Reflect and Reset: How to Strengthen Your Goal Setting Muscle (OKRs Cycle 3 of 3)

At the end of your OKR cycle, it's time to "reflect and reset." Many skip this step. Others do a retrospective that just looks back. You'll want to document your learnings and use them to inform your OKRs for the upcoming next cycle. When you apply learnings to make your next set of OKRs better, you are building your GOAL SETTING MUSCLE. This is Ben's favorite part of the coaching program since this is where he holds your KR Champions accountable.

Here is the sample KR that Ben walks you through in this episode along with the 3 columns you'll need to include in your OKR Tracker (1-Final Score, 2-Learning, and 3-Keep/Modify/Remove):

Here is a Sample Email you can use to announce Step 3 of the OKRs Cycle --- Reflect and Reset:

When to Send: Two to three weeks prior to the end of an OKRs cycle

Email Subject: Preparing for our upcoming OKRs reflect and reset sessions

From: OKRs Project Lead

To: In this case, it was sent to 12 team leads setting OKRs. However, an email like this may also be sent to an entire group of attendees from the initial OKRs workshop or the entire list of key result champions who will reflect and reset on their key result during the session.

[Email Body:]

All,

As you recall, our OKRs coach helped us get through Step 1: set and align OKRs and Step 2: check-in and monitor. As we prepare for the end of our first OKRs cycle, it is time to for Step 3: reflect and reset. In this last step of the cycle, we document learnings and draft OKRs for the upcoming quarter.

Timeline for creating OKRs as we enter our next cycle in Q4:

• By Oct 1: Reflect and reset with [COACH NAME]
• By Oct 8: Review draft OKRs with CEO to confirm direction
• By Oct 15: Refine OKRs with [COACH NAME]
• By Oct 22: Publish to the OKRs tracker

Instructions: At the end of each cycle, we take an hour to reflect on the prior period’s OKRs and apply what we learned. The outcome of a reflect and reset session is that each key result: (1) gets final scoring, (2) has a documented learning, and (3) is classified into one of three buckets:

1. Keep: The key result’s final score is not where we want it to be. We need to KEEP focused on moving this metric forward.
2. Modify: The key result needs to be adjusted based on learning. For example, we may have set a key result: “$5 million in new customer revenue” and achieved $10 million with a single customer only to learn that we need a more diverse set of customers. In this case, we might MODIFY to “five customers with $1 million+ revenue each.”
3. Remove: The key result is no longer worth pursuing or is best monitored as a health metric.

All key result champions attend reflect and reset sessions. Other interested team members are encouraged to join as well.

Thanks,

[OKRS PROJECT LEAD NAME]

The 3 Tips for Success with Reflect & Reset are:

1. Purpose: (1) Agree on final scores for key results, (2) capture learnings from the OKRs cycle, and (3) apply these learnings to the next cycle.
2. Duration: Thirty to sixty minutes, depending on the number of key results. Limit the time per key result to ten minutes. If more time is required, agree who will meet after the group discussion to resolve.
3. Attendees: Key result champions must attend this session; ideally, the entire team attends. Consider conducting a reflect and reset coaching session with two teams to optimize learning.

To request your free 1:1 OKRs Consult, contact Ben@OKRs.com

Thanks for listening and best of luck closing out your OKR cycle!