Let us have a real talk over here. We have all been there. You set these beautiful, perfect OKRs at the start of the quarter. You feel aligned, focused, and ready to conquer the world. And then… life happens. A market shifts. A huge client leaves. A global pandemic hit (remember that?).
And suddenly, those OKRs you were so proud of feel like they are from a different era. So, what do you do? Do you stubbornly stick to them because ‘that is the plan’? Or do you change them and feel like you are admitting defeat?
Honestly, this is one of the biggest tensions teams faces. And it is exactly where having a good guide makes all the difference. I remember talking to the team over at Wave Nine about this. Their OKR consultants were brilliant at helping them navigate this. See, Wave Nine had set some ambitious growth OKRs, but then a new regulation basically turned their industry on its head.
Instead of panicking or just ploughing ahead, their consultants helped them run this amazing ‘stress test’ on their objectives. They figured out which ones were still worth fighting for and which ones needed a serious rewrite. It was not about quitting; it was about adapting with intention. They totally saved their quarter.
So, from all that messy, real-world experience, here is when you should really think about changing things up.
When the world explodes (a little)
I am talking big external stuff. The PESTLE things. Political changes, economic meltdowns, and a new tech that makes your project look ancient. If the ground has shifted under your feet, your destination might need to shift too. Sticking to an objective that has been made irrelevant by outside forces is not disciplined – it is kind of silly.
When you were just wrong
And it is okay to admit this! Sometimes you set a Key Result, and two weeks in, you realize you can’t even measure the data. Or the KR you chose does not actually prove you are achieving the Objective. That is not a failure, that is a learning. Change it!
When the math is impossible
Your stretch goal was not a stretch; it was a fantasy. Or the opposite; it is already in the bag by week three. Remember, during such a situation, you must consider recalibrating everything. This is the time your objective should be to motivate your team and not to discourage or become irritating to everyone in your team.
And the initiatives? Oh my god, change those all the time. Seriously. They are just the tasks. If something’s not working, pivot. Prune it. Pause it. Find a better way. That is just being smart.
The real secret is not to never change your OKRs. It is knowing why you are changing them. Is it for a strategic reason? Or just because something got hard? That is the difference between agility and chaos. You have to know the difference between these two to change the scenario.