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Do you have a KPI graveyard?
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Hey Reader, Hows your KPI graveyard doing? This week I assigned one of our coaching clients OKR homework... which he had no idea what that meant, so I proceded to put together a little workbook & breakdown for him. This sentence has been stuck in my head ever since: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are metrics used to measure ongoing performance against specific business objectives, while OKRs are a goal-setting framework that combines ambitious objectives with measurable outcomes. source How often have I tried to use a KPI for something that was an "ambitious objective" rather than "ongoing"? Off the top of my head we've (loosely) tried to put KPIs on things like:
And the KPIs almost immediately get added to our KPI graveyard of "failed attempts" of setting measurable goals that we can keep track of, and of course I take it personally. But it comes down to I was using the wrong tool for the job. If you're tracking something that has an endpoint, finish line, or it transitions into something else - let me introduce you to OKRs. 19 of 200 - we're sooo close to 10% of our survey goal of 200 peopleWe're putting together a report on what marketing is actually working to get you clients right now. For example 63.2% of our responses right now are saying that "Networking & building referral partnerships" is their highest ROI marketing activity this year: We're excited to breakdown what marketing funnels are working best for different types of services and offer types, to be able to give you guys even more specific marketing advice. We did a whole video on the report here But we need your help - will you be the one submision that helps us get to 10% of our goal of 200? Take the survey here What's an OKR?Objective & Key Results The Objective is the goal your trying to achieve, and the Key Results is 2-5 specific (and measurable) things that if completed would mean you've succeded in your objective. If we take a pretty common goal we hear "I want to make more money", on it's own it's pretty unstructured and leaves a lot of unknowns like - what are you doing to make money, how will you know if you have made more money, what are the things that are driving more income, etc If we convert that to an OKR structure (with hypothetical KRs): Objective: End the 2026 making $10k months
If this was your OKR - these 4 Key Results now give you specific things that you can make a plan, experiment with options, maybe assign ownership of one to a team member, and the check the box when you figure out a solution to it. And if your KRs are correctly scoped then by completing each of the Key Results you will be meeting your Objective (goal). Why are we talking about OKRs?Because PSLs (pumpkin spice latte's) came out at Starbucks this week - we're officially starting fall, and next week starts September. You have 4 months to cross off all those goals you had for 2026 but have been putting off because you had "lots of time". What 2 (at most 3) objectives will you be locking in to complete by the end of the year? Now the hard part, assign 2-5 measurable Key Results that will tell you if you've achieved that Objective. If you're unsure how to structure your goals into an OKR, hit reply with you're goal, I'll give you some ideas on how to turn it into an OKR. Or just share your OKRs I'd love to see them! -Lyndon |
Jo & Lyndon
We're the ones you call when you want to talk through the hard stuff of entrepreneurship and increase your income. You'll get a weekly dose of business tips, resources, and "wait, that really happened?" stories from us when you subscribe to our email list.
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