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This one's for you... literally

When I step away from my work desk to catch up with friends and family, one question (and a follow-up) tend to dominate the beginning of the catch-up: "WTF are OKRs?" followed by "WHY OKRs?"

Sara Lobkovich
Sara Lobkovich
4 min read
Sara is a dark blonde haired white woman, making a funny face at the camera with her finger over her mouth. The caption on th

Hi!

I logged in today to share a hybrid personal / professional update and saw that somehow several hundred new folks have joined this list since my last update ... mostly with email domains that mean you might be happier over at the No-BS OKRs newsletter (my work-related newsletter) instead! (And if you've signed up for my work newsletter and are not receiving them most Fridays, you may have missed the double opt-in confirmation – so drop me a note and I can fix it!)

This here that you're reading right now is my personal blog and mailing list – so I do talk about work stuff sometimes (like today) but you'll also might get TMI about non-work stuff if you stick around.

You've been warned. 😂

If you're on my social media, you might have seen that I'm working on my first book (due out in September), the No BS OKRs Playbook, and its accompanying Workbook (which I'm doing a friends-and-family launch of later this month. Eep.).

So 100% of my creating effort has been going into those projects leaving little time for anything other than work, sleep, writing and editing, and trying to figure out how to keep up with the rest of life alongside all of the above.

When I do get time to step away from my work desk to catch up with friends and family, one question (and a follow-up) tend to dominate the beginning of the catch-up:

"What the f*** are OKRs?"

followed by

”And why on earth do you care so much about them?”

or

“Why should I care about them?”

If I talk about my work not using that acronym, people get really excited. My work these days is about enabling leaders and aspiring leaders who aren't necessarily from "corporate central casting," and helping them build a leadership and management toolkit to drive results that can't be ignored. My other focus is on career fulfillment for people who are "wired differently" – I call us "Thinkydoers," but also people who are strategically-minded, introverted, neurodivergent, and/or who struggle with PTSD or other after-effects of trauma in ways that affect our work.

I just wrote that out and honestly, I kind of can't believe it myself – that I've carved out this niche for myself that is such a Sara-sized space to work in.

So what I do, and who I help, is really rewarding and exciting and engaging and I'm always learning and continuing my own growth and recovery journeys as I go.

And the minute the term "OKR" comes into the conversation, it's like a record scratch.

0:00
/0:42

But then I get the feedback all the time from people who stumble into my work on OKRs that

"I've never heard anyone talk about OKRs this way,"

or

"People who know nothing about OKRs need to hear this."

So today I took my first (kind of scary) step to try to reach people outside of the inner circle of OKR experts, by launching a new WTF are OKRs guide.

It's is a ten-page excerpt from my upcoming No-BS OKRs Workbook, with a special introduction for people who are unfamiliar, less familiar, or disgusted with the term "OKR."

(There's no profanity in the Guide itself -- it's work-safe aside from the cheeky title.)

Along with the very basics on "What?" and "Why?" this download has a few of my most valuable one-sheet cheet-sheets (which aren't just for beginners) including:

🎯 Example company-level OKRs on a page
🧭 A newly updated No-BS OKRs Cheat Sheet, and
🔎 The new No-BS OKRs Quality Control Checklist.

If you're one of my people who's been sitting back watching my career evolve and thinking:

"WTF ... OKRs?!"

I kid you not. I literally wrote this guide for you.

Snag a copy at:

👉 https://findrc.co/wtfokrs

and then come back here and hit "reply," please?

Two reasons:

  1. I'd love to hear what's new in YOUR world; and
  2. Because I want to hear what questions YOU have other than "WTF?" and "Why?"

On that #2 point, I'm working on a mega-FAQ and your questions are a huge help!

Alright that's it – back to work. I feel like I say this every time I post here, but thank you for sticking around through so many twists and turns and frolics and detours. I appreciate it, I hope you're well, and that if you're here in the Northern hemisphere you're seeing signs of spring.

A mockup of Sara's signature in a red handwritten font.

P.S. Actually one more thing: IF you don't mind the suggestion of profanity 😂 I'd love your help getting the word out about WTF are OKRs to your social networks.

You can share today's launch post via social media:

With updates via Mastodon and Threads coming soon (and I'm doing YouTube videos and shorts for this one too). Something like this can use all the positive engagement it can get, so I really appreciate your 💕s on this one if you are so inclined. Thank you!

OKRs

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