3 customisable OKR examples for Budgeting

What are Budgeting OKRs?

The OKR acronym stands for Objectives and Key Results. It's a goal-setting framework that was introduced at Intel by Andy Grove in the 70s, and it became popular after John Doerr introduced it to Google in the 90s. OKRs helps teams has a shared language to set ambitious goals and track progress towards them.

Formulating strong OKRs can be a complex endeavor, particularly for first-timers. Prioritizing outcomes over projects is crucial when developing your plans.

We've tailored a list of OKRs examples for Budgeting to help you. You can look at any of the templates below to get some inspiration for your own goals.

If you want to learn more about the framework, you can read our OKR guide online.

Building your own Budgeting OKRs with AI

While we have some examples available, it's likely that you'll have specific scenarios that aren't covered here. You can use our free AI generator below or our more complete goal-setting system to generate your own OKRs.

Our customisable Budgeting OKRs examples

You will find in the next section many different Budgeting Objectives and Key Results. We've included strategic initiatives in our templates to give you a better idea of the different between the key results (how we measure progress), and the initiatives (what we do to achieve the results).

Hope you'll find this helpful!

1. OKRs to increase savings towards the 10k annual goal

Increase savings towards the 10k annual goal
Save 1,000 dollars from each month's salary
Set up automatic monthly transfer to savings account
Create and observe a strict budget
Evaluate and cut unnecessary expenses
Cut unnecessary expenses by 20% to save additional 500 dollars monthly
Cancel unused memberships and subscriptions
Review monthly expenditures and identify nonessential costs
Reduce dining out and grocery spending
Add an extra income stream bringing in 500 dollars a month at minimum
Research and identify viable passive income ideas
Launch a part-time online business or service
Invest in dividend-paying stocks or mutual funds

Implement this OKR

2. OKRs to establish funding source for essential staffing positions

Establish funding source for essential staffing positions
Increase current budget allocation by 10% through cost-saving initiatives or adjustments
Implement selected cost-saving strategies and budget adjustments
Identify potential cost-saving initiatives within the organization
Analyze current budget allocation for possible adjustments
Identify 3 potential funding sources by investigating industry benchmarks and competitors
Research industry benchmarks for potential funding sources
Analyze competitors' funding strategies and sources
Compile a list of three potential funding sources
Secure 1 new source of funding confirmed by signed contracts or agreements
Get contract or agreement signed
Identify prospective sources of funding
Initiate contact and negotiate terms

budgeting funding-sources financial-analyst hr-manager financial-management-team human-resource-team

Implement this OKR

3. OKRs to implement continuous monitoring and management of departmental budgets

Implement continuous monitoring and management of departmental budgets
Increase accuracy by reducing budget variances to less than 5%
Set clear and precise budget guidelines for all departments
Monitor and analyze spending consistently to identify variances
Implement regular budget reviews and adjustments as needed
Training 80% of the management team on advanced budget management techniques
Identify individuals needing advanced budget management training
Execute training sessions and assess understanding
Schedule training sessions with a qualified trainer
Establish a monthly budget review process involving all department heads
Involve all department heads in meetings
Organize a routine budget review meeting
Implement regular budget adjustments based on feedback

continuous-monitoring management-training department-heads management-team budgeting-team departmental-teams

Implement this OKR

Budgeting OKR best practices to boost success

Generally speaking, your objectives should be ambitious yet achievable, and your key results should be measurable and time-bound (using the SMART framework can be helpful). It is also recommended to list strategic initiatives under your key results, as it'll help you avoid the common mistake of listing projects in your KRs.

Here are a couple of best practices extracted from our OKR implementation guide 👇

Tip #1: Limit the number of key results

The #1 role of OKRs is to help you and your team focus on what really matters. Business-as-usual activities will still be happening, but you do not need to track your entire roadmap in the OKRs.

We recommend having 3-4 objectives, and 3-4 key results per objective. A platform like Tability can run audits on your data to help you identify the plans that have too many goals.

Tability's audit dashboard will highlight opportunities to improve OKRs

Tip #2: Commit to weekly OKR check-ins

Don't fall into the set-and-forget trap. It is important to adopt a weekly check-in process to get the full value of your OKRs and make your strategy agile – otherwise this is nothing more than a reporting exercise.

Being able to see trends for your key results will also keep yourself honest.

Tability's check-ins will save you hours and increase transparency

Tip #3: No more than 2 yellow statuses in a row

Yes, this is another tip for goal-tracking instead of goal-setting (but you'll get plenty of OKR examples above). But, once you have your goals defined, it will be your ability to keep the right sense of urgency that will make the difference.

As a rule of thumb, it's best to avoid having more than 2 yellow/at risk statuses in a row.

Make a call on the 3rd update. You should be either back on track, or off track. This sounds harsh but it's the best way to signal risks early enough to fix things.

How to turn your Budgeting OKRs in a strategy map

OKRs without regular progress updates are just KPIs. You'll need to update progress on your OKRs every week to get the full benefits from the framework. Reviewing progress periodically has several advantages:

It brings the goals back to the top of the mind
It will highlight poorly set OKRs
It will surface execution risks
It improves transparency and accountability

Most teams should start with a spreadsheet if they're using OKRs for the first time. Then, once you get comfortable you can graduate to a proper OKRs-tracking tool.

Tability's Strategy Map makes it easy to see all your org's OKRs

If you're not yet set on a tool, you can check out the 5 best OKR tracking templates guide to find the best way to monitor progress during the quarter.

More Budgeting OKR templates

We have more templates to help you draft your team goals and OKRs.

OKRs resources

Here are a list of resources to help you adopt the Objectives and Key Results framework.

To learn: What is the meaning of OKRs
Blog posts: ODT Blog
Success metrics: KPIs examples

What's next? Try Tability's goal-setting AI

You can create an iterate on your OKRs using Tability's unique goal-setting AI.

Watch the demo below, then hop on the platform for a free trial.

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