> Note: Your organization may have renamed this feature. If you don't see Objectives in your navigation, check with your admin for the name used in your account.
The Objectives feature in 15Five lets individuals, teams, and companies set, track, and align goals using the OKR (Objectives and Key Results) framework. This article explains what OKRs are, how the OKR cycle works in 15Five, and provides example OKRs to reference before drafting your own.
Required access: Objectives must be enabled for your account. Available on Focus and Total Platform pricing packages.
What Are OKRs?
OKRs stands for Objectives and Key Results. It is a framework for defining and tracking business goals.
- Objectives — what the organization or individual wants to accomplish. Objectives are qualitative, ambitious, and time-bound.
- Key Results — concrete, specific, and measurable outcomes. Key Results define how progress toward the Objective is measured and whether it is on track, behind, or at risk.
OKRs follow this formula: "I will accomplish [Objective] as measured by [Key Results]."
A well-constructed Key Result, when met, moves the needle on the Objective. If completing a Key Result does not advance the Objective, it is not an effective Key Result. If the Objective does not communicate the impact of the initiative, it is not an effective Objective.
OKR Cycle in 15Five
The standard OKR cycle in 15Five has five phases. Your organization's process may differ.
Phase 1: Set Quarterly Objectives
Select 3–5 company-level Objectives for the quarter. Each team sets 1–3 group Objectives aligned to company Objectives. Individuals work with their managers to set 1–3 personal Objectives aligned to team and company Objectives.
See Create an Objective in 15Five for instructions.
Phase 2: Update Objective Progress
Objective and Key Result owners update status from the Objectives tab or from within their Check-in. Objectives appear at the top of each weekly Check-in so managers have context on what their reports are working toward.
See How to track objective progress in a Check-in for instructions.
Phase 3: Monitor Progress and Remove Blockers
Use built-in reporting to track Objective progress across the organization. Managers can monitor progress through Check-ins and 1-on-1s and use the High Fives feature to recognize progress along the way.
Phase 4: Evaluate Objectives at Quarter End
At the end of each quarter, owners evaluate their OKRs against the targets set. Aspirational OKRs target 50–70% completion. Commitment-based OKRs target 100% completion. Managers and employees decide together whether to carry incomplete Objectives into the next quarter based on continued business relevance.
Phase 5: Begin the Next Cycle
Apply learnings from the prior quarter to refine Objectives for the next cycle. Completed and closed Objectives can be reopened if needed.
See Reopen a closed or archived objective for instructions.
OKR Examples
Top-Down OKR Example
| Level | Statement |
|---|---|
| Company Mission | Create the Space for People to Become their Greatest Selves |
| Company Objective | Rethink the Product Foundations to Meet Enterprise Needs |
| Team Objective | Design a flexible method for customers to categorize and find data |
| Key Result 1 | Discover the top 3 pain points from enterprise customers through interviews and the annual feedback survey |
| Key Result 2 | Confirm solution with engineers and internal stakeholders with 100% approval on the design |
| Key Result 3 | Validate the best solution with 2 customers with 80% average approval on the design |
Customer Success OKR Example
Objective: Delight our current customers in Q3
| Key Result | Target |
|---|---|
| Key Result 1 | Achieve a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 50 or better in Q3 |
| Key Result 2 | Reduce customer churn rate to 2% or less in Q3 |
| Key Result 3 | Generate 50 new online customer reviews in Q3 |
Marketing OKR Example
Objective: Improve our brand health in Q3
| Key Result | Target |
|---|---|
| Key Result 1 | Increase unaided brand awareness from 20% to 35% in Q3 |
| Key Result 2 | Increase total market perception that our brand is "good value" from 3.5 to 4.0 in Q3 |
Product OKR Example
Objective: Improve the way we validate our product roadmap in Q3
| Key Result | Target |
|---|---|
| Key Result 1 | Develop and market-test a user testing questionnaire in Q3 |
| Key Result 2 | Conduct 30 or more user testing and interview sessions in Q3 |
| Key Result 3 | Prepare a retrospective deck of findings from the first round of user testing in Q3 |
Key Rules
- Objectives must be enabled for your account to appear in Check-ins and the Objectives tab.
- Aspirational OKRs target 50–70% completion. Commitment-based OKRs target 100% completion.
- Each Key Result must be measurable — numeric, time-bound, and grounded in data.
- Objectives can be aligned to a parent Objective to create top-down goal alignment across the organization.
- Private Objectives can be aligned to public Objectives. See [Can I align a private objective to a public objective?] for the rules.
What You Can Do
Set Up
- Create an Objective in 15Five
- Align an objective with a parent objective
- Enable group visibility for objectives
Manage
- How to track objective progress in a Check-in
- Reopen a closed or archived objective
- Assign weights to Key Results when creating an objective
- How to create a collaborative objective in 15Five
Understand Visibility
- Who can see objectives in 15Five? (Visibility and permissions)
- [What visibility options are available when creating an objective?]
- [Can I align a private objective to a public objective?]
- [Who can see aligned objectives?]
Use in Reviews
- Enable Objectives in a performance review cycle
- Add Objectives questions to a question template
- [Which objectives are included in a performance review cycle?]