Focus Leads to Execution

The capacity to concentrate on an objective or task, and the ability to bring it into fruition are intrinsically linked. The COVID-19 pandemic left many businesses powerless with many failed initiatives. Performance demanded the adoption of unconventional methods and attitudes.

As a Strategic Partner, HR practitioners needed a more holistic framework that incorporated organization development approaches. HR as the process owner of the performance management system needed to bridge the organizational goals with the constant employee churn.  Managing the learning curve of new hires in relation to business processes or new systems is an ever present challenge across industries including healthcare. This is the predicament of managers who are under immense pressure to create a huge positive impact in achieving their strategic goals. 

Biannual performance reviewsis a bygone era if we want to continuously lead at the forefront or excel into the now. Check-ins, catch-up meetings, or productive one-on-one conversations to check on howour people are and what support they need to get them to the level of mutually agreed upon goals, need to take place.  The use of the system, and objectives and key results (OKRs) has indeed spurred these performance conversations that happen constantly. The main goal of OKRs is to track progress and not simply to measure and put a period into performance outcomes. Popularized in Google by John Doer, OKRs were used by the technology industry, and BPOs before. The system of OKRs is about transparency and awareness of what’s expected among the different teams in the organization. 

Specifically for The Medical City Clinic, at the height of the pandemic, we shifted the way we do things with this system. The results have been tremendous. Instead of merely going through established routines associated with business practices, a more agile one was adopted. Anchored on our new vision, to lead as the most trusted partner in ambulatory healthcare, Bob Muñoz, our president and CEO provides the over-all outlook for the year, and guided by this outlook, alignment meetings happen among departments being as inclusive as possible.

The OKRs are then formed with inputs from the experiences of the employees and other stakeholders. Despite having ambitious goals, calibration adjustments allow enough flexibility to respond to emerging issues.An efficient feedback mechanism has to be in place in order to track progress versus the key results. 

 In forming OKRs, there are points to consider: 

● Objectives need to be tangible - never forget the SMART way of formulation. This lets us get to the bottom of ideas leading us into actionable items through the key results.  

● About 2 to 5 objectives are set which are dependent on the size of the organization and the requirements for a particular department.  

● A maximum of five key results are recommended for each objective as these identify the How to Get to the Objective and become the Actionable Items. Too much of these create confusion and difficulty in the execution.

● Prior to cascade, managers need to be trained on how to do check-ins with their people. These take the place of formal performance reviews. It should be viewed as an engagement tool to build rapport and eventually trust with the employees. This is where short updates, quick wins, challenges and what support can be extended are discussed. 

Strategic HR means aligning with the business and ensuring that it is fit to run a change marathon.  With OKRs, a team is able to think audaciously and drive performance for long-term success. HR, therefore, should be poised for this race!