Knowing if your community is meeting its goals might be difficult, especially if you don't even know what those goals are. So, how do you establish and evaluate goals for your community? Setting objectives and understanding how to attain them are both made easy using OKRs.

What is OKR?

The abbreviation OKR stands for Objectives and Key Results and is a powerful goal-setting tool that enables you to define what you want to accomplish, identify the necessary steps to achieve it, and track your progress toward your goals. By incorporating OKRs into your community-led strategy, you can set clear, measurable objectives, monitor your growth over time, and demonstrate the value of your community to stakeholders through measurable results.

Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) are powerful tools for defining and tracking progress toward specific goals. While OKRs are commonly used at the organizational level, they can also be used to drive progress toward community-specific goals. 

Objective 

Your objective is your main goal for the community; by establishing it, you can stay on track and organize your time more effectively. Communicating this objective with your team or organization can keep everyone on the same page and can assist in aligning the objectives of your company and the community. Becoming the biggest community in our sector is an example of a community goal.

Key results 

Achievement is indicated by key outcomes. To determine if you are on track to meet your goal, you must reach these precise, measurable milestones. You should try to have three to five key results for each objective to gauge how well it worked. These outcomes ought to have a distinct metric that can be followed and ought to be SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound).

Reasons why community OKRs are essential

1.  Clear communication and Alignment: Community OKRs help align everyone's efforts towards the same goals. By setting clear and measurable objectives, all members of the community can work towards a common purpose.
2. Greater Accountability: With community OKRs, everyone has a shared understanding of what needs to be achieved and how progress is being made. This makes it easier to hold individuals and teams accountable for their contributions toward achieving the community's goals.
3.  Focus: With community OKRs, everyone is clear about what matters most. This helps to prioritize activities and resources toward the objectives that will have the most significant impact on the community.
4. Increased motivation and engagement: Community OKRs provide a clear sense of progress toward specific goals, which can be highly motivating. Seeing progress toward an objective can inspire individuals and teams to keep pushing toward success.
5. Flexibility: Community OKRs provide flexibility to adjust objectives and priorities as circumstances change. This means that the community can be more adaptable and responsive to changing needs and opportunities.
6. Communication: Community OKRs provide a framework for regular communication and reporting on progress towards specific goals. This helps to keep everyone informed about what is happening, what progress is being made, and what still needs to be done.
7.  Learning and development: By joining an OKR community, individuals can learn from others who have experience with OKRs. They can gain insights on effectively setting goals, measuring progress, and tracking results. Communities also provide opportunities to share success stories and learn from failures, which can lead to continuous improvement.
8. Collaboration and networking: OKR communities bring together individuals from different organizations and industries who share a common goal. By collaborating with others, individuals can broaden their knowledge and network, which can lead to new business opportunities.
9. Improved decision-making: OKRs can help community leaders make more informed decisions by providing a clear framework for prioritization and resource allocation. By aligning their efforts toward common goals, community members can ensure that resources are allocated to the most important initiatives and that decisions are based on data and insights.

Setting OKR for your community

Setting Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) for your community can help align everyone's efforts towards shared goals and achieve better outcomes. Here are the steps to set your community OKRs:

1. Define your community's mission and vision: The first step in setting your community's OKRs is to define your community's mission and vision. This will provide a clear purpose and direction for your community and help you identify the key areas where you want to make an impact.
2. Identify your community's top priorities: Once you have defined your community's mission and vision, identify the top priorities that will help you achieve your goals. Consider the needs and expectations of your community members, as well as any external factors that may impact your community's success.
3. Set ambitious and measurable objectives: Set specific and ambitious objectives that are aligned with your community's priorities. Ensure that your objectives are measurable and time-bound so that you can track progress and measure success.
4. Develop key results to support your objectives: Develop a set of key results that will help you achieve your objectives. Key results should be specific, measurable, and realistic, and should align with your objectives.
5. Assign ownership and accountability: Assign ownership and accountability for each objective and key result to ensure that everyone understands their role and responsibilities. Assigning ownership can also help ensure that objectives are achieved, and key results are delivered.
6. Regularly track progress and make adjustments: Regularly track progress against your objectives and key results to identify areas for improvement and make adjustments to your strategy and tactics as needed. Use data and insights to inform your decisions and continuously improve your community's performance.
7. Celebrate successes and learn from failures: Celebrate successes along the way and use failures as opportunities to learn and improve. Share success stories with your community members and use failures as learning opportunities to make your community stronger and more effective.

Conclusion

Community OKRs are essential for aligning, focusing, and motivating everyone toward achieving specific goals. They provide a framework for accountability, communication, and adaptability, which are essential for building a successful and thriving community. If you're not already using OKRs in your community, it's time to start!

If you're seeking a space free from distractions to help you organize your thoughts as you write your OKRs and tasks, NbliK is an excellent option. You can try NbliK for free today and enjoy a focused workspace to help you develop your community's objectives and achieve your goals.