What are Pharmaceutical Research OKRs?
The Objective and Key Results (OKR) framework is a simple goal-setting methodology that was introduced at Intel by Andy Grove in the 70s. It became popular after John Doerr introduced it to Google in the 90s, and it's now used by teams of all sizes to set and track ambitious goals at scale.
Writing good OKRs can be hard, especially if it's your first time doing it. You'll need to center the focus of your plans around outcomes instead of projects.
We have a collection of OKRs examples for Pharmaceutical Research to give you some inspiration. You can use any of the templates below as a starting point for your OKRs.
If you want to learn more about the framework, you can read our OKR guide online.
How to write your own Pharmaceutical Research OKRs
1. Get tailored OKRs with an AI
You'll find some examples below, but it's likely that you have very specific needs that won't be covered.
You can use Tability's AI generator to create tailored OKRs based on your specific context. Tability can turn your objective description into a fully editable OKR template -- including tips to help you refine your goals.
- 1. Go to Tability's plan editor
- 2. Click on the "Generate goals using AI" button
- 3. Use natural language to describe your goals
Tability will then use your prompt to generate a fully editable OKR template.
Watch the video below to see it in action 👇
Option 2. Optimise existing OKRs with Tability Feedback tool
If you already have existing goals, and you want to improve them. You can use Tability's AI feedback to help you.
- 1. Go to Tability's plan editor
- 2. Add your existing OKRs (you can import them from a spreadsheet)
- 3. Click on "Generate analysis"
Tability will scan your OKRs and offer different suggestions to improve them. This can range from a small rewrite of a statement to make it clearer to a complete rewrite of the entire OKR.
You can then decide to accept the suggestions or dismiss them if you don't agree.
Option 3. Use the free OKR generator
If you're just looking for some quick inspiration, you can also use our free OKR generator to get a template.
Unlike with Tability, you won't be able to iterate on the templates, but this is still a great way to get started.
Pharmaceutical Research OKRs examples
We've added many examples of Pharmaceutical Research Objectives and Key Results, but we did not stop there. Understanding the difference between OKRs and projects is important, so we also added examples of strategic initiatives that relate to the OKRs.
Hope you'll find this helpful!
OKRs to develop innovative pharmaceutical products
- ObjectiveDevelop innovative pharmaceutical products
- KRDevelop and test 2 prototypes with satisfactory patient outcomes
- Conduct patient outcome tests on prototypes
- Identify key components for prototype based on patient needs
- Build and refine two prototype designs
- KRConduct research to identify 3 potential active pharmaceutical ingredients
- Identify key drugs suitable for pharmaceutical component research
- Conduct thorough research on potential active ingredients
- Document findings for each potential ingredient
- KRSecure regulatory approval for 1 new pharmaceutical product
- Respond promptly to regulatory feedback and additional information requests
- Conduct rigorous clinical trials for safety and efficacy
- Develop and submit detailed dossier to regulatory authority
OKRs to accelerate and enhance pharmaceutical R&D processes
- ObjectiveAccelerate and enhance pharmaceutical R&D processes
- KRStreamline R&D decision-making process by reducing unnecessary stages by 25%
- Implement the new streamlined process
- Develop a simplified decision-making workflow
- Identify redundant stages in the current R&D process
- KRIncrease the number of successful drug trials by 20%
- Enhance the selection process for trial participants
- Invest in more advanced research equipment and techniques
- Provide additional training for research staff
- KRReduce research inefficiencies by implementing 2 new automation technologies
- Identify 2 promising automation technologies for research processes
- Train research staff on utilizing the new technologies efficiently
- Install and integrate the selected automation technologies
Pharmaceutical Research OKR best practices
Generally speaking, your objectives should be ambitious yet achievable, and your key results should be measurable and time-bound (using the SMART framework can be helpful). It is also recommended to list strategic initiatives under your key results, as it'll help you avoid the common mistake of listing projects in your KRs.
Here are a couple of best practices extracted from our OKR implementation guide 👇
Tip #1: Limit the number of key results
The #1 role of OKRs is to help you and your team focus on what really matters. Business-as-usual activities will still be happening, but you do not need to track your entire roadmap in the OKRs.
We recommend having 3-4 objectives, and 3-4 key results per objective. A platform like Tability can run audits on your data to help you identify the plans that have too many goals.
Tip #2: Commit to weekly OKR check-ins
Don't fall into the set-and-forget trap. It is important to adopt a weekly check-in process to get the full value of your OKRs and make your strategy agile – otherwise this is nothing more than a reporting exercise.
Being able to see trends for your key results will also keep yourself honest.
Tip #3: No more than 2 yellow statuses in a row
Yes, this is another tip for goal-tracking instead of goal-setting (but you'll get plenty of OKR examples above). But, once you have your goals defined, it will be your ability to keep the right sense of urgency that will make the difference.
As a rule of thumb, it's best to avoid having more than 2 yellow/at risk statuses in a row.
Make a call on the 3rd update. You should be either back on track, or off track. This sounds harsh but it's the best way to signal risks early enough to fix things.
How to track your Pharmaceutical Research OKRs
The rules of OKRs are simple. Quarterly OKRs should be tracked weekly, and yearly OKRs should be tracked monthly. Reviewing progress periodically has several advantages:
- It brings the goals back to the top of the mind
- It will highlight poorly set OKRs
- It will surface execution risks
- It improves transparency and accountability
Spreadsheets are enough to get started. Then, once you need to scale you can use a proper OKR platform to make things easier.
If you're not yet set on a tool, you can check out the 5 best OKR tracking templates guide to find the best way to monitor progress during the quarter.
More Pharmaceutical Research OKR templates
We have more templates to help you draft your team goals and OKRs.
OKRs to execute foundational groundwork for our 2025 performance management system OKRs to enhance the performance of the Database Administration Unit OKRs to establish a high-performance software development team OKRs to successfully create a detailed taxonomy for CMS migration OKRs to improve web and mobile user experience parity OKRs to improve app user experience through personalized design processes