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OKR examples for Australian workplaces

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Setting goals at work is one thing, but achieving them is another. 

This is where the help of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) come in. They’re a powerful framework to turn your biggest goals into meaningful outcomes.

OKRs provide a clear, simple structure for your entire business to focus on what truly matters. They connect your high-level business strategy to the daily work of your teams, making sure that everyone is pulling in the same direction. 

If you’re new to OKRs or need a refresher on how to set them, download our OKRs Guide.

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How to use these OKR examples

The OKR examples below aren’t meant to be copied and pasted. They’re starting points designed to spark ideas and show you what’s possible. Think of these as a template you can adapt to fit your specific business needs.

As you go through them, consider how each one could be tailored to your industry, company size and current priorities. The key here is to define what success looks like for you and then build measurable key results to track your progress. 

For a deeper dive, we’ve put together a guide on how to write OKRs that get results.

Linking OKRs to your business strategy

Your OKRs should be a direct reflection of your business strategy. Before you even start drafting objectives, take a step back and ask yourself what are the biggest priorities for the next quarter or year? Are we focused on aggressive growth, improving profitability, expanding into a new market or boosting our company culture?

Once you’re clear on your high-level goals, you can start creating company-wide OKRs that support them. These top-level OKRs then cascade down to departments and individuals, creating a thread that ties every person’s work directly to the company’s success. This alignment is what transforms an ordinary workplace into a high-performance machine.

Tips for customising OKRs to fit your team

Be specific and realistic

Setting clear OKRs removes ambiguity and sets your team up for success. Vague key results like “increase sales” or “improve engagement” leave too much room for interpretation and make progress hard to track. 

Instead, define measurable outcomes with clear targets and timeframes, such as increasing new sales revenue by 15% in a quarter. The goal should be ambitious enough to encourage growth, but still achievable with the resources and capacity your team has. 

Focus on outcomes, not tasks

OKRs are not a project plan or a checklist of activities. Objectives should describe the impact you want to achieve, not the work you plan to do. For example, “launch a new marketing campaign” focuses on output, while “become the go-to brand in our niche” focuses on outcome. 

Key results then act as the measurable signals of success, such as increased website traffic, higher conversion rates or more qualified leads. This approach keeps teams focused on results rather than just completing tasks.

Involve your team

The most effective OKRs are built collaboratively, not handed down from the top. Involving your team in setting objectives and key results creates a sense of ownership and accountability. 

When people understand the “why” behind the goal and have a say in how success is measured, they’re more engaged and invested in achieving it. Collaboration also leads to more realistic and informed OKRs, as team members can provide valuable insight into what’s achievable and where effort should be focused.

Keep it simple

Resist the temptation to track everything at once. Having too many objectives can dilute focus and reduce the overall impact. As a rule of thumb, aim for three to five objectives per quarter, each supported by three to five clear, measurable key results. 

This keeps priorities clear and makes sure that teams know exactly where to direct their energy. Simplicity makes OKRs easier to understand, track, and review, which ultimately leads to better execution and stronger outcomes.

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Company-wide OKR examples

Company-wide OKRs set the direction for the entire organisation. They rally everyone around a few critical priorities.

Objective 1: Achieve record-breaking revenue growth

  • Key Result 1: Increase total revenue by 25% to $5M.
  • Key Result 2: Secure 50 new enterprise-level customers.
  • Key Result 3: Increase the average deal size by 15% from $10k to $11.5k.
  • Key Result 4: Reduce monthly customer churn from 3% to 1.5%.

Objective 2: Become the most desired employer in our industry

  • Key Result 1: Improve employee satisfaction score from 7.5 to 9.0.
  • Key Result 2: Increase employee retention rate from 85% to 95%.
  • Key Result 3: Receive 500 qualified applications for open roles.
  • Key Result 4: Achieve a 90% employee participation rate in our wellness program.

Objective 3: Deliver an unforgettable customer experience

  • Key Result 1: Improve Net Promoter Score (NPS) from 40 to 55.
  • Key Result 2: Reduce average first-response time for support tickets from 2 hours to 30 minutes.
  • Key Result 3: Increase customer satisfaction (CSAT) score from 88% to 95%.
  • Key Result 4: Achieve a 98% customer retention rate for key accounts.

Team OKR examples for Australian businesses

Once company-wide OKRs are set, each department can create its own related objectives that contribute to the bigger picture.

HR and people team OKRs

The HR team is central to building a great company culture and making sure you have the right people to achieve your goals.

Objective: Build a high-performing and engaged team

  • Key Result 1: Increase employee engagement survey score by 15%.
  • Key Result 2: Reduce employee turnover by 20% in the next quarter.
  • Key Result 3: Implement a new performance management framework and achieve 95% team adoption.
  • Key Result 4: Decrease time-to-hire from 45 days to 30 days.

Marketing OKRs

Marketing OKRs focus on building brand presence and generating a pipeline of qualified leads for the sales team.

Objective: Dominate our niche and drive demand

  • Key Result 1: Increase marketing qualified leads (MQLs) by 40%.
  • Key Result 2: Grow organic website visitors from 10,000 to 25,000 per month.
  • Key Result 3: Increase social media followers across all platforms by 50%.
  • Key Result 4: Improve the MQL-to-SQL conversion rate from 25% to 35%.

Sales OKRs

The sales team is on the front lines, turning leads into revenue. Their OKRs are typically focused on hitting and exceeding sales targets.

Objective: Smash our sales targets this quarter

  • Key Result 1: Achieve $1.2M in new sales revenue.
  • Key Result 2: Increase the sales team’s closing rate from 20% to 25%.
  • Key Result 3: Reduce the sales cycle length from 60 to 45 days.
  • Key Result 4: Implement a new SDR social selling process and generate 50 new opportunities.

Operations OKRs

The operations team keeps the business running smoothly. Their OKRs are centered on efficiency, quality and process improvement.

Objective: Create a world-class, scalable operational framework

  • Key Result 1: Reduce operational costs by 10% without impacting quality.
  • Key Result 2: Automate 5 key manual processes, saving 20 hours per week.
  • Key Result 3: Improve supply chain efficiency to ensure 99% on-time delivery.
  • Key Result 4: Implement a new project management system and achieve 100% team adoption.

Product and engineering OKRs

This team is responsible for building and improving the product. Their OKRs balance innovation with reliability and user satisfaction.

Objective: Ship a product our customers can’t live without

  • Key Result 1: Launch 3 major new features requested by our top 10 customers.
  • Key Result 2: Reduce critical bugs by 90% through improved testing protocols.
  • Key Result 3: Increase user engagement with our core feature by 25%.
  • Key Result 4: Improve the product’s average load time from 3 seconds to under 1 second.

Customer Success OKRs

Customer success is all about making sure customers get maximum value from your product, which is crucial for retention and growth.

Objective: Proactively drive customer success and loyalty

  • Key Result 1: Increase customer retention rate to 95%.
  • Key Result 2: Increase product adoption by 30% across all user accounts.
  • Key Result 3: Maintain a customer satisfaction (CSAT) score of 95% or higher.
  • Key Result 4: Proactively resolve 50% of potential support tickets before they are logged by customers.
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Cross-functional OKR examples

Some of the most impactful business outcomes happen when multiple teams collaborate. Cross-functional OKRs break down silos and unite different departments toward a single, powerful objective.

Objective: Launch our new product and capture 10% market share

  • Key Result 1 (Product/Engineering): Deliver the final product version by March 31 with zero critical bugs.
  • Key Result 2 (Marketing): Generate 1,000 marketing qualified leads for the new product in the first month post-launch.
  • Key Result 3 (Sales): Close 100 new deals for the new product in Q2.
  • Key Result 4 (Customer Success): Achieve a 95% positive onboarding satisfaction score for new product customers.

Objective: Improve the end-to-end employee experience

  • Key Result 1 (HR): Reduce the onboarding time for new hires from 5 days to 2 days.
  • Key Result 2 (IT): Ensure 100% of new hires have all necessary equipment and access on Day 1.
  • Key Result 3 (Finance): Streamline the payroll setup process to take less than 15 minutes per employee.
  • Key Result 4 (All Depts): Increase the employee satisfaction score related to internal processes from 6 to 8.5.

Best practices for setting OKRs

Putting the OKR framework into practice requires more than just writing down goals. Keep these points front of mind when setting OKRs.

Track progress weekly

Don’t set OKRs and forget them until the end of the quarter. Regular check-ins keep the goals top-of-mind and allow teams to adjust their tactics as needed.

Separate OKRs from compensation

OKRs are for alignment and motivation, not for performance metrics tied to bonuses. Linking them to pay can encourage teams to set safe, unambitious goals.

Embrace failure

Ambitious goals mean you won’t always hit 100%. A 70% achievement on a stretch goal is often a huge win. Create a culture where it’s safe to aim high and sometimes fall short. It’s how you drive innovation.

Stay agile

The business landscape changes. If an OKR is no longer relevant halfway through a quarter, it’s okay to adjust it. The goal is to drive meaningful business outcomes, not to stick to a plan rigidly. The OKR framework is particularly effective for goal setting in remote teams, promoting clear goals and connection no matter where your people work.

Turning OKRs into action with Employment Hero

Having a great set of OKRs is the first step, but the next is bringing them to life. Without the right tools, even the best-laid plans can fall flat, lost in spreadsheets and forgotten documents.

Employment Hero’s platform embeds goal setting directly into your daily workflow. You can set, track and manage company, department and individual OKRs all in one place. It makes goals visible, keeps everyone aligned and transforms the OKR framework from a theoretical exercise into a practical tool for growth. See how it works with an interactive demo of our OKRs feature.

Want to see Employment Hero in action? Get in touch with one of our business specialists today.

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