How to set up OKRs for the first time in a growing team

To set up OKRs for the first time, write one or two clear objectives for the quarter, give each a few measurable key results, share them with the whole team, and review them on a regular date. Keep the list short and treat your first quarter as a practice run. The point of OKRs is a clear line of sight from the daily work to the few things that matter most to the business.

This guide covers what OKRs actually are in plain terms, how to tell when a growing team is genuinely ready for them, how to write your first set with a worked example, how many to set, and the quarterly rhythm that keeps them alive. It is written for owners and leaders of growing teams who are setting up OKRs for the first time and want a method they can run themselves, without jargon or a heavy tool.

OKRs are simply objectives paired with measurable results

OKR stands for objectives and key results. The objective is a short statement of what you want to achieve in the quarter, written in plain words a new starter could understand. The key results are the two to four measures that tell you whether you got there.

An objective is meant to be a little ambitious and simple to remember. A key result is a number or a clear yes or no, so there is no argument at the end of the quarter about whether you hit it. If you cannot measure it, it is not a key result yet.

A growing team is ready when priorities start competing

The right moment for OKRs is usually when your team has grown past the point where everyone simply knows what matters because they sit near you. Once you have a handful of people, or more than one team, the priorities start to compete and pull in different directions without anyone meaning for that to happen.

You do not need OKRs to run a small, tight group where the goals are obvious. You do need them when work is being done that nobody can connect back to a company goal, or when two people would describe the top priority differently. That gap is the signal.

Your first set is one or two objectives with a few key results each

Start with one objective for the whole company, or at most two. Give each objective two to four key results. Resist the urge to capture everything the business is doing. OKRs are for the small number of things that deserve focus this quarter. They are not a list of all your work.

Write the objective first, in human words. Then ask what would have to be true at the end of the quarter for you to say you achieved it, and turn those answers into measurable key results. Here is a worked example for a growing services business.

• Objective: Make new clients feel looked after from day one.
• Key result 1: Cut the time from signed contract to first kick-off call from 12 days to 5 days.
• Key result 2: Send a welcome pack to 100 percent of new clients within 24 hours of signing.
• Key result 3: Reach an onboarding satisfaction score of 8 out of 10 or higher across the quarter.

Notice the objective is a plain, motivating sentence, and every key result is a number you can check. Anyone on the team can read this and know what good looks like by the end of the quarter.

Fewer OKRs done well beat a long list ignored

The discipline of OKRs is the short list. One or two objectives at company level is enough for a first quarter, and it is enough for most quarters after that. A long list spreads attention so thin that nothing moves.

If teams within the business also set their own OKRs later, the same rule holds: a couple each, no more. Every team OKR should connect clearly to a company objective, so that someone can trace their own work back to the company's top priorities. When you can draw that line for every person, you have the focus that OKRs are meant to give you.

OKRs only work when they are visible and reviewed on a rhythm

Written once and filed away, OKRs do nothing. They earn their keep when the team can see them and when you return to them on a set date. Put them somewhere everyone passes daily, and check in on them weekly with a quick look at where each key result stands.

Run OKRs on a quarterly cycle. Set them at the start of the quarter, review progress lightly each week, and hold a proper score and reset at the end. A quarter is long enough to make real progress and short enough that you are never stuck with the wrong goals for long.

Most first-time mistakes come from a few predictable habits

The most common first-time mistake is setting too many OKRs, which buries the few that matter. Close behind is the vanity metric, a number that looks good but does not reflect real progress, such as counting meetings held rather than outcomes reached.

Two more habits trip people up. Setting and forgetting, where the OKRs are written in a burst of enthusiasm and never looked at again, and confusing tasks with key results. A task is something you do, like launching a page. A key result is the outcome you are after, like the sign-ups that page brings in. If your key result is just a to-do item, rewrite it as the result that to-do item is meant to produce.

Once your first set is written, the work becomes keeping them in front of people and connecting daily work to them. Our guides on tools for making OKRs visible to the team, getting your team to follow quarterly priorities and connecting individual work to company goals each pick up where this one leaves off. If you would rather build your first OKRs alongside your team in a single day, the Working With Me workshop sets your priorities, working manuals and rhythm together from £2,000 and includes a four-week platform trial, or you can book a call to talk it through first.

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