Team Conversations, Feedback, and Recognition (CFRs) | OKRs Explained

almost any communication tool zooms text emails all of those slack channels can help move your okrs forward in a football game there are different forms of communication about goals from the huddles to the audibles to the timeouts and the meetings that happen at halftime healthy organizations also use different forms of communication together they can help teams achieve operating Excellence where Performance Management was once relegated to annual reviews we advocate for a more modern approach of continuous Performance Management it's delivered through conversations feedback and recognition or cfrs for short cfrs and okrs are goal setting siblings a healthy okr practice cannot exist without them conversations are Communications about the work itself the progress the tactics it seeks to resolve issues before they bottleneck the work feedback is intended to improve or change performance or behaviors recognition shows appreciation using all three greatly improves how you and your teams communicate when you use cfrs with okrs you become a learning organization one that continually improves now let's take a closer look at the Seas of cfrs conversations conversations are constantly happening they're the back and forth about progress and in this context about okr progress two common settings for conversations are team meetings and one-on ones we suggest starting those meetings with conversations about your okrs and here are some basic points to cover what's the status of your okrs has there been any progress on your okrs what's changed since the last time we talked is there anything blocking an okr success once the degrees of progress or lack of it has been established use clarifying questions to bring more light to the subject then ask what help do you need conversations should be non-judgmental which doesn't mean they should avoid all criticism if an okr is behind and bad decisions have hurt progress say so directly but your main focus should be on how to make progress not fault finding these okrs they're our shared goals when conversations hone in on shared success or shared failure transparency and openness become the norm That's essential for a culture of high performance conversations are how we move forward together if conversation centers on progress feedback focuses on Improvement it reflects on how to close the gap between intention and action it begins with the question how can we increase our chances of su success think of feedback as an opportunity to coach and teach coaching provides people with training and guidance and a coach draws on their experience to help someone else achieve a goal as a coach it helps to listen more than you speak when offering suggestions be specific and action-oriented rephrase complaints as constructive requests instead of that presentation could have been better say the next time you piit try to present more slowly and make time for the audience to ask questions feedback is appropriate and necessary for getting an okr back on track you might provide direct suggestions for how to improve something or you might offer feedback on the process as you approach feedback in the spirit of coaching it's more effective when it's given early and often real-time feedback allows people to identify what they might do differently and then adjust their approach it suggests an alternative path forward before they've gone too far in the wrong direction if a team leader withholds feedback until the end of a cycle or an annual performance review it's really often too late the more time that goes by Between the action and the feedback the harder it is to absorb and apply it negative feedback at an annual review feels like judgment I can remember a time when I got some pretty blunt feedback and I was so thankful that i' heard it in the moment I had just joined a company when my manager pulled me aside and said hey Ryan did you realize you were cutting people off at our last meeting you weren't letting others Express their ideas that hit hard but I wasn't defensive because I could playback what had just happened a few hours earlier and yes I was cutting my colleagues off my overe exuberance was unintentionally rude to my colleagues I was able to take that feedback and adjust the way that I worked and within a week I could actually see what a difference it made now imagine if I'd gotten that feedback months later during a performance review Ryan's got a lot of energy but he doesn't let others Express their ideas that would have really hurt and I'm pretty sure I would have gotten defensive and that I wouldn't have known how to fix it in short I'm glad I got the feedback in the moment okay that's C and F now let's talk about the r recognition recognition is positive acknowledgement for things big and small it's about sharing what's working in the moment and expressing appreciation recognition is a form of coaching and skillful recognition goes beyond simple thank yous it's specific for example the summary you sent after our last meeting was so clearly written it helped everyone on the team understand the challenge better thank you in addition to making recognition specific it's good to do it frequently and like feedback it should happen in the moment don't wait for a formal ceremony or performance review when okrs are written well people need to stretch to meet them in any given cycle you might even see more failure than success recognition is great for te- morale because it highlights the winds that align with our goals it can also reinforce an organization's values positive reinforcement tells someone yes keep doing more of that each time you recognize what you found valuable you're acknowledging progress and signaling what's important conversation feedback recog nition the three essential components of cfrs a meeting that includes all three leaves people with more satisfaction and more clarity about their day-to-day work and Direction bottom line cfrs aren't separate from okrs they're two halves of a whole