Building World-Class Operations as a COO with OKRs

Chief Operating Officers are great firefighters. At least, that’s what our COO of Gtmhub Seth Elliott insinuated on The Horizontal Thinkers Roundtable: COO Edition:
“The COO is about strategic growth acceleration and cross-functional efficiency. And putting out fires.”
But world-class operations are built on more than reacting to what’s happening in your organization. Excellence in the COO role, as Seth said, requires building cross-functional teams, balancing efficiency, and effectiveness, and keeping growth at the forefront of operations. To borrow from Seth again:
“It’s about optimization for the mountain and not the hill.”
COOs need a framework that can manage these expectations. The only one that holds up? OKRs .
As a COO, you’re tasked with rapidly disseminating information and optimizing the process behind what teams do with that information. OKRs grant the greatest transparency and alignment possible in a framework, which means they are already optimized for the COO role.
However, successful operations require trust and a degree of autonomy from the COO, not micromanagement. OKRs enable teams to pursue their process with a focus on outcomes rather than outputs. Teams can discover their own “how” when they are aligned with the COO’s “why,” using a culture of transparency to drive alignment and take pressure off the COO.
If you haven’t put 2+2 together, OKRs are a COO’s secret to building world-class operations! We’ve created the resources below specifically tailored to Chief Operation Officers and improving operations.
For OKR examples by role and team, visit our OKR Examples page.
Resources
OKRs: COOs Can Drive Sustainable Change with This Breakthrough Approach
Great if you’re looking for:
- An overview of OKRs from the Chief Operating Officer’s perspective
- Lessons on amplifying your effectiveness as COO
- How to supercharge your operations with transparency and accountability through OKRs
- Sustainable change as a practical benchmark for your organization
The Horizontal Thinkers Roundtable: COO Edition
Great if you’re looking for:
- Discussion from Chief Operating Officers best practices
- Frameworks for COOs should use to manage operations and account for scale
- Goal setting and creating focus at the company and personal level
- How to align and engage teams for better operations
COOs, Orange Juice, and OKRs: Getting the Most Squeeze from Your Operations
Great if you’re looking for:
- How OKRs optimize the organization and operations for Chief Operating Officers
- The problems that OKRs solve for the COO specifically
- Why OKRs create engagement, eliminate redundancy, and save resources
- An introduction to setting the OKR framework for your organization
OKRs Turn COOs into Transformation Leaders
Great if you’re looking for:
- An understanding of the spectrum for managing OKRs
- Why Chief Operating Officers are becoming the focal point for OKR rollouts in organizations
- How to create methods for adopting and wielding OKRs across the organization
Gtmhub Marketplace: Become a world-class supplier management organization
🖇️ OKR Template
What this does for you:
- Demonstrates a live template for a Chief Operating Officer OKR
- Provides a launching point for your personalized OKR
Looking to get started with OKRs? Try Gtmhub FREE for 7 days!