OKR vs KPI: Differences, examples, and use cases guide

OKRs and KPIs may look a bit like alphabet soup at first glance, but these acronyms are valuable ways to set and achieve goals. As a project manager, it's important to set ambitious goals to keep everyone feeling challenged and motivated. Knowing how much progress you're making toward those goals makes it easier to identify problems and celebrate wins.

In this article, we discuss the differences between objectives and key results (OKRs) and key performance indicators (KPIs). Once you understand these ways to set goals, you can combine their benefits to plan and monitor your business goals.

What is an OKR?

An OKR (objectives and key results) is a way to set goals that pairs an ambitious objective with measurable key results that track progress toward achieving it. Organizations use OKRs to align teams around shared goals and ensure everyone understands how their work contributes to company-wide priorities.

When setting OKRs, fill in the following sentence:

I will [objective], as measured by [key result].

Objectives are any goal you want to achieve, whether they're easily attainable or far-reaching. An objective can include things like:

• Improve our customer retention

• Increase our website conversion rate

• Gain qualified leads

Key results are the measurable ways you plan to achieve your goal, and you can have more than one key result for each objective. Unlike KPIs, key results don't necessarily have to be quantitative. A key result can include things like:

• Implement a loyalty rewards program

• Add quality content to our website

• Upgrade our CRM software

This approach to goal-setting is flexible, but company OKRs are more effective when they're connected to the OKRs of other departments and team members. 34% of team members said they'd feel more motivated at work if they understood how their work connected to the company's mission. You want motivated team members because they'll work harder and reach goals faster.

What is a KPI?

A KPI (key performance indicator) is a quantitative metric that measures progress toward a specific business goal. Unlike OKRs, which drive change, KPIs monitor ongoing performance and operational health.

The metrics you choose should be unique to each initiative. A social media campaign and an IT project require different KPIs, so make sure you're selecting metrics that measure what actually matters for each goal.

Choose KPIs that:

• Tie to your strategic goals

• Can be measured against benchmarks

• Inform resource planning

• Track something you can control and influence

Once you've set your KPIs, monitor them throughout your initiative. This helps you understand if you're on track, at risk, or off track from where you want to be. Using a KPI template can make this process easier by centralising metrics and providing your team with a single source of truth.

Use project management software to track your KPIs and share them with project stakeholders. By providing real-time progress updates, everyone can follow the initiative's progress without sitting through another endless status meeting.

The difference between OKRs and KPIs

OKRs and KPIs are both performance management methods, but they serve different purposes. OKRs are a way to set goals that drive change, while KPIs track ongoing performance.

You can set any goal using OKRs, but companies often use OKRs for bolder, more aggressive goals. Although OKRs represent big goals, they should be less ambitious than Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG). Try to stick to a one-year maximum for most OKRs, or they could grow bigger and hairier with time.

Companies use KPIs for quantifiable, ongoing measurement. These metrics are useful for:

• Monitoring business health: Track revenue, customer satisfaction, and operational efficiency over time.

• Measuring campaign performance: Evaluate the success of marketing, sales, or product initiatives.

• Identifying problems early: Spot underperforming areas before they become critical.

• Informing decisions: Use data to adjust strategy and allocate resources effectively.

Here's how to combine OKRs and KPIs in your goal-setting process:

1. Set your objective: Start by brainstorming and defining a clear business objective.

2. Define key results: Identify the measurable outcomes that indicate you've achieved your objective.

3. Assign KPIs: Attach relevant KPIs to track quantitative progress toward each key result.

OKRs and KPIs can work together, but they can also stand alone. For example, if your objective is to enhance customer satisfaction, your key results may include hiring more customer service representatives and documenting customer reviews. These OKRs aren't quantifiable and don't rely on KPIs for support.

OKR examples

When your company sets a big-picture OKR, you can use a top-down approach to make the goal more attainable by breaking it down into departmental and personal OKRs. Creating this OKR structure ensures that everyone's OKRs align with the main objective.

For example, if your SaaS company's OKR is to become a market leader, you'd break that down into departmental OKRs. The product team might focus on upgrading the website, while marketing focuses on customer acquisition. Each department's OKRs ladder up to the company objective.

Company objective: Become a market leader in the SaaS industry

• Key Result 1: Launch 2.0 version of website

• Key Result 2: Gain 1,000 new customers in Q3

Marketing team objective: Expand reach to the target audience on all digital platforms

• Key Result 1: Set up paid advertising campaigns on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram

• Key Result 2: Create quality SEO content for the website and social media

Product team objective: Build a high-performing website

• Key Result 1: Debug the current website by using a product backlog

• Key Result 2: Work with designers to revamp website layout

Within the respective departments, team members can create individual OKRs that support their departmental OKRs. These smaller objectives might apply to tasks like website coding or content development.

KPI examples

A KPI needs four components to be effective: a measurable target, a timeframe for achieving the target, a data source for monitoring, and a set frequency for monitoring.

You'll often see KPIs listed as just target metrics, such as capacity utilisation rate or new inbound leads. But without all four components, you won't know why you're tracking it or how to measure success.

Below, you'll see KPI examples categorised by department. Each includes the four components mentioned above.

Example sales KPIs:

• Obtain 20 new inbound leads by the end of Q4. Use customer relationship management (CRM) software to track progress weekly.

• Improve lead response time by an average of two days in Q4. Use reporting software to track daily lead response time.

Example marketing KPIs:

• Reduce cost per lead by $0.50 in Q4. Calculate the cost per lead when planning every project.

• Obtain 100 new customers in Q4. Use project management software to record the ongoing status of our customer base.

Example project management KPIs:

• Keep the capacity utilisation rate above 85% in Q4. Use Asana Workload to track the capacity utilisation rate weekly.

• Achieve at least 10% return on investment (ROI) for every project in Q4. Use Asana to track estimated project budget against actual project costs, then calculate ROI.

Which is better, OKRs or KPIs?

There's no right or wrong option when choosing between OKRs and KPIs. To decide which approach is best for you, clarify your intentions.

If you want to improve a current project or past initiative, KPIs are best suited to you. You can customise these metrics to your needs and watch your progress in real time.

If your company has bigger goals to achieve, OKRs are a better option. You can break those goals down into actionable components that everyone in the organisation can take part in. OKRs also help your team stay motivated while you progress toward your goals.

It's important to remember that you don't have to choose. When you combine these two approaches to set and measure goals, you can achieve optimal business performance.

How to use OKRs and KPIs together

OKRs and KPIs work best when used together. OKRs set direction and drive change, while KPIs monitor ongoing performance. Combining both gives you a complete picture of where you're headed and how you're performing along the way.

Here's how the two approaches work together in practice:

• Use KPIs to identify areas that need OKRs: When a KPI shows underperformance (e.g., declining customer satisfaction), create an OKR to address the root cause.

• Track OKR progress with KPIs: Assign relevant KPIs to each key result so you can measure progress quantitatively throughout the quarter.

• Turn achieved OKRs into KPIs: Once you've reached an ambitious objective, convert it into a KPI to maintain that new standard.

By combining both approaches, your team gains clarity on what to change (OKRs) and what to maintain (KPIs).

Common mistakes to avoid with OKRs and KPIs

Even experienced teams stumble when implementing these approaches. Here are the most common pitfalls to avoid:

OKR mistakes

• Setting too many objectives: Focus on 3–5 objectives per quarter. More than that dilutes attention and reduces impact.

• Confusing key results with tasks: Key results are outcomes, not activities. "Increase email open rates by 15%" is a key result; "Launch email campaign" is a task.

• Creating OKRs in isolation: OKRs work best when aligned across the organisation and connected to company-level objectives.

• Setting only easy goals: OKRs should stretch your team. If you hit 100% every quarter, they're not ambitious enough.

KPI mistakes

• Tracking too many metrics: Limit your scorecard to 15–25 KPIs. Monitoring everything means monitoring nothing.

• Choosing disconnected KPIs: Every KPI should tie to a strategic objective. If you can't explain why you're tracking it, remove it.

• Ignoring context: A KPI without a target, timeframe, and data source is just a number.

• Relying on spreadsheets: Manual tracking leads to outdated data. Use dedicated software to centralise monitoring.

Best practices for setting OKRs and KPIs

Here's how to set OKRs and KPIs that drive meaningful results:

OKR best practices

• Limit objectives to 3–5 per quarter: This keeps your team focused on what truly matters.

• Make key results measurable: Each key result should have a clear metric that shows when you've achieved it.

• Review OKRs quarterly: Regular check-ins help you adjust course and celebrate progress.

• Involve your team: People are more committed to goals they helped create.

KPI best practices

• Choose actionable KPIs: If a KPI drops, your team should know what to do about it.

• Set challenging but attainable targets: Targets should stretch your team without demoralising them.

• Monitor continuously: Unlike quarterly OKRs, track KPIs weekly or daily, depending on the metric.

• Centralise in one platform: Use work management software so everyone sees progress in real time.

Track your OKRs and KPIs with Asana

OKRs and KPIs help you measure success and spark excitement for growth. These performance management methods can also improve team effectiveness and ensure everyone stays focused on what's ahead.

When you input your initiatives and performance metrics into your work management software, team members get a clear idea of how their work connects to the larger picture. This reduces internal conflict and aligns teams within your organisation.

Ready to bring clarity to your goals and performance tracking? Get started with Asana to manage your OKRs and KPIs in one place.

Frequently asked questions about OKRs and KPIs