4 customisable OKR examples for Competency Development

What are Competency Development OKRs?

The Objective and Key Results (OKR) framework is a simple goal-setting methodology that was introduced at Intel by Andy Grove in the 70s. It became popular after John Doerr introduced it to Google in the 90s, and it's now used by teams of all sizes to set and track ambitious goals at scale.

Writing good OKRs can be hard, especially if it's your first time doing it. You'll need to center the focus of your plans around outcomes instead of projects.

We have curated a selection of OKR examples specifically for Competency Development to assist you. Feel free to explore the templates below for inspiration in setting your own goals.

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

Building your own Competency Development 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 Competency Development OKRs examples

You will find in the next section many different Competency Development 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 streamline competency development and retention for improved business performance

Streamline competency development and retention for improved business performance
Achieve a 20% reduction in key skill gaps as measured by pre and post assessments
Implement targeted training based on identified gaps
Identify key skill gaps through initial assessment
Conduct post-training assessment to measure improvement
Identify 5 key competencies crucial for business within two weeks
Survey industry experts on business-related competencies
Compile, review, and finalize key competencies list
Research core competencies essential for business operations
Develop a skill training plan for targeted 80% workforce adoption rate
Identify skills required for the targeted workforce adoption rate
Establish methods for tracking and evaluating adoption rates
Develop detailed training program focused on these skills

Implement this OKR

2. OKRs to boost employees' mastery in top five key competencies

Boost employees' mastery in top five key competencies
Ensure 30% of employees progressively apply learnt competencies in their roles
Provide constructive feedback and improvement plans
Establish a tracking system for measuring competency application
Develop continuous learning programs and hands-on training
Provide professional training to 60% of the workforce on key competencies
Identify the key competencies required for the workforce
Source providers for professional training in these areas
Schedule training sessions for selected workforce members
Achieve competency proficiency of 40% of trained staff in assessment tests
Implement online assessment tests to measure proficiency
Initiate regular training sessions to develop staff skills
Regularly analyze test results to identify areas of improvement

employee-development competency-training human-resource-manager training-and-development-manager human-resource-team training-and-development-team

Implement this OKR

3. OKRs to establish an effective succession pipeline

Establish an effective succession pipeline
Identify and classify 15 potential successors for key roles by evaluating their competencies
Evaluate competency levels of 15 potential successors
Classify identified successors based on competencies
Identify key roles within the organization needing succession
Create a tracking system to monitor the progress of each potential successor monthly
Develop a detailed profile for each potential successor
Implement regular progress reviews for each successor
Design a system to monitor successor progression
Implement a training program for 70% of identified successors to bridge skill gaps
Design a training program addressing these gaps
Enroll 70% of successors in the program
Identify key skills gaps in identified successors

succession-planning competency-evaluation succession-planner hr-manager human-resources leadership-development

Implement this OKR

4. OKRs to enhance my soft skills competency

Enhance my soft skills competency
Complete a recognized soft skills course with a score of 80% or higher
Research and select a recognized soft skills course
Take the course exam aiming for 80% score
Regularly study the course material
Receive a 20% improvement in feedback scores on leadership and empathy
Schedule one-on-one mentoring sessions regularly
Implement weekly round-table discussions for feedback
Attend leadership and emotional intelligence workshops
Successfully lead one team project displaying improved collaboration and communication
Utilize collaboration tools like Asana or Slack
Assign clear roles to each team member
Implement regular team meetings for open communication

soft-skills leadership team-leader mentor leadership-skill-development project-teams

Implement this OKR

Competency Development 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 Competency Development OKRs in a strategy map

Your quarterly OKRs should be tracked weekly in order to get all the benefits of the OKRs 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

We recommend using a spreadsheet for your first OKRs cycle. You'll need to get familiar with the scoring and tracking first. Then, you can scale your OKRs process by using a proper OKR-tracking tool for it.

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 Competency Development 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.

Start a free trial →Learn more about Tability