OKRs and CFRs: Key Difference | Which framework is better ?
Every successful business understands that in order to remain ahead, they must have a laser-focused approach to goal setting, which should keep the business driven and focused on results. John Doerr, Measure What Matters author states that coupling a company’s objectives and key results (OKRs) with conversations, feedback and recognition (CFRs) is a great way to set goals. The combination of OKRs and CFRs creates powerful synergistic opportunities: OKRs help you create goals and precisely identify their attainment; CFRs provide functional streams through which OKRs are realized adding nuance to OKR tracking performance and results. The incorporation of both strategies would yield tangible benefits to the strategic strengthen goal-setting approach.
What are OKRs (Objectives & Key Results)?
The OKR strategy is a unique goal-setting system used collaboratively by companies like Google, Atlassian, and LinkedIn to create effective and result-driven goals. Structured into objectives and key results, OKRs empower you to set bold goals for your organization on both a collective and individual level as long as they are measurable and time-bound. Here’s the breakdown:
Objectives: Each objective has a succinct description of what needs to be achieved, accompanied by two to four key results which support it.
Key results: Metrics indicating progress towards an objective that can be measured quantitatively.
What are CFRs (Conversation, Feedback, & Recognition)?
CFR is one of those systems that help you improve business results as well as get useful feedback and recognize exceptional achievements all at once. There are three parts to CFR that explain what it means.
Conversations: A genuine exclusive dialog between the person in charge, a manager, and someone who contributes to the work with an aim enhance business output.
Feedback: An intentional interaction among equals to measure achievements and give directions for better performance in the days ahead.
Recognition: Words or actions which specifically appreciate participants, no matter how small their participation was.
What's the difference between OKRs and CFRs?
The OKR framework helps companies define clear, quantifiable, and ambitious goals that lead to growth and new ideas. On the other side, CFRs put communication, feedback, and acknowledgment first. This means that managers and employees can talk openly about feedback, issues, and successes.
So, here are some important ways that OKRs and CFRs are different:
- OKRs are all about aligning strategies and measuring performance, while CFRs are all about getting employees involved, helping them grow, and working together.
- Organizations and teams usually use OKRs, whereas managers and employees use CFRs through regular meetings and conversations.
- OKRs help keep track of progress toward goals, and CFRs encourage employees to keep getting better and happier at work.
- People usually set OKRs for a certain amount of time, such every three months or every year. CFRs, on the other hand, are always going on.
- While CFRs are more about talking and giving feedback, OKRs are more about numbers and measurements.
Why you should use CFRs and OKRs jointly
Even if there are still distinctions between OKRs and CFRs, the two frameworks were meant to work together.
OKRs are quite clear on what success looks like because they are usually assessed as “complete” or “incomplete.” There are techniques to make OKR tracking more complex, including utilizing percentage benchmarks and OKR scoring, but they are mostly binary.
Because of this, CFRs were created to bring OKRs into organizations. They encouraged deeper and more complicated goal setting and tracking. Also, because CFRs are supposed to be done in person or over video conferences, they give a personal touch to the OKR process, which helps people connect, stay engaged, and get great business results. Because of this, there are many good things about employing OKRs and CFRs together.
8 benefits of combining OKRs and CFRs
Your business can get the following benefits from using OKRs and CFRs:
- Better alignment across the organization: Regular updates make sure that managers and staff are all working toward the same goals.
- More focus on the most important things: OKRs determine the direction for the organization, and CFRs cut out the noise.
- A good corporate culture: Recognition creates a happy and rewarding place to work.
- More involvement from managers and employees: CFRs foster ongoing communication, which helps to build connections.
- Better relationships between employees and managers: Giving and getting feedback helps people work together better.
- More productive: Recognition is one of the best ways to get people to work harder toward their goals.
- More profitable company results: Better procedures, clear priorities, and a focus on continual improvement lead to better results.
- Better leadership skills: Managers can talk to employees more easily
A summary of OKRs and CFRs
One of the best ways to make sure that OKRs are used in your company is to drive them. Using CFRs to connect OKRs gives you a useful way to put OKRs into action, keep track of them, and change them as needed based on timely interactions, feedback, and recognition. You can use the best practices listed above to integrate OKRs and CFRs in a way that boosts motivation, productivity, attention, and business success while also building relationships across your company.
Want to improve your OKR and CFR process? OKR software makes it easy to set, track, and update OKRs. Read our advice on how to choose the best OKR software for your business, or see how OKR software may help your business.
