Often, people like to think of creativity as a random act that requires no pre-planning. However, the best creative teams know that planning in advance helps them ultimately achieve their end goals and lead their agency toward success. OKRs can be a great way to plan and execute to meet all of your creative team’s goals and deadlines.
What are OKRs?
OKR stands for objectives and key results. The objective part of the equation focuses on the goal you want to achieve. Your objective should be specific and time-focused. Then, you have the key results. This is the quantitative data you keep track of along the way to make sure you’re on your path to meeting your objective.
Essentially, OKRs are a way for your creative team to get clear on what you want to accomplish and how you can go about meeting the goals you set out for your team. When you know how to write actionable OKRs the rest of your work automatically falls into place. You have a plan of action, now all you have to do is accomplish this plan.
How to Set Quality OKRs for Creative Teams
You want to start with one main objective. It’s good to stay focused on one result, rather than a thousand goals you want to accomplish at once. Be specific. You can make it qualitative. There aren’t harsh numbers you need to meet, but instead, a general goal that you can see, hear, and feel.
Next, have a time-bound element to it. Set a deadline for yourself, otherwise, your team will be working for years trying to accomplish one objective.
Then, create the key results. There can be more than one key result, but try to keep it to no more than 5. These are quantitative marks you want to hit along the way to reaching your goal. For instance, if you want to build your following as an objective, a key result can be to post three times a week. These little key results will help you work up to that larger objective.
The Benefits of OKRs for Creative Teams
OKRs can be used by everyone and are especially helpful for creative teams. Creativity is often hard to measure. OKRs force creatives to be specific in their goals and come up with a clear path to achieve them. This is what turns your creative hobby into a business.
When your team uses OKRs, they are working toward a larger end goal in sight, rather than just floating along, hoping the result eventually comes to them. Taking a bit more decisive action can greatly benefit your team. OKRs offer your team a clear look at the future of your creative business.
How Creative Project Management Software Helps with OKRs
A great way to create OKRs that everyone on your team can agree on and want to see through is by using creative project management software.
Creative agency management tools can help get your team on the same page by using features like project templates. List your objective as the project goal. Then, you can put all of the steps, or key results, under that project goal. Creative agency project management software makes planning projects easier.
Also, features like the Gantt chart can help you stay on track to meeting your objectives. Gantt chart lays out the steps of your project, when each step needs to be done, and by who. This way, your team can be consistently reminded of what key results need to be accomplished to meet your goals.
If you want to help out your team to perform their best, smooth up their workflow by using creative project management tools, like Krock. Curious to try it out?
Conclusion
We hope, that this article provided you with some valuable insights on how to manage creative teams, lead them to success, and ensure their members are at the top of their game. And remember, much like everything in life, creative team leadership is about balance.
You can always check out the free trial, or book a quick demo call and get familiar with all the features.
