Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) are one of the most popular goal-setting methodologies around. In fact, a report from OKR International found that 90% of organizations have switched to OKR-style goal-setting.
To prepare for the release of our upcoming guide, OKR best practice in 2026, let’s look at the role OKRs play in driving measurable performance results. Keep reading to learn how employers can improve organizational objectives and their impact on business success.
Why we need OKRs in 2026
Change is a natural part of working life. Even so, it seems to have accelerated in recent years. All kinds of businesses are rolling out AI workflows, more employees want hybrid or remote work, and employers expect their people to shoot for the moon.
During such turbulent times, the people in your organization need shared direction. They need to align around mutual objectives like OKRs and work together to drive the business forward.
Problems for employers in 2026
Findings from Gallup show serious worldwide engagement challenges:
- Only 21% of employees are engaged globally.
- Meanwhile, 17% are actively disengaged.
This isn’t just a problem on the global scale, either. Despite the US being ahead in engagement (30%), they also report the following issues:
- Less than half (47%) of US employees strongly agree they know what’s expected of them at work.
- Only 20% of US employees feel strongly connected to company culture.
- Just 19% of US employees trust their organizational leadership.
- While only 24% are confident in their organization’s financial future.
While there are countless potential causes for employee disengagement, the fact so many are unclear on their responsibilities is quite telling. The same goes for the vast majority who don’t feel connected to their workplace culture.
Without direction and a link with their employer, employees will become detached from their work and any importance it may have. Similarly, they’ll probably start looking for an exit if they don’t trust their leaders or even feel confident in their employer’s stability.
So, how can objectives and key results make a difference?
How OKRs can help solve these issues
Objectives and key results are an interesting blend of personal autonomy (due to their results focus) and top-down direction (since objectives serve as a guiding light). Here are some of the resulting ways they can enable HR and leaders to overcome modern performance management blockers:
- OKRs for feedback and motivation: Regular feedback loops can make employees up to 3.6x more motivated. OKR updates act as a natural opportunity for performance feedback while backing it up with performance metrics.
- The ultimate aid to collaboration: Objectives guide projects so employees don’t work against each other, while key results provide transparency so we’re all aware of each other’s contributions.
- Business objectives and ideals: OKRs give employees critical direction, so they always know the impact of their work and its purpose within the business. For some businesses, these objectives can reflect ethics and ideology that can motivate your people. For example, you might work harder for a charity organization knowing its efforts support underprivileged people.
Why you might be getting goal-setting wrong
With the popularity that objectives and key results enjoy, you’d think that people would understand what makes them work. Unfortunately, this might not be the case. To help you create better OKRs in the future, here are some of the ways organizations can get them wrong:
- Key results that aren’t results-focused: Overly-prescriptive key results limit employee autonomy. Instead, focus key results on the impact you want them to have. Rather than having someone produce three new social media ads a week, for example, task them with boosting ad CTRs by 30% this quarter.
- Lack of alignment: Different projects without clear mutual objectives could negatively impact the business by working against each other. If one department promotes green tech, for example, you don’t want another department to promote gas-guzzling SUVs on your brand’s social media.
- No regular feedback loops: There isn’t much point in OKRs for performance management if you don’t use them as part of a regular feedback loop. Otherwise, you’ll have outdated key result while the objectives themselves soon become stale and disconnected from current business needs.
- Not understanding stretch goals: For the most part, objectives and key results should set reasonable targets. Stretch goals, by comparison, should to be ambitious. They shouldn’t be the main way you set goals. But they should invite employees to push themselves. If someone only achieves 50% or so of a stretch goal, that’s still a total success.
How to build more impactful objectives and key results
While any goal is arguably better than none, it’s not by much. If you’ve made it this far, it’s a safe bet you’re looking for some tips to help you establish OKR best practice for your business. Here are four key steps to achieving truly impactful objectives and key results in 2026:
1. Embed OKRs into regular, continuous feedback
Tools like our performance management platform, Perform365, embed OKRs into regular feedback loops like employee check-ins. They’re regularly scheduled and non-disruptive. They’re also the best way to get updates without chasing employees for them. That way, you can monitor progress with a moving picture instead of a snapshot.
2. Allow employees to contribute to goal-setting
Although top-down goal-setting keeps people aligned, it’s not the best for personal autonomy. If you want your people to take ownership of their efforts and go the extra mile, you need to let them control how they work.
Employees setting their own goals shows an applied understanding of what your business is trying to achieve. By giving them a seat at the table, you enable them to innovate while providing responsibility that supports future succession planning.
3. Be willing to review, adapt, and scrap your OKRs
Your organization will probably have a lot of continuous objectives and key results that may not change over time. However, this doesn’t mean they should all be that way.
All kinds of things can happen that might require course corrections for your goals. Trends can emerge or fade, new markets can open up, and new innovations can explode onto the stage. AI technology, for example, has seriously shaken up the priorities of countless businesses. You need to keep OKRs adaptable if you want to stay agile.
Objectives and key results ensure measurable impact
Like any good tool or metric, you’ve got to put the work into getting objectives and key results right. As long as you take the time to build adaptable OKRs that reflect business needs and employee experiences, however, you’ll find them to be extremely reliable.
Be willing to experiment with how you set goals, whether they’re OKRs, SMART Goals, or some combination of the two. Just keep them results-focused and regularly updated.
If you want to learn more about how to set OKRs, keep an eye out for our upcoming ebook, OKR best practice in 2026: The playbook for continuous performance.