Do different departments have their own OKRs?

Yes. Each department or team should write its own OKRs, but not in isolation. Department OKRs respond to the company OKRs set by the executive leadership team and describe the department's specific contribution.

Why departments need their own OKRs

• Relevance: Marketing, engineering and HR create value in different ways. Their OKRs should measure outcomes they can influence, such as qualified pipeline, product quality or employee retention.
• Ownership: Teams commit to goals they helped define within a clear strategic frame.
• Alignment: Department OKRs show how each function contributes to company priorities, and where efforts overlap.

Company OKRs set the direction

The executive leadership team sets 3 to 5 company Objectives for the year or quarter. They are deliberately high-level and cross-functional. They do not prescribe what each department should do.

Localize, do not cascade

Wave Nine recommends localizing OKRs rather than cascading them. A department does not turn every company Key Result into its own OKR. It asks which company Objectives it can move most, and writes 1 to 3 Objectives with 2 to 4 Key Results for those.

Example for the company Objective "Expand into Germany and France and grow revenue by 25%":

• Sales: close $5M in new business from the two target markets
• Marketing: generate 1,000 qualified leads from Germany and France
• Product: reach 70% weekly active use among new French and German accounts

Launching localized versions of the product is an action that supports the product Key Result, not a Key Result itself.

How to set department OKRs

1. Review the company OKRs. What is the company solving for this quarter or year?
2. Define your contribution. Ask: "What are the one or two most valuable outcomes our department can deliver toward this?"
3. Draft with the team. Co-create the OKRs instead of dictating them. Key Results measure outcomes, not activities: "Improve customer satisfaction from 72 to 85", not "Send out 3 customer surveys".
4. Check across functions. Share drafts with peer departments to spot dependencies, overlaps and gaps before the quarter starts.

Common pitfalls

• Department goals that do not connect to any company priority
• Copying company OKRs word for word
• Too many OKRs per department
• Output metrics, such as "publish 10 blog posts", instead of outcomes, such as "increase organic traffic by 20%"

Want help applying this in your organization? Book a free strategy session.