Should OKRs be linked to just one person?

Not necessarily.

Key Results (KRs) are what you would see more of, or less of, as you work on an Objective. Another way to think of a KR is that they are the results of the activities that are done within the organization towards the related Objective.

So to answer your question, if the related activity is done by a team, the KR should be associated to the team, not any one individual. We call this a shared KR.

There are many advantages to shared KRs:

• they build teamwork
• they align the organization
• they work across department/silos

There are further refinements you can do to make shared KRs effective, for example assigning roles. Frameworks like RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) can be assigned to the KR (or the associated activity). So for a particular KR, say “$Sales Revenue” the entire Sales Team is linked to that KR, but Sales Manager might be the “A”, the Sales Reps are all “R”, VP Sales is the “C” and the CEO is the “I”.

Although it is a shared KR, the association can be different based on your role.

Most organizations encourage teamwork and as such shared KRs are a good way to make sure teamwork happens!

Now you can also have KRs associated with a single person. In the RACI model, that person would be the “A”.

Remember, there are no “rules” around OKRs - only best practices, so feel free to experiment and innovate.

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