Welcome to the No-BS OKRs™ Blog

Here, you’ll find resources we create to help teams create, implement, and operationalize No-BS OKRs™ (called Evolutionary OKRs® in some workplaces) to set clear goals, stay focused, and build cultures of growth, learning, and high performance.

Featured No-BS OKRs Posts

Featured
Are you making any of these common OKR mistakes?
Are you making any of these common OKR mistakes?

Discover the top OKR mistakes that can derail your implementation and learn how to avoid them for successful goal-setting in your organization.

Read More →
What are Objectives and Key Results? (with OKR examples)
What are Objectives and Key Results? (with OKR examples)

Learn how to use Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) to increase clarity, focus, and alignment in your organization with practical example OKRs and a No-BS approach.

Read More →
“Quiet Quitting” and the “Great Detachment” Reflect Your Culture, Not Your Workforce
“Quiet Quitting” and the “Great Detachment” Reflect Your Culture, Not Your Workforce

“Quiet quitting” isn’t over — recent Gallup Data shows that the “Great Detatchment” is still going strong. Learn how No-BS OKRs can counter this trend, fostering a more engaged and motivated workforce and management.

Read More →
How to Do OKRs for Corporate Functions, An OKR FAQ
How to Do OKRs for Corporate Functions, An OKR FAQ

Creating and aligning OKRs can be particularly tricky for busy corporate functions like HR, IT, legal, corporate communications, and finance. Here are some practical tips to help you create clear expectations for yourself and your team.

Read More →

Newest Thinkydoer Podcast Episodes

Featured
Breathwork for Busy Brains: Another Novel Path to Mindfulness
Breathwork for Busy Brains: Another Novel Path to Mindfulness

Ever felt like meditation isn't for you? Chauna Bryant, founder of Breath Liberation Society, shares why breathwork succeeds where traditional meditation fails for busy brains. Discover trauma-informed somatic practices that work for overthinkers who struggle with sit-still-be-quiet approaches.

Q2 2025 OKR Forecast Part 2: Flexibility, Timing, and Hot Takes with Three Trusted OKR Experts
Q2 2025 OKR Forecast Part 2: Flexibility, Timing, and Hot Takes with Three Trusted OKR Experts

The OKR Dream Team returns with controversial takes on flexible implementation, timing models, and tool choices. Discover why monthly check-ins might be sabotaging your goals, how Excel is beating expensive platforms, and the hot takes challenging popular OKR advice.

Q2 2025 OKR Forecast: Generative AI, Localization, and Retrospectives with a Panel of OKR Experts 
Q2 2025 OKR Forecast: Generative AI, Localization, and Retrospectives with a Panel of OKR Experts 

What happens when AI, strategy, and culture collide in today’s complex organizations?

In this candid quarterly update, Sara Lobkovich is joined by OKR experts Maria Rowcliffe and Natalie Webb to explore the real-world shifts in how teams are setting and actually using OKRs in 2025. From generative AI’s growing role to the dangers of the “two lists” trap, this episode dives deep into what’s working, what’s not, and how culture, localization, and retrospectives can make—or break—your strategy execution.

Building Inclusive Communities: Finding Connection Without Social Anxiety
Building Inclusive Communities: Finding Connection Without Social Anxiety

What if the communities we need most aren’t loud, fast, or constantly buzzing—but calm, quiet, and deeply human?

In this thoughtful episode, Sara Lobkovich sits down with community strategist Carrie Melissa Jones to explore how introverts, neurodivergent folks, and the socially anxious can find belonging on their own terms. Learn why quiet communities matter, how participation isn't always the point, and what it really takes to build spaces where people feel safe enough to show up as themselves.

Posts by Category

Principles of No-BS OKRs

Featured
Are you making any of these common OKR mistakes?
No-BS OKRs
Are you making any of these common OKR mistakes?
No-BS OKRs

Discover the top OKR mistakes that can derail your implementation and learn how to avoid them for successful goal-setting in your organization.

Read More →
No-BS OKRs
What are Objectives and Key Results? (with OKR examples)
No-BS OKRs
What are Objectives and Key Results? (with OKR examples)
No-BS OKRs

Learn how to use Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) to increase clarity, focus, and alignment in your organization with practical example OKRs and a No-BS approach.

Read More →
No-BS OKRs
WTF are OKRs?
OKR FAQ, No-BS OKRs
WTF are OKRs?
OKR FAQ, No-BS OKRs

Don’t know an OKR from a KPI from any other TLA? Dive into the world of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) with our no-nonsense WTF are OKRs guide. You’ll find basic words, meanings, and context about when and how OKRs are useful, and access No-BS OKR cheat-sheets not available anywhere else

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OKR FAQ, No-BS OKRs
OKRs in Context: Do OKRs co-exist with other methodologies?
The Connected Strategic Stack
OKRs in Context: Do OKRs co-exist with other methodologies?
The Connected Strategic Stack

One of the first jobs to be done when implementing (or rebooting) OKRs is to identify how they fit into an organization’s existing planning “stack” and get clear about what job they’re being hired to do.

This is an excerpt from an early draft of Sara’s upcoming book, You Are A Strategist.

You’ll be introduced to the first of three models that Sara uses every day in her work with organizations implementing OKRs: the Connected Strategic® Implementation Stack.

Read More →
The Connected Strategic Stack

Leadership + Management

Featured
“Quiet Quitting” and the “Great Detachment” Reflect Your Culture, Not Your Workforce
Management, Leadership
“Quiet Quitting” and the “Great Detachment” Reflect Your Culture, Not Your Workforce
Management, Leadership

“Quiet quitting” isn’t over — recent Gallup Data shows that the “Great Detatchment” is still going strong. Learn how No-BS OKRs can counter this trend, fostering a more engaged and motivated workforce and management.

Read More →
Management, Leadership
Expand your leadership toolkit with assessments
Leadership
Expand your leadership toolkit with assessments
Leadership

I’ve always found assessments helpful not only for personal development and self-knowing, but also for helping organizations develop a shared language around important topics in how we work together. I am a huge supporter of using assessments personally for self-discovery and increasing your understanding about yourself, your default modes, and non-default options for behavior. Here, I share the assessments I use most frequently in my coaching and consulting …

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Leadership

All posts about Leadership & Management →

Strategic Planning

Featured
Thinkydoers Episode 16: Creating Leading Indicators with Elena Chopyak
Thinkydoer Careers, Goals
Thinkydoers Episode 16: Creating Leading Indicators with Elena Chopyak
Thinkydoer Careers, Goals
Read More →
Thinkydoer Careers, Goals
OKRs in Context: Do OKRs co-exist with other methodologies?
The Connected Strategic Stack
OKRs in Context: Do OKRs co-exist with other methodologies?
The Connected Strategic Stack

One of the first jobs to be done when implementing (or rebooting) OKRs is to identify how they fit into an organization’s existing planning “stack” and get clear about what job they’re being hired to do.

This is an excerpt from an early draft of Sara’s upcoming book, You Are A Strategist.

You’ll be introduced to the first of three models that Sara uses every day in her work with organizations implementing OKRs: the Connected Strategic® Implementation Stack.

Read More →
The Connected Strategic Stack

All posts about Strategic Planning & Goals →

OKR FAQs

Featured
How to Do OKRs for Corporate Functions, An OKR FAQ
OKR FAQ
How to Do OKRs for Corporate Functions, An OKR FAQ
OKR FAQ

Creating and aligning OKRs can be particularly tricky for busy corporate functions like HR, IT, legal, corporate communications, and finance. Here are some practical tips to help you create clear expectations for yourself and your team.

Read More →
OKR FAQ
OKR FAQ: What are some common OKR mistakes organizations make?
OKR FAQ
OKR FAQ: What are some common OKR mistakes organizations make?
OKR FAQ

Based on a reader question, learn some of the most common OKR mistakes I see organizations make, including lack of precise use of words and meaning, and failure to create important goals outside of financial, activity, and known KPI areas. Learn a few quick tips about why these mistakes matter, and how to prevent them in this FAQ answer.

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OKR FAQ

All No-BS OKRs FAQs →

OKR Coaching

Featured
Thinkydoers Episode 17: Meet an OKR Coach: Jason Johnston (Part One)
OKR Coaching
Thinkydoers Episode 17: Meet an OKR Coach: Jason Johnston (Part One)
OKR Coaching

Establishing clear objectives and key results (OKRs) isn't just about direction and accountability. It’s about driving real change within organizations. Today’s episode kicks off our two-part conversation with the wonderful Jason Johnston, OKR Practice Lead for Genetec, a leading tech company in the security products and solutions space. Jason is also a veteran whose 20-year military career has given him a unique perspective on leadership and problem-solving.

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OKR Coaching

All posts about OKR Coaching →

What we can learn during the annual goals “silly season”
Goals, Thinkydoers Sara Lobkovich Goals, Thinkydoers Sara Lobkovich

What we can learn during the annual goals “silly season”

This time of year is called the "silly season" in motorsports because we're in the literal middle of our racing season AND we're all already operating in the 2023 season: planning partnerships, talent moves, and logistics for the year we won't start for another six months.

Every summer I see something really similar with my corporate clients who set goals annually…

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Re-introducing the Thinkydoers™ podcast
Sara Lobkovich Sara Lobkovich

Re-introducing the Thinkydoers™ podcast

With the launch of Red Currant Collective, we’re prioritizing new episodes of From Think to Do, a podcast and blog for thinky-doers: people whose work spans deep thinking, through the messy middle, into doing.

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The Podcast

Thinkydoers is where we shift out of our heads and whiteboard drawings and work to find language for our thought-work and stories.

Each episode tackles a question, a thought experiment, or a resource intended to help you reduce frustration and friction, and increase satisfaction and flow, in your work.

Courses & Community

Thinkydoers, frustrated change agents, overthinkers, and challengers of the status quo:

You’ve found your people.

Here you’ll find our library of free downloadable tools, results-focused online learning options, and other ways to connect through our communities. Draft Evolutionary OKRs Playbook