Many organizations adopt OKRs because they want focus, alignment, and execution discipline.

But small and fast-growing companies face a unique challenge:

• They must move quickly
• They cannot afford bureaucracy
• They cannot rely on heavy process
• Yet they still need clarity and coordination

GoNoodle, a company focused on helping kids stay active and engaged, successfully launched OKRs in a growth-stage company in just 18 days!

After raising new capital, GoNoodle entered a period of aggressive growth. Leadership knew that without a clear system, the organization could quickly lose focus.

As their co-founder described:

“The growth plan was aggressive. We knew it would introduce a new level of complexity and potential chaos. How would we stay focused on the right things? How would we define and measure our most important work?”

They discovered OKRs and immediately saw the potential — but also understood the risk:

“Failure to launch OKRs well could jade the staff and undermine the whole effort. We had to get it right.”

So they moved quickly — but intentionally.

GoNoodle launched OKRs in just 18 days. But speed alone wasn’t the secret. Structure and cadence were. They began by defining company-level OKRs, then worked closely with each department to translate strategy into measurable team-level outcomes.

Along the way, they discovered: “Writing good key results is an art. In theory it’s simple, but it was much more difficult than expected.”

They also recognized the value of defining success upfront: “We set the scoring criteria for every key result at the time of creation. This was difficult — and extremely valuable.”

Within weeks, OKRs were visible across the company and supported by a regular execution rhythm.

The GoNoodle experience closely mirrors what we now formalize at OKRs.com as a two-cycle launch model, designed to build both clarity and capability.

At GoNoodle, this included defining company OKRs first and ensuring each team’s objectives directly supported the company’s direction. They reinforced this through leadership reviews and shared visibility. As their co-founder explained:

• “We review every OKR weekly at the executive level to make sure we are focused on what matters most.”
• “The connecting nature of OKRs, linking company goals to the work of each team, was one of the most compelling parts of the framework.”
• “We now have a level of operating rigor that we never had before.”
• “Clarity of our most important work, more focused execution, transparency around what we are doing, and improved culture.”

GoNoodle reinforced OKRs through:

• Weekly executive OKR reviews
• Mid-quarter team check-ins
• Quarterly company OKR reviews
• Shared visibility of all OKRs
• OKR onboarding for new employees

“OKRs became part of our operating DNA.”

Following the OKRs.com structured approach, GoNoodle experienced:

• Clearer definition of their most important work
• Stronger alignment across teams
• Improved focus and execution
• Greater transparency and accountability
• A disciplined operating rhythm
• Cultural adoption of OKRs

If you are launching OKRs in a smaller or growth-stage company:

• Move fast, but take a structured approach leveraging the 3 phases over 2 cycles.
• Define commit/target/stretch levels of each KR upfront to ensure alignment.
• Make OKRs visible to all!
• Build cadence early.
• Expect improvement with each cycle.; commit to 2 cycles from the start.
• Launch Your OKR Program the Right Way!

If you’d like to learn how to launch OKRs using our 3-Phase approach over 2 cycles, contact:

Ben@OKRs.com

Thanks for listening!

Are you suffering from OKR planning fatigue? Are you feeling like you're always behind?

Before 2019, most teams set OKRs each quarter by default. That's just how it's done. But is that what's best for you?

One of the most practical decisions in any OKR implementation is determining the length of the OKR cycle.

Should it be quarterly, four months or longer?

Ben explains why cycle timing matters and how the right cadence can strengthen focus alignment and execution across your organization.

You learn why most organizations begin with a common cycle length typically quarterly and why very short cycles often fail to provide enough time for meaningful progress.

Ben also explores when a four month cycle can be more effective how cycle timing may vary across different levels of the organization and why strategic OKRs often remain stable throughout the year while operational OKRs evolve more frequently.

Drawing on real world examples including multi tier OKR structures used in large organizations this episode provides practical guidance for choosing a cycle length that balances learning execution and adaptability helping teams build a sustainable rhythm for long term OKR success

Request a free 1:1 OKR consult via Ben@OKRs.com

Why do OKRs in the first place? You MUST be clear on the answer to this question BEFORE deploying OKRs.

Do you know YOUR answer? And it should not be just because "Google does it" or "My CEO read a book and she loved it so now we're all doing OKRs"

The Benefits include 5 General Ones:

1-Shorter Cadence

2-Focus

3-Transparency/Alignment

4-Engagement

5-Stretch Thinking

+ 2 More that Ben has identified:

6-Common Goal Language

7-Learning Culture

If you're using OKRs, please share why you chose to deploy OKRs in the comments. Was it one of the 7 benefits covered in this episode? If not, please share your "why" so we can all benefit:)

Ben presents the analysis of WHY OKRs in this VIDEO

As always, get your free 1:1 OKR consult with Ben via Ben@OKRs.com

Thanks for listening

Are your KRs stretch? Are they commitments? Are you using Radical Focus? Measure What Matters? Ben's Stretch-Target-Commit model?

Are you not even sure what approach you are taking?

You need to know how key results are scored and how progress is tracked during the OKR cycle.

Without a STANDARD, clear approach, teams can misjudge success, create confusion, or miss early warning signs that execution is off track.

This episode explores how the way you define and measure the level of “stretch” and "commitment" in your key results can shape behavior, expectations, and ultimately outcomes.

You’ll learn why objectives should not be scored, and why the real focus belongs on key results. Ben walks through the three most common scoring systems used in practice: 1) Radical Focus, 2) Measure What Matters, and 3) Stretch-Target-Commit.

He explains how each approach influences how teams set goals, interpret progress, and learn from results.

He also shares why aligning on scoring criteria upfront can spark critical conversations that prevent misalignment and unrealistic expectations later in the cycle.

Beyond end-of-cycle scoring, this episode dives into how to track progress during execution. You’ll discover the difference between historical progress (“what has happened”) and predictive progress (“what is likely to happen”), and why predictive scoring can serve as an early warning system for leaders.

Ben also explores how numerical scores alone don’t tell the full story — and how adding a qualitative “health” signal can surface hidden risks, unintended behaviors, and opportunities for course correction.

This episode reframes scoring as a tool for communication, expectation management, and learning (not performance evaluation of individual staff) and will help you design a scoring and progress approach that drives clarity, better conversations, and stronger execution throughout the OKR cycle.

Request your free 1:1 OKR consult with Ben via Ben@OKRs.com

How Many OKRs Should You Set? And Should You Include an Internal Objective?

One of the most practical questions in any OKR implementation is simple: How many OKRs should we set? Too many, and focus is lost. Too few, and important priorities may be missed.

In this episode, Ben Lamorte explains why the modern OKR approach favors fewer, more focused objectives. And he introduces the mantra “less is more” to drive better execution.

You’ll learn when teams should start with a single objective, why most teams benefit from limiting themselves to two or three objectives, and when it may actually make sense to capture most of your work inside OKRs.

Ben also explores the important distinction between external objectives (impacting customers and growth) and internal objectives (improving processes, teams, and capabilities), and how balancing the two can strengthen your OKR system.

Whether you're just starting with OKRs or refining your approach, this episode provides practical guidance to help you create sharper focus, clearer priorities, and more effective execution.

Post a comment and let's get a discussion going...

Request a free 1:1 OKR consultation via Ben@OKRs.com

At What Level Should You Set OKRs? Company, Team, or Individual

One of the most important decisions in any OKR deployment is where OKRs should be set. Should you start at the company level? Roll out to teams immediately? Require individual OKRs? Get this wrong, and even well-designed OKRs can fail.

Your decision to this question can dramatically impact the type of culture you're creating.

In this episode, Ben Lamorte explains how to thoughtfully introduce OKRs across organizational levels over time. You’ll learn when company-level OKRs make sense (and when they don’t), to structure effective team-level OKRs beyond the org chart, and why mandating individual OKRs can lead to an OKR failure.

Through real-world examples, Ben explores three powerful approaches to defining OKR teams: merging highly dependent teams, leveraging cross-functional squads, and forming teams around strategic priorities. The episode concludes with practical coaching guidance to help leaders build alignment, avoid common pitfalls, and create a scalable, sustainable OKR system.

Contact Ben@OKRs.com to get your free consultation now!

You get the context for why Ben created "10 universal deployment parameters" (the questions you must answer BEFORE deploying OKRs) as context for the next 10 episodes!

Ben shares a pivotal moment early in his OKRs coaching journey, a training workshop in Paris that did not go as planned. What seemed like a straightforward workshop quickly turned into hours of debate about alignment, KPIs, performance reviews, and how OKRs should actually be deployed.

On the long flight home, Ben reflected deeply and identified a powerful insight: before any OKRs training begins, organizations must first align on a clear set of foundational decisions. He later named these decisions deployment parameters.

You will learn why every successful OKR program begins with clarity on how OKRs will be implemented, and why skipping this step often leads to confusion, misalignment, and weak execution.

The episode also explores one of the most critical starting points: Why OKRs? You will hear why imitative answers (like "Google did it" or "Our CEO read Measure What Matters and lots of successful companies do OKRs" fail.

And more importantly, how strong OKR deployments begin with a clear understanding of the ONE BIG PROBLEM leadership is trying to solve with OKRs.

Request your free OKRs 1:1 Consult via Ben@OKRs.com