn advanced programming languages
- Lead the successful completion of a complex software development project
- Define clear project goals, deliverables, and timeline with the project team
- Foster effective communication and collaboration among team members throughout the project
- Regularly monitor progress, identify bottlenecks, and take proactive steps to mitigate risks
- Identify and allocate appropriate resources to each phase of the software development project
- Regularly receive positive feedback and recognition from team members and supervisors
- Foster a positive team environment by recognizing and appreciating the achievements of team members
- Continue to improve skills and performance to enhance the likelihood of receiving positive feedback
- Acknowledge and express gratitude for positive feedback and recognition received from others
- Actively seek feedback from team members and supervisors on a regular basis
- Mentor and guide junior programmers to enhance their technical abilities
OKRs to enhance career growth of junior team members through mentorship
- Enhance career growth of junior team members through mentorship
- Improve junior team members' project completion rate by 20%
- Provide constructive feedback and guidance frequently
- Establish a mentorship program within the team
- Implement regular hands-on training sessions for junior team members
- Conduct weekly personalized training sessions for each junior team member
- Identify individual training needs for every junior team member
- Dedicate time to execute training sessions weekly
- Develop weekly personalized training plans
- Achieve a 15% increase in junior team members assuming leadership roles in projects
- Implement leadership training programs for junior team members
- Create opportunities for mentorship from senior leaders
- Delegate more responsibilities to promising junior members
OKRs to ascend to a prominent leadership position within the company
- Ascend to a prominent leadership position within the company
- Lead a cross-functional project showcasing collaboration and leadership acumen
- Foster teamwork through regular meetings and progress updates
- Identify and assign responsibilities to cross-functional project team members
- Develop and communicate project goals and timelines to all stakeholders
- Complete advanced management training course to enhance leadership skills
- Enroll in a suitable advanced management training course
- Diligently participate in all course sessions and activities
- Implement learned leadership strategies in daily management practices
- Exceed current KPIs by 20% to showcase potential for greater responsibility
- Implement and track progressive success of strategy
- Review and analyze current KPIs performance
- Develop a strategy to boost efficiency by 20%
OKRs to develop and strengthen effective team leadership skills
- Develop and strengthen effective team leadership skills
- Facilitate 3 team building activities to foster strong interpersonal bonds and trust
- Schedule and plan the selected team building activities
- Research diverse team building activities suitable for the team
- Conduct and oversee the team building activities
- Improve communication by creating a bi-weekly open feedback system within the team
- Introduce a bi-weekly open feedback system to the team
- Schedule consistent bi-weekly feedback sessions
- Develop a set structure for providing and receiving feedback
- Increase team productivity by 20% through effective task delegation and monitoring
- Provide regular feedback to improve team performance
- Develop a routine process for monitoring progress
- Implement a system for efficient task delegation and assignment
OKRs to improve software development team leadership effectiveness
- Improve software development team leadership effectiveness
- Improve team efficiency by implementing agile practices and metrics to track progress
- Conduct training on Agile practices and ensure all team members understand the principles
- Implement regular stand-up meetings to enhance communication, identify obstacles, and resolve them promptly
- Utilize Agile metrics like velocity and burndown charts to track progress and optimize productivity
- Establish clear goals and prioritize tasks using Agile frameworks like Scrum or Kanban
- Foster effective communication and collaboration within the team to drive successful project delivery
- Promote cross-functional collaboration by assigning individuals from different departments to work together
- Utilize project management tools and software to streamline communication and document sharing
- Implement regular team meetings to discuss project updates, challenges, and opportunities
- Encourage open and honest communication to foster a collaborative and trusting environment
- Increase team satisfaction and engagement through regular feedback and recognition
- Enhance technical skills by facilitating ongoing training programs and knowledge sharing sessions
OKRs to achieve promotion to software engineer 3
- Achieve promotion to software engineer 3
- Complete advanced software development certification
- Mentor and provide guidance to junior software engineers
- Schedule regular one-on-one meetings to discuss progress, challenges, and career goals
- Offer constructive feedback and actionable suggestions for improvement on their code
- Actively involve them in meaningful projects to gain real-world experience and build confidence
- Provide resources and recommend learning opportunities to enhance their technical skills
- Receive positive performance reviews from team members and supervisors
- Regularly check in with team members and supervisors to receive feedback and updates
- Actively listen to team members and supervisors, and address any concerns or suggestions
- Set clear and measurable goals with team members and supervisors
- Continuously improve skills and knowledge through training and professional development opportunities
- Deliver three high-impact software projects successfully
- Implement effective project management methodologies to ensure efficient coordination and communication
- Define clear project goals, timelines, and deliverables for each software project
- Assemble a skilled and dedicated team with the necessary expertise for each project
- Regularly monitor and evaluate progress, making adjustments as needed to meet project objectives
OKRs to seek and secure a leadership role within the company
- Seek and secure a leadership role within the company
- Obtain cross-functional training in at least two other departments
- Identify two departments to receive cross-functional training in
- Request cross-functional training approval from respective department heads
- Begin scheduled training sessions with selected departments
- Implement a feedback system for continuous learning and leadership growth
- Identify key performance indicators for leadership qualities
- Educate leaders on interpreting and applying feedback
- Design a system for regular performance feedback
- Lead a high-impact project related to key business objectives
- Identify key business objectives and project alignment
- Develop, execute and monitor a high-impact project plan
- Assemble a high-performing, cross-functional team
More Project Leadership OKR templates
We have more templates to help you draft your team goals and OKRs.
OKRs to enhance productivity of IT Service Desk Analysts and maintain SLAs OKRs to improve service recovery time in 2024 OKRs to increase organic website traffic by 25% OKRs to establish a consulting business OKRs to achieve a balance between team learning opportunities and routine tasks OKRs to optimize app store visibility for higher organic downloads
OKRs resources
Here are a list of resources to help you adopt the Objectives and Key Results framework.
- To learn: Complete 2024 OKR cheat sheet
- Blog posts: ODT Blog
- Success metrics: KPIs examples