Should You Have Individual OKRs or Just Team OKRs?

When implementing OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), many organizations wrestle with a simple but important question:
Should we create OKRs at the individual level, or just stick to team-level OKRs?

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer, but the decision can significantly impact alignment, accountability, and employee motivation. Here’s how to think through the trade-offs — and find the right balance for your organization.

Team OKRs: Driving Alignment and Collaboration

Team-level OKRs are the foundation of an aligned organization. They help clarify shared priorities and create a focus around collective goals — rather than siloed, individual efforts.

Benefits of team OKRs:

• Encourage collaboration instead of competition
• Reduce the risk of local optimization (one person hitting goals that don’t help the bigger picture)
• Make tracking and reporting simpler
• Support transparency across departments and functions

Most organizations benefit from starting here. It sets a shared direction and ensures every team is pulling in the same direction.

Individual OKRs: Boosting Ownership and Development

That said, individual OKRs can play a useful role — especially in performance management and personal development.

They work best when:

• An individual’s role isn’t easily captured by the team’s OKRs
• You want to develop personal accountability
• You're looking to connect employee growth goals with business outcomes

However, individual OKRs should not be a substitute for strategic alignment. If everyone writes personal OKRs without linking them to team or company goals, the organization becomes fragmented — and efforts become harder to coordinate.

When Individual OKRs Can Backfire

Many companies try to implement individual OKRs too early — often during their first rollout. This typically leads to:

• Over-complexity: Dozens or hundreds of disconnected goals
• Lack of focus: People work on what matters to them, not to the business
• Burnout or frustration: Everyone feels pressure to define and report on their own goals without clarity on direction

Instead, it’s often more effective to start with company and team OKRs, and only introduce individual OKRs when the system is mature and well-understood.

A Middle Ground: Personal Commitments or Development Goals

If you want to support personal growth without introducing full-blown individual OKRs, consider using:

• Personal development goals as part of performance reviews
• Individual commitments that contribute to team KRs
• Stretch assignments tied to business initiatives

This approach keeps the focus on business value, while still empowering people to grow in their roles.

What the Best Companies Do

High-performing companies typically:

• Focus OKRs at the team level
• Ensure every team’s OKRs ladder up to company-wide goals
• Encourage individual contributors to own initiatives and deliver outcomes that support those team-level OKRs

In other words: your people don’t need a personal OKR for everything they do — they need clear visibility into how their work contributes to something bigger.

Key Takeaways

• Start with team OKRs to build alignment, transparency, and collaboration.
• Use individual OKRs selectively, especially for roles that require distinct ownership.
• Avoid complexity by focusing on shared outcomes, not just personal tasks.
• Support personal development through growth goals and role-based initiatives.

Want to Streamline Your OKR Rollout?

If you're unsure whether your OKR strategy should focus on individuals, teams, or both — we can help.‍

Talk to our OKR experts and get a tailored roadmap for rolling out OKRs that drive results and keep your organization aligned from the top down.

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