Alignment is one of the most important goals of OKRs, yet many organizations misunderstand how alignment actually works. In this episode, Ben explains why the common idea of a strict top down cascade often fails, and how real alignment comes from conversation, clarity, and shared understanding rather than diagrams and arrows.
The Wrong Approach: The Direct Cascade
The direct cascade begins with OKRs at the top level, which is a good starting point. However, it requires lower level OKRs to be subsets of higher level OKRs. In practice, this approach rarely works.
Why it fails:
It turns higher level key results into lower level objectives, which violates the distinction between objectives and key results
It discourages critical thinking and ownership at lower levels
Teams copy and paste instead of creating meaningful OKRs
It often reinforces silos rather than cross functional alignment
While cascading may look clean in theory, organizations that rely on strict cascading almost always struggle.
How Real Alignment Happens
True alignment does not come from structure alone. It comes from shared understanding and conversation.
Instead of cascading, teams should:
Use higher level OKRs as context, not constraints
Clearly explain why their objective matters now
Discuss objectives with leadership to confirm alignment
Collaborate horizontally across teams where needed
In many cases, alignment is confirmed through discussion rather than visual mapping. A team’s objective can be fully aligned even if it does not directly map to a higher level OKR.
Using Why Now to Confirm Alignment
Each team should articulate why their objective is important now and how it supports strategy or cross team priorities. This explanation becomes the foundation for alignment.
Alignment occurs when leadership and teams agree on the importance of the objective, not when arrows connect boxes in a chart.
A Practical Three Step Alignment Approach
Inspired by practices used at leading organizations:
Leaders review prior results and set direction for the next period while teams draft and refine OKRs through discussion
Teams align their OKRs with higher level goals where appropriate, while allowing room for important work that may not directly connect
All OKRs are published in a shared tracker so everyone can see, comment, and strengthen alignment across the organization
Practical Guidance
Do
Use higher level OKRs as context for lower level thinking
Explain how each objective connects to strategy through Why Now
Confirm alignment through leadership discussion
Do Not
Use strict cascading to force alignment
Turn key results into lower level objectives
Copy and paste OKRs instead of creating them through critical thinking
Strong alignment is not created by structure alone. It emerges through conversation, clarity, and shared commitment, enabling teams to work together toward meaningful outcomes.
For your 1:1 OKRs Consult, just email Ben@OKRs.com
