Managing High Uncertainty Contexts with OKRs

A few years ago, talking about crises in organizations was an isolated incident, attributable to a particular situation in the context, industry, or emerging nature in which companies were immersed. Nowadays, it is natural to manage the day-to-day operations of organizations considering multiple factors that escape predictability and context control.

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A Misaligned Management Model

In this new scenario, traditional planning models have become outdated. The idea of annual planning is disrupted by the great uncertainty in the context. This is evident when planning, as there are so many assumptions that end up generating infinite scenarios to project a horizon of more than 6 months. It is also reflected when looking back; when teams need to assess the context of more than 6 months, it results in meaningless conversations.

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In the face of this pace of change, the traditional pyramid structure model, where decisions are made at one level and executed at another, becomes obsolete. Organizations that managed in this way arrive late and never manage to anticipate moves that challenge the market.

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¿Who Leads the Way?

In such a complex context with changing conditions, each organization becomes the leader of its own path, opening opportunities to be a leader in every challenge it faces. At the same time, it assumes the responsibility of being constantly attentive to the prevailing situation. "If you could get all people rowing in the same direction, you could dominate any industry, in any market, against any competition, at any time," says Patrick Lencioni in his book "The Fifth Discipline," leading to the conclusion that one of the competitive advantages of organizations lies in how responsive they are to changes.

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While each company will define its DNA to lead and manage timely, there are operational principles on which interesting management insights can be generated:

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Always Start with Purpose

We say it often, remember it little. In every conversation where teams are planning or deciding on the future, always keep the purpose in mind, that guiding north. Many decisions are not made in daily life because there is no clarity in the north to follow. Enable teams to make decisions quickly by constantly communicating the organizational purpose.

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Clear Strategy

Both at the organizational and team levels, it is important to have a clear and simple strategy to communicate, allowing the play to be read at the tactical operational level (like playing a sport, where we easily know if we are on the offensive or defensive). Is your strategy aggressive or defensive? Are you playing to expand regionally or deepen in the market? Do you plan to stick with the same solutions portfolio, or do you want to discover new products? A healthy growth ambition guiding teams with focus will allow deploying a coherent tactic, and teams can anticipate the context.

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Results Oriented

Once the strategy is declared, identify the magnitude of growth expectations with a focus on results. Rely on outcomes, i.e., those behaviors on which you want to impact the user, and thus validate the value hypotheses behind each of your products.

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Experimentation

Mitigate the number of assumptions in such uncertain contexts through a culture of experimentation. Express your opinions as hypotheses, and base the hypotheses on data quantifiable results guided by the end user. "Success has more to do with fixing your mistakes quickly than not making them at all," says Tim Harford. Experimentation allows you to fail fast but with a solid and rational foundation that measures the intensity of experiments.

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Minimalist Information

"Harder than learning something is unlearning something." Organizations that typically based themselves on tasks and now need to focus on results must consider the learning curve of letting go of old habits. The greatest difficulty we see in this transition is throwing away the beautiful post-its that guided our actions (and control) to start analyzing a sour number of results indicating that we are not understanding the behaviors and needs of our end users. Looking at a board with only 3 data points, and being able to have a conversation and each person taking away lines of work that they will responsibly fulfill with commitment and effort, is of a higher level that we must inspire.

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Transparent and Direct Manner

Keep the information minimal on a single page, transparent, and quickly accessible to each team participant. Technology and the knowledge era now allow us to venture into managing autonomous and responsible teams, where each system chooses its HOW, thus maximizing its contribution of value to the organization.

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Shorter Cycles

Review the strategic, tactical, and operational coherence throughout the organization, ensuring spaces for declaring commitments, tracking progress, deep review, and reflection in cycles of no more than 4 months, through a comprehensive process that guides and coordinates team efforts, while avoiding the conversation about the conversation about the conversation. Minimal Information, with a Clear and Convincing Purpose, There Is No Failure, Only Learning...

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Behind every strategy, there is a certain dose of "discomfort" in the context being inhabited. Managing strategically by declaring clear guidelines and taking proactive action with a plan will not only create your own future but also generate internal conversational processes in your organization so that when some results are truly committed, your organization is ready to respond quickly.

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At Kouls, we are designing a tool to accompany you in managing teams with a clear, visible, and frictionless strategy. We invite you to be part of our Beta group and continue promoting responsive and strategic organizations. In the following link, we tell you more about the product and you can apply for the closed group => https://www.kouls.app 

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Let's continue transforming the way organizations strategize, execute, and achieve excellence!

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