STRATEGIC PLANNING & EXECUTION TOOL
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EXECUTION BATTLE RHYTHMS Once you have your Annual Management Plan (AMP) developed with five to seven SMART Objectives for the year, and three to five Key Results for each SMART Objective you need to execute your plan. To execute your plan, there are two more levels of planning that must occur (quarterly and weekly) and important meetings that must occur to achieve your AMP and corresponding Objectives and Key Results (OKRs). Think of these meetings as your battle rhythm. Quarterly OKR Planning Meeting 1. OKR Planning Meeting: o
At the end of the quarter, the management team meets to review the OKRs of the company’s units/division/departments. Each presents the target vs actual, generally in the form of a percent complete (i.e., KR1 is 85% complete).
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Often, KRs have accompanying key performance indicators (KPIs). The management team can present these KPIs as well. For example, if a KR for the quarter was to increase sales by 25%, then the manager explains if they grew sales by 25% or not, and the KPI would be sales (value). Remember that KPIs should be gender-smart and disaggregated, as appropriate.
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The CEO chairs the meeting, and the COO / Operations Manager runs the meeting. All unit leads must provide their OKRs and KPIs to the COO’s office three days prior so the COO / Operations Manager can update a company-wide OKR dashboard.
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This meeting is the key accountability meeting of the management team. Held no less than every quarter. Group accountability created by this process encourages managers to make sure they achieve their OKRs for the quarter.
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Each unit lead presents their progress, reasons for variance (i.e., why the actual is different from the target) and any needs or requests they have of the CEO and management team.
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The unit lead must also present their OKRs and KPIs for the next quarter. REMEMBER: Their unit/division/department OKRs need to be clearly supporting the company OKRs as outlined in the AMP. The job of the CEO, the COO and the other managers is to make sure the manager is presenting OKRs that are in line with the company’s OKRs for the year.
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The hard decision the management team must make is, when an OKR is behind target, whether the reason is: 1) overly optimistic planning, or 2) poor execution. If the latter, management needs to improve their performance. It the former, then management needs to do better planning. Regardless, if an OKR is at risk, management needs to decide whether to apply more resources to the unit to ensure they accomplish the OKR. This is the hard thinking work of the CEO and management team.