HubSpot’s Approach to Driving Focus and Alignment

As a enterprise, focus and alignment are every thing.

There are such a lot of issues you are able to do to maneuver the needle, however which of them must you act on? With so many individuals engaged on so many initiatives, how do you retain everybody shifting in the identical route?

Unlocking these solutions is the distinction between disconnected work efforts and ahead progress to attain your mission.

As we proceed to scale, we have to encourage self-motivation and execute on extra cross-functional work to assist our clients drive progress.

However let’s face it — autonomy with out alignment results in chaos.

That is the place the OGP framework is available in. Your technique is barely pretty much as good as the way you execute in opposition to it. And having a framework to allow aligned execution is crucial.

Ours permits us to proceed offering autonomy with clear alignment on priorities from the highest.

The OGP Framework

OGP stands for Goals, Objectives, and Performs. 

Earlier than you begin figuring out your OGPs, it’s important to perceive your mission, your values, and align on the technique that guides you.

Consider it as your working system. These are the weather that can inform your Goals and assist you to perceive what success appears to be like like at every milestone.

And all of that is pushed by who you serve — your clients, your purchaser persona, the folks you’re finally fixing for.

Our government staff makes use of the next slide to drive our OGPs from the highest:

• Mission: What’s our big-picture imaginative and prescient?
• Values: What beliefs and rules drive the way in which we work?
• Technique: How are we going to achieve our imaginative and prescient?
• Strategic Goals: What long-term, company-wide bets are we making over the subsequent ~3 years
• Objectives: How will we accomplish our goals on the purposeful stage over the subsequent 12-18 months?
• Performs: How will we obtain our targets on the staff stage by particular deliverables over the subsequent 3-6 months?

Your Mission and Values don’t change fairly often (if in any respect). They keep fairly constant yr to yr.

Your Technique and Strategic Goals change roughly each three years. Annually at HubSpot, we overview our Goals from the earlier yr and determine whether or not we’re going to maintain them constant for the upcoming yr.

However, your Objectives and Performs get up to date extra continuously. We replace our Objectives yearly and revisit our Performs on a half-yearly or quarterly foundation.

Extra on OGPs

Alignment begins with an understanding of our long-term technique, and our Strategic Goals are decided on the government stage.

We select to stack rank our Goals to supply clear prioritization for the entire enterprise. For instance, we have now seven Strategic Goals for 2025, and we have now them organized by order of significance.

Why? To ensure our groups have a transparent sense of priorities and steering on the right way to make mandatory trade-offs.

Every Goal has a specific amount of Objectives related to it. We wish to categorize our Objectives based mostly on precedence:

• Precedence 0 (P0): Important to reaching Strategic Goal (probably fails with out). There are fewer of those (~5 per Goal). They’re typically extremely cross-functional, and these targets are reviewed by our C-suite on a month-to-month foundation to make sure progress and take away any blockers.
• Precedence 1 (P1): Necessary to driving progress towards Strategic Goal. There are extra of those (~20 per Goal). They’re typically particular to at least one perform, and these targets are reviewed by our purposeful leaders on a month-to-month foundation to make sure progress and take away any blockers.

Then, there are Performs that roll up into every Aim. These are related to the “how” — the specifics round what you’re going to do to perform your Objectives.

Feels like plenty of work, proper? It’s, however belief me — it’s price it.

An necessary technique to maintain issues operating easily is thru accountability. One crucial manner we’re holding folks accountable is thru our refreshed DRI mannequin.

The DRI Mannequin

Within the OGP framework, the DRI (or Immediately Accountable Particular person) is the one particular person answerable for shifting a Strategic Goal ahead. They set the imaginative and prescient for the target, outline the success metrics and work to be carried out, align cross-functional groups, and navigate any blockers that come up.

Accountability and transparency are the keys to understanding whether or not we’re truly executing our technique all year long.

We use mechanisms — like Quarterly Enterprise Critiques (QBRs) and month-to-month stories — to create house for standing updates, deal with blockers proactively, and guarantee we’re hitting our milestones.

So, there you’ve it. Simply pop some concepts onto a couple of slides, and you may verify strategic planning off your checklist!

…not so quick.

OGPs are a method to an finish. They may also help create focus, however true alignment comes from doing the onerous work of considering, planning, and speaking.

For us, the strategic route is ready by the manager staff, however the execution of that technique could be very bottoms-up. Each VP is working with their administrators, managers, and particular person contributors to resolve the “how” of every purpose.

That is the place the alignment from the highest meets the autonomy of purposeful consultants — and that is the place the facility of OGPs comes from.

How We Make OGPs Work For Us

On the core of strategic planning at HubSpot, we got down to determine a very powerful issues to resolve for our clients. This enables us to focus our vitality on the work that issues and align our groups on the work to be carried out.

The HEART of Success

What actually works for us all through this entire course of is that this: Path and readability about our priorities comes from the manager stage, however the entire firm is concerned within the “how.”

Everybody at HubSpot is a crucial a part of strategic planning.

Our Aim Drivers are collaborating with their groups to put in writing memos that define why their targets are necessary, how we’re going to attain them, and what sources are wanted to achieve success.

And our government leaders are setting route on the highest view.

That’s how we create focus and alignment at each stage of group.

How We Proceed to Evolve

Our method to strategic planning evolves yearly. It’s necessary that we tweak our framework based mostly on new learnings and suggestions from our workers.

We’re consistently utilizing knowledge to carry ourselves accountable to the technique we laid out as an organization. For instance, we conduct eNPS surveys and interviews with folks across the enterprise to grasp the place we’re excelling and the place we’re arising quick.

It’s comforting to slap an “authorised” framework onto your corporation. It offers you plenty of confidence, however you may’t simply cease there. You should determine what works for you because the business grows and your buyer wants evolve.

Focus doesn’t simply occur. It’s a byproduct of shared imaginative and prescient. And imaginative and prescient comes from speaking, sharing, taking a look at knowledge, and updating assumptions.

For those who’re not doing that work upfront, don’t trouble with OGPs or some other goal-setting framework. None of them will work.

Give It a Attempt

In our tradition code, we speak about hiring folks with HEART (Humble, Efficient, Adaptable, Exceptional, Clear). We outline efficient as individuals who get sh*t carried out and take possession for his or her success. You may also name this autonomy.

And in an autonomous tradition, folks can solely thrive once they have a transparent route on the place the corporate goes. That is the place so many corporations find yourself losing prime expertise.

Focus and alignment are every thing — and our framework is an extremely precious software to maintain workers centered on the trail ahead.

This put up was tailored from MSPOTs: the Secret to Focus and Alignment, and has been up to date for accuracy and comprehensiveness.