How to set amazing OKRs with your team
This is the kit our coaches work from when we run OKR setting workshops with clients. Miro, Google Slides and PowerPoint, with the pre-work brief, the agenda, and the facilitator notes that make a real workshop run.
If you want to get the absolute most out of your team, facilitate an incredible OKR workshop for them. This guide covers what to do before, during and after the workshop. The shape is slightly different depending on whether you are setting a Company OKR or a Team OKR, so the kit covers both.
Running in person rather than remote? Print out the Google Slides version included in the kit. It rolls fast either way.
How do you prepare for the OKR setting workshop?
Meetings can be a huge waste of time. The fix is making sure everyone walks in fully prepared. Two key asks for your team before the workshop:
- Review the company OKR. Read the company OKR before our workshop. Think about how your team could contribute to it. Consider whether there are other priorities that need to be addressed. If there is no company OKR yet, reflect on the business goals and the obstacle in the way of them.
- Draft an objective. Following the reflection above, draft a single Objective for the quarter. Base it on what you believe is most important. The Objective answers the question: if nothing else was achieved this quarter except for one thing, what would that need to be?
That is it. Twenty minutes of pre-work per attendee. It saves the workshop from becoming a brainstorm.
What is the agenda for an OKR setting workshop?
A good OKR goal-setting workshop runs for around three to four hours. Broken down:
- Score the previous quarter and discuss outcomes (20 minutes).
- Retrospective on lessons learned (20 minutes).
- Break (15 minutes).
- OKR setting for the next cycle (2 to 3 hours).
- Discuss strategic priorities (30 minutes).
- Define the Objective for the cycle (45 minutes).
- Identify the Key Results for the Objective (45 minutes).
- Identify the key initiatives needed to deliver on the OKR (30 minutes).
- Communications plan (20 minutes).
- Close and retrospective on the day (20 minutes).
The kit includes facilitator notes for each block, so you do not have to invent the prompts on the day.
What is in the OKR Setting Template Kit?
Three formats, so you can run it the way your team works:
- Miro OKR Setting Template: best for remote teams and live co-authoring.
- Google Slides OKR Setting Template: share the link, edit together, present from the same deck.
- OKR Setting Template PowerPoint Download (.pptx): for teams that prefer offline-first.
Every version has the same agenda, the same exercises, and the same facilitator script.
How do you use the Miro template?
The kit has the pre-work brief, the full agenda, and the steps you need to follow to run a strong workshop. The Miro version is built so the team can write directly into the template during the session, then export it for the wider org afterwards.
If your team is new to OKR, run the Free Introduction to OKR Course before the workshop so everyone walks in with the same baseline.
When to run this workshop
Run an OKR setting workshop at the start of every cycle. Most teams run quarterly. Some run on a six-week cadence early in their adoption. The shape of the workshop holds either way.
This is the workshop we facilitate in the Experiment stage of The 90-Day OKR Quickstart Blueprint, our six-stage method for embedding OKR. You do not need the full Blueprint to use the kit. The workshop runs cleanly on its own.
What teams get out of running it well
- A single OKR per team, written and owned by the people doing the work.
- Strategic priorities explicitly connected to the quarter ahead, not assumed.
- A communications plan so the rest of the business knows where you are heading.
- A baseline retrospective that makes the next cycle sharper than the last.
That is the workshop. Everything else is refinement on top.
Want help running it?
Most teams run their first workshop with the kit and learn fast. If your team has tried OKR before and the goals are not landing, or if you want a senior coach in the room for the first session, book a free OKR Strategy Call and we will sketch the cleanest way to get you running. 15 minutes. No pitch. You walk away with a clear next step either way.
