What NOT to Do When Implementing OKRs in an SME

Implementing Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) in a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) was one of the more exciting challenges I’ve faced – way back in 2018. After reading John Doerr’s Measure What Matters and Verne Harnish’s Scaling Up, and hearing all about Google’s success stories, I was ready to revolutionize my business with OKRs. But let me tell you – it was not as easy as I originally anticipated. 

Screw this up, and OKRs can quickly become just another buzzword, wasting time, demoralizing your team, and burying your business in a graveyard of unfulfilled ambitions. Here’s what I learned NOT to do when implementing OKRs in the business I was running.

Don’t Treat OKRs as Another To-Do List

This isn’t about micromanaging your team into oblivion. OKRs are supposed to inspire and challenge, not suffocate. When I first started, I made the mistake of turning them into a glorified task list. It reduced their power to drive meaningful change.

John Doerr explains in OKR by Google that the best objectives are audacious and the key results measurable. If your OKRs look like “Answer 50 emails” or “File reports on time,” you’ve missed the point. SMEs thrive on agility and vision—don’t kill yours with mediocrity disguised as structure.

Don’t Skip Alignment

In the beginning, I thought setting OKRs was enough. I didn’t spend enough time aligning them across teams. Big mistake. Marketing was sprinting left, sales was charging right, and operations was just trying to survive. It created chaos.

Verne Harnish’s Scaling Up taught me the importance of alignment. Every OKR should cascade and connect. Your company’s objectives should empower team-level objectives, which in turn energize individual ones. Without alignment, you’re steering a ship with no rudder.

Don’t Overload Your OKRs

When I first implemented OKRs, I thought the more objectives, the better. So, I tackled 15 objectives in a quarter. Guess what? We accomplished almost nothing.

John Doerr’s golden rule from Measure What Matters is to focus on 3-5 key objectives at a time. Anything more, and you’re setting your team up to fail. SMEs thrive by doing a few things brilliantly—not everything poorly.

Don’t Use OKRs as a Performance Review Tool

Initially, I made the rookie mistake of linking OKRs to performance reviews. People got scared to take risks, and innovation stalled. I quickly learned that OKRs shouldn’t be a Big Brother surveillance system.

Google’s OKR model emphasizes learning and innovation, not punishment. If your employees are terrified of missing a Key Result, they’ll play it safe—and safe doesn’t lead to growth. OKRs are for tracking progress, not policing.

Don’t Set It and Forget It

I’ll admit it—I’ve been guilty of writing killer OKRs and then ignoring them until the next quarter. It doesn’t work. Without accountability and regular check-ins, your OKRs become meaningless.

Weekly or biweekly check-ins are non-negotiable. Harnish’s Scaling Up emphasizes the need for rhythms—daily huddles, weekly reviews, and quarterly resets. OKRs without check-ins are like planting a garden and never watering it. You’ll end up with a lot of dead weight.

Don’t Make OKRs Optional

When I first rolled out OKRs, I left them optional, thinking, “Let’s see who wants to give this a shot.” Bad idea. OKRs demand buy-in at every level—especially from leadership. If your CEO isn’t living and breathing OKRs, why should anyone else?

Google’s success with OKRs wasn’t accidental. Leadership modeled the behavior they wanted to see. I learned that if your team senses you’re not committed, OKRs will collapse faster than you can say “Key Result.”

Don’t Be Afraid to Kill Bad OKRs

At first, I treated OKRs like they were sacred. But here’s the truth: OKRs are not carved in stone tablets. If something’s not working, don’t be afraid to pivot. John Doerr’s advice in Measure What Matters is clear: flexibility trumps rigidity. SMEs thrive in dynamic environments, and your OKRs should evolve as your business does.

If a Key Result becomes irrelevant or an Objective proves unrealistic, don’t cling to it. Adapt and move on.

Final Thoughts

OKRs have the potential to be transformational for any business, especially SMEs. Avoiding these pitfalls helped me turn OKRs into a secret weapon for alignment, focus, and growth. Remember, OKRs aren’t magic. They’re a tool, so use them wisely.

So, go ahead and set some bold, measurable, and game-changing OKRs. 

Just don’t make the mistakes I did.