Can an Essay Contest Help You Define Your 2022 OKRs?
The key to having the right team around the table for strategic planning is to ask them to put some skin in the game. Here’s exactly how to do it.
When it comes to strategic planning or OKR setting for the year ahead, who is setting the goals is critically important. You want your OKRs to be representative of the entire organization, cover the most important needs of the business, and be comprehensive without being extensive.
So who should be in the room where it happens?
How Most Companies Do It
Most orgs start with their executive and top leadership team as “givens” for the process. Can’t have strategic planning without all the VPs, right?!
Well but then, it makes sense to have some experts in key areas — managers who run big teams, product specialists, other key contributors. But then, my friend, then we get into some dangerous “should” territory. Because, you know, if this director is going to be there, then we probably should invite these other two directors. You see where this is going.
The Problem We Create with Role-Based Participation
Suddenly, you have 19 people in the room to try to set your 2022 OKRs. Some of them are there because they need to be, some because they want to be, and some because they share a title or level with someone who needs to be.
The problem with this is clear: you’ve got too many people around the table, with varying levels of engagement. Not a good way to set a clear set of OKRs.
The Solution: An Essay Contest
Your OKR setting team should be as small as it can be to still be representative of the organization and its future plans. How do you accomplish this? With a slightly-unorthodox strategy that will achieve your goals and create a more equitable and representative table.
It starts with an essay contest.
Why? Because you want everyone who’s at the table to plan the goals of your company for the year ahead to have skin in the game. You want them to have thought about the problems you’re trying to solve and the opportunities for the company. You want them to have put pen to paper and fully described what they believe is important. And you want them to care deeply about being at that table.
How to Do It
First, understand clearly who owns the OKR process for your company. Usually this will be the CEO, but it could be another leader. It’s absolutely crucial that this person has clear ownership of the process and the result, so it’s typically a top leader in the company.
Next, the OKR Owner communicates to all staff an essay contest. The rules are very simple:
- Write an essay describing the most important work that needs to be done in your company in the coming year, why it’s the most important, and what you believe will result from that work.
- Keep it under 1000 words. (about 2.5 pages)
- You have one week to complete the assignment.
- The contest is open to everyone at every level, from executives to front line support.
- Participation is absolutely optional, including for execs and leaders. ← It is essential to not mess with this rule. More about that in a minute.
The prize for the contest: one of 7 seats at the table for the year’s strategic planning sessions. Winners are chosen by the OKR Owner at their discretion, based on who they believe will create the best set of OKRs for the company on the basis of their essay and input.
When all essays are in, the OKR Owner (again, typically the CEO) reads all of the essays, and selects the team for the OKR ownership process. Then, all essays are compiled (no exceptions) into a briefing that is required reading for all OKR planning participants.
This way, even if you are not chosen for the planning process, your voice is heard and input is considered. It means that every single employee has an opportunity to participate in the planning process, if they choose to do so.
It also means that your executives and leaders are not automatically included on the basis of their role or level. They, too, will have to do the homework and put pen to paper to have a seat at the table.
From here, move forward with your OKR planning process, knowing that your planning team is representative of the company’s best ideas for the coming year, and that everyone at the table is engaged and wants to be there.
Done right, this process also helps you have advocates across the company for the goals you’re setting forth. When a front-line manager had a seat at the table for 2022 planning, they’re more likely to uphold and advocate for every single OKR set for the year and carry that enthusiasm to their teams.
What If This Idea is Too Scary?
If the process of “uninviting” people who have traditionally been a part of your goal-setting process or potentially not including key executives is a big departure for your organization, that’s understandable. This is an audacious way to run a goal-setting process.
But here’s the deal: a key part of setting OKRs is audacity. Achieving big, scary goals is only possible when you set the bar higher than you think you can reach. This is true for your OKR process, too — if you set out to create a truly representative, inclusive, and merit-focused OKR process, you’ll likely ruffle some feathers. But you’ll also achieve a much more successful set of goals. Consider being audacious in your process here, and your OKR table will be filled with energized, motivated, think-big participants.
If that little kick in the pants didn’t convince you, a modification that you can consider is to try the essay contest as “Round 1” of your OKR setting process. Do the entire process as described above, meet with the group of contest winners to further get input on the company’s upcoming goals, and then gather your leadership team to consider and make the final decisions. It will still achieve a greater level of input from around your company.
A warning of what *not* to modify: do not use an essay contest to open up 1–3 spots at your OKR table. You may think this is a great compromise — you have your leadership team there, plus a couple more spots for individual contributors with great ideas! The problem is that some people at your table will have “earned” their way there with an essay, and some people will have a spot at the table because of their title. This sets up a weird dynamic for your conversations, and can tiptoe into tokenization, and we don’t need any of that in our OKR processes.
Finally, if you just don’t want to use an essay contest to choose participants, consider the essay assignment for everyone you DO choose to be at the table. Asking people to be thoughtful, write an essay, and get their ideas on paper before you meet will create more thoughtful conversations.
