I came in thinking I had one laser-focused mission: run the lab. But I had seen an org use OKRs and was interested in deploying the system. So I found a format I liked (Excel, objectives in bold, key results under each, quarters pushing out in columns to the right), explained the plan to them, invited them to come get me up to speed on things. Turned out there were over 70 discrete projects ongoing trying to implement or change things. Some from above, some initiated from below, some inherited from my predecessor who hadn't bothered to mention them to me. I had started 1:1s every week with each of 5-6 folks and got their input. Each person ended up with their own sheet. It took a while to sort out that some people had different names for the same things. There was clearly some gradient descent on my part. 70 projects is the lowest local minimum I could find. It took several epochs to find.
One thing I did, I don't know if this is part of OKRs anywhere else, is I really wanted numbers on all the KRs. So I added columns for the success value and data type: binary, ordinal, normalized, continuous, whatever it is. So at least I know what kind of math to apply. And it's a nice checksum that you know you've discussed that KR enough that you understand it enough to compute on: (binary, success=1, 0) or (ordinal, 37, 12) is super useful.
I let the 1:1s slide to every 2 weeks once we had a visual. Some prefer keeping the weekly. Some just stopped showing up. Hint: I've learned the 1:1 no-shows are also the ones who mail it in generally.
We have some federally mandated inspections coming so I dropped a big red line on that quarter. That's a nice visual to help say "it's gotta happen by then, or we're not doing it until after".
Laid out in front of me, some of these arrows clearly needed more wood. Some needed to be discarded. Some personnel changes were needed. Personnel changes are in progress.
Let me be very clear, my direct reports absolutely manipulate my behavior. That's their job. I've got plenty of clinical and research work. My role as the lab director is to synthesize what they're telling me and recruit resources for them, cut deals with other departments, go to my boss, whatever it takes.
And, when my boss's boss's boss put out word that my boss was getting promoted and they were looking for my new boss, I could have stepped into that breach, gunning for a promotion. But it's frankly a lot early for me to be looking for another promotion and I knew I had lots of work to deal with locally. So instead, I wrote a recommendation for a colleague and encouraged her to apply. And guess who my new boss is?
The upshot is my former colleague, now boss, is totally on my side. For her, this was a pheonix-rising sort of opportunity. She's on a mission from God to be the best boss ever. In our first meeting (remember, first impressions) I showed her our OKRs. She had never heard of OKRs, probably still doesn't know what that stands for, but she knew, instantly, that I'm tracking "all the stuff" like white on rice. You know you did it right when the boss sees your OKRs and completely changes the subject to start talking about problems in other areas. She's not worried about the lab's direction. She was, and is, plenty stressed with other departments she owns. But if I tell her we need help, she's very clear we need that help.
And we've got some of the things done. Which is nice. It's a little early to start computing annual success rate, but it won't be 0. I think most people hear about OKRs and setting the bar so high it makes you nervous, 60-70% success rates, etc and get worried. I think without OKRs,or something like that, a lot of people don't realize how many high bars they've set for themselves. 70 projects for 40 people is a little concerning. And I won't even tell you how many times I said "Hey, it's okay, let's dial this back a little" or "Can we buy more time on this? Who do I need to talk to?"