Coach's corner: The different roles that will turn any goal into tangible results

Setting goals is one thing, achieving them is a whole other challenge.

Each goal requires different roles to be filled in order to achieve the goal. In this article, I'll briefly explain these different roles and what they mean.

The Owner

Goals need to be assigned to the team in which area of responsibility the goal falls. This team will “own” the Objective or KPI, which is why we call this the Owner in Perdoo. It's usually immediately clear which team is responsible, but it's always good to check if that team also has the appropriate resources required for that goal. A team can be a functional or cross-functional team, department, business unit, the company, etc. 

Sometimes, Objectives or KPIs fall within the circle of influence of multiple teams. In this, a goal can have multiple owners. It makes sense, for example, to share a churn KPI between your Product and Customer Success teams. In Perdoo you can create shared OKRs and KPIs and assign multiple owners. That way, you’ll find the goal on each of their Team pages and in their performance metrics. 

The Lead

Once you’ve identified the team that should own the goal, someone will have to take the lead for that goal. This person is called the Lead in Perdoo, and it should only be one person per goal (the adage goes: if multiple people are responsible, no one is).

Similar to a project lead, the lead for a goal organizes all the efforts and resources required to drive progress. As the point person, they also provide regular updates on the goal and serve as the main point of contact (eg, if someone has any questions about that goal).

It’s natural to think that this responsibility falls on the team lead. However, the team lead usually already has enough on his/her plate, and might not be able to also take the lead on all of the team goals. Much better to delegate this responsibility to the team members.  

An Objective, Key Result, Initiative, and KPI must all have a lead (and they don’t have to be the same person). Perdoo will send the lead a reminder so then they can easily update their goals. You can also find all the goals a person leads on their User page.  

The Contributors

While a goal can only have one lead, the lead is often not the only person working on the goal. The lead will often need the help of other people in the organization to bring the goal to a good end. In Perdoo, these people are called Contributors.

Contributors can help complete Initiatives, achieve Key Results, or support an Objective or KPI in another shape or form.

Achieving OKRs and KPIs is a team effort after all. 

Conclusion

It’s important that you designate the right roles so that expectations are clear and you have the best structure in place to succeed.