As a enterprise, focus and alignment are all the pieces.
There are such a lot of issues you are able to do to maneuver the needle, however which of them must you act on? With so many individuals engaged on so many initiatives, how do you retain everybody transferring in the identical course?
Unlocking these solutions is the distinction between disconnected work efforts and ahead progress to attain your mission.
As we proceed to scale, we have to encourage self-motivation and execute on extra cross-functional work to assist our prospects drive progress.
However let’s face it — autonomy with out alignment results in chaos.
That is the place the OGP framework is available in. Your technique is simply nearly as good as the way you execute in opposition to it. And having a framework to allow aligned execution is vital.
Ours permits us to proceed offering autonomy with clear alignment on priorities from the highest.
The OGP Framework
OGP stands for Aims, Targets, and Performs.
Earlier than you begin figuring out your OGPs, you need to perceive your mission, your values, and align on the technique that guides you.
Consider it as your working system. These are the weather that may inform your Aims and show you how to perceive what success seems to be like at every milestone.
And all of that is pushed by who you serve — your prospects, your purchaser persona, the individuals you’re in the end fixing for.
Our govt staff makes use of the next slide to drive our OGPs from the highest:
- Mission: What’s our big-picture imaginative and prescient?
- Values: What beliefs and ideas drive the way in which we work?
- Technique: How are we going to succeed in our imaginative and prescient?
- Strategic Aims: What long-term, company-wide bets are we making over the subsequent ~3 years
- Targets: How will we accomplish our aims on the practical stage over the subsequent 12-18 months?
- Performs: How will we obtain our objectives on the staff stage by particular deliverables over the subsequent 3-6 months?
Your Mission and Values don’t change fairly often (if in any respect). They keep fairly constant 12 months to 12 months.
Your Technique and Strategic Aims change roughly each three years. Annually at HubSpot, we overview our Aims from the earlier 12 months and resolve whether or not we’re going to maintain them constant for the upcoming 12 months.
However, your Targets and Performs get up to date extra incessantly. We replace our Targets yearly and revisit our Performs on a half-yearly or quarterly foundation.
Extra on OGPs
Alignment begins with an understanding of our long-term technique, and our Strategic Aims are decided on the govt stage.
We select to stack rank our Aims to supply clear prioritization for the entire enterprise. For instance, we now have seven Strategic Aims for 2025, and we now have them organized by order of significance.
Why? To verify our groups have a transparent sense of priorities and steerage on easy methods to make crucial trade-offs.
Every Goal has a certain quantity of Targets related to it. We prefer to categorize our Targets primarily based on precedence:
- Precedence 0 (P0): Crucial to reaching Strategic Goal (probably fails with out). There are fewer of those (~5 per Goal). They’re usually extremely cross-functional, and these objectives are reviewed by our C-suite on a month-to-month foundation to make sure progress and take away any blockers.
- Precedence 1 (P1): Essential to driving progress towards Strategic Goal. There are extra of those (~20 per Goal). They’re usually particular to 1 perform, and these objectives are reviewed by our practical leaders on a month-to-month foundation to make sure progress and take away any blockers.
Then, there are Performs that roll up into every Aim. These are related to the “how” — the specifics round what you’re going to do to perform your Targets.
Appears like a number of work, proper? It’s, however belief me — it’s price it.
An vital method to hold issues working easily is thru accountability. One vital manner we’re holding individuals accountable is thru our refreshed DRI mannequin.
The DRI Mannequin
Within the OGP framework, the DRI (or Straight Accountable Particular person) is the one individual answerable for transferring a Strategic Goal ahead. They set the imaginative and prescient for the target, outline the success metrics and work to be completed, align cross-functional groups, and navigate any blockers that come up.
Accountability and transparency are the keys to understanding whether or not we’re truly executing our technique all year long.
We use mechanisms — like Quarterly Enterprise Evaluations (QBRs) and month-to-month experiences — to create area for standing updates, tackle blockers proactively, and guarantee we’re hitting our milestones.
So, there you could have it. Simply pop some concepts onto a couple of slides, and you’ll verify strategic planning off your record!
…not so quick.
OGPs are a method to an finish. They may help create focus, however true alignment comes from doing the exhausting work of pondering, planning, and speaking.
For us, the strategic course is ready by the chief staff, however the execution of that technique may be very bottoms-up. Each VP is working with their administrators, managers, and particular person contributors to unravel the “how” of every purpose.
That is the place the alignment from the highest meets the autonomy of practical specialists — and that is the place the facility of OGPs comes from.
How We Make OGPs Work For Us
On the core of strategic planning at HubSpot, we got down to determine a very powerful issues to unravel for our prospects. This enables us to focus our vitality on the work that issues and align our groups on the work to be completed.
The HEART of Success
What actually works for us all through this entire course of is that this: Path and readability about our priorities comes from the chief stage, however the entire firm is concerned within the “how.”
Everybody at HubSpot is a vital a part of strategic planning.
Our Aim Drivers are collaborating with their groups to write down memos that define why their objectives are vital, how we’re going to attain them, and what assets are wanted to achieve success.
And our govt leaders are setting course on the highest view.
That’s how we create focus and alignment at each stage of group.
How We Proceed to Evolve
Our strategy to strategic planning evolves yearly. It’s vital that we tweak our framework primarily based on new learnings and suggestions from our workers.
We’re continuously utilizing information to carry ourselves accountable to the technique we laid out as an organization. For instance, we conduct eNPS surveys and interviews with individuals across the enterprise to grasp the place we’re excelling and the place we’re developing brief.
It’s comforting to slap an “approved” framework onto your online business. It provides you a number of confidence, however you’ll be able to’t simply cease there. You might want to work out what works for you because the business grows and your buyer wants evolve.
Focus doesn’t simply occur. It’s a byproduct of shared imaginative and prescient. And imaginative and prescient comes from speaking, sharing, taking a look at information, and updating assumptions.
In the event you’re not doing that work upfront, don’t trouble with OGPs or every other goal-setting framework. None of them will work.
Give It a Strive
In our tradition code, we speak about hiring individuals with HEART (Humble, Efficient, Adaptable, Outstanding, Clear). We outline efficient as individuals who get sh*t completed and take possession for his or her success. You may also name this autonomy.
And in an autonomous tradition, individuals can solely thrive once they have a transparent course on the place the corporate goes. That is the place so many firms find yourself losing prime expertise.
Focus and alignment are all the pieces — and our framework is an extremely useful device to maintain workers centered on the trail ahead.
This submit was tailored from MSPOTs: the Secret to Focus and Alignment, and has been up to date for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
