4 OKR examples for Soft Skills
What are Soft Skills 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.
Creating impactful OKRs can be a daunting task, especially for newcomers. Shifting your focus from projects to outcomes is key to successful planning.
We have curated a selection of OKR examples specifically for Soft Skills to assist you. Feel free to explore the templates below for inspiration in setting your own goals.
If you want to learn more about the framework, you can read more about the OKR meaning online.
Best practices for managing your Soft Skills OKRs
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
Focus can only be achieve by limiting the number of competing priorities. It is crucial that you take the time to identify where you need to move the needle, and avoid adding business-as-usual activities to your 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 the weekly check-ins
Having good goals is only half the effort. You'll get significant more value from your OKRs if you commit to a weekly check-in process.
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 below). 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.
Building your own Soft Skills OKRs with AI
While we have some examples below, it's likely that you'll have specific scenarios that aren't covered here. There are 2 options available to you.
- Use our free OKRs generator
- Use Tability, a complete platform to set and track OKRs and initiatives
- including a GPT-4 powered goal generator
Best way to track your Soft Skills 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
We recommend using a spreadsheet for your first OKRs cycle. You'll need to get familiar with the scoring and tracking first. Then, you can scale your OKRs process by using a proper OKR-tracking tool for it.
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.
Soft Skills OKRs templates
We've covered most of the things that you need to know about setting good OKRs and tracking them effectively. It's now time to give you a series of templates that you can use for inspiration!
You'll find below a list of Objectives and Key Results templates for Soft Skills. We also included strategic projects for each template to make it easier to understand the difference between key results and projects.
Hope you'll find this helpful!
OKRs to enhance my soft skills competency
- Enhance my soft skills competency
- Complete a recognized soft skills course with a score of 80% or higher
- Research and select a recognized soft skills course
- Take the course exam aiming for 80% score
- Regularly study the course material
- Receive a 20% improvement in feedback scores on leadership and empathy
- Schedule one-on-one mentoring sessions regularly
- Implement weekly round-table discussions for feedback
- Attend leadership and emotional intelligence workshops
- Successfully lead one team project displaying improved collaboration and communication
- Utilize collaboration tools like Asana or Slack
- Assign clear roles to each team member
- Implement regular team meetings for open communication
OKRs to enhance soft skills through effective cross-team collaboration
- Enhance soft skills through effective cross-team collaboration
- Lead one cross-team project resulting in a 20% increase in team efficiency
- Evaluate and report the efficiency increase
- Identify a project involving multiple teams
- Develop and implement efficient cross-team strategies
- Attend two cross-department training sessions per month to expand interpersonal skills
- Schedule attendance to two sessions
- Identify available cross-department training sessions
- Participate actively in chosen sessions
- Score at least 4.5 in a peer-reviewed soft skills assessment by quarter end
- Practice and master active listening and empathy
- Request and attentively incorporate peer feedback
- Enroll in and complete a soft skills improvement course
OKRs to improve software engineering skills through effective time management
- Improve software engineering skills through effective time management
- Increase the number of completed coding tasks by 20% each week
- Identify and address any obstacles or challenges that may hinder coding task completion
- Enhance collaboration and communication among team members for efficient task completion
- Provide regular feedback and support to assist in completing coding tasks
- Set clear and achievable coding task goals for each team member
- Improve adherence to project deadlines by delivering work on time in 90% of cases
- Implement effective communication strategies to address obstacles and ensure timely completion
- Set clear and realistic deadlines for each project task
- Prioritize tasks and create a detailed schedule to ensure timely delivery
- Regularly track progress and provide updates to stakeholders to maintain accountability
- Reduce time spent on non-essential activities by 15% during work hours
- Set specific time limits for non-essential tasks to ensure efficient completion
- Prioritize and eliminate non-essential activities based on their impact and importance
- Identify non-essential activities taking up significant time during work hours
- Regularly assess and adjust the allocation of time to non-essential activities as needed
- Attend and actively participate in at least 2 time management workshops or webinars
- Research and identify 2 time management workshops or webinars
- Apply the learned time management techniques in daily activities for improved efficiency
- Take thorough notes during the workshops or webinars for future reference
- Register for the selected workshops or webinars to secure a spot
OKRs to elevate programming skills to become a senior programmer
- Elevate programming skills to become a senior programmer
- Obtain proficiency in at least three advanced programming languages
- Participate in coding challenges or hackathons to apply and showcase your proficiency
- Practice coding regularly to strengthen your skills in advanced programming languages
- Collaborate with experienced programmers or join forums to gain insights and guidance
- Enroll in online courses or tutorials to learn advanced programming languages
- Lead the successful completion of a complex software development project
- Define clear project goals, deliverables, and timeline with the project team
- Foster effective communication and collaboration among team members throughout the project
- Regularly monitor progress, identify bottlenecks, and take proactive steps to mitigate risks
- Identify and allocate appropriate resources to each phase of the software development project
- Regularly receive positive feedback and recognition from team members and supervisors
- Foster a positive team environment by recognizing and appreciating the achievements of team members
- Continue to improve skills and performance to enhance the likelihood of receiving positive feedback
- Acknowledge and express gratitude for positive feedback and recognition received from others
- Actively seek feedback from team members and supervisors on a regular basis
- Mentor and guide junior programmers to enhance their technical abilities
More Soft Skills OKR templates
We have more templates to help you draft your team goals and OKRs.
OKRs to enhance Automation Capabilities OKRs to enhance collaboration and performance in the marketing team OKRs to enhance proficiency in managing administrative tasks and assigned duties OKRs to define S4 HANA's Transportation Management Solution Architecture OKRs to strengthen decoding skills for VC and CVC words OKRs to improve team responsiveness
OKRs resources
Here are a list of resources to help you adopt the Objectives and Key Results framework.
- To learn: Complete 2024 OKR cheat sheet
- Blog posts: ODT Blog
- Success metrics: KPIs examples