OKRs vs KPIs: Which Drives Better Accountability?
Ask ten founders how they measure performance, and you’ll hear both acronyms — OKRs and KPIs — thrown around interchangeably.
They sound similar, but they solve different problems.
When used properly, they form the backbone of scale-up execution — aligning vision with daily action.
When used poorly, they create noise, confusion, and “metric fatigue.”
So what’s the difference?
KPIs measure performance.
OKRs drive change.
Understanding when to use each (and how they interact) is one of the most important steps in building a high-accountability, high-clarity culture.
At a Glance
OKRs – Drive focus, alignment, and transformation through outcomes.
KPIs – Measure ongoing performance and operational health.
Recommended Tool: Strategic Planning Playbook
1. Why measurement becomes chaos as you scale
In the early days, success is obvious — growth, customers, survival.
But once you hire your tenth or twentieth person, clarity starts to fade.
Each team measures progress differently.
Marketing reports leads. Sales reports deals. Product reports releases.
No one can answer the most basic question: Are we winning?
That’s where OKRs and KPIs come in — two systems designed to make performance visible, but from different angles.
2. KPIs: measuring the machine
The philosophy
KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are metrics that tell you whether your business is healthy.
They’re the dashboard lights — the numbers you watch every week to ensure the engine’s running smoothly.
KPIs don’t tell you where you’re going; they tell you how well you’re driving.
Examples
- Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)
- Churn rate
- Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)
- Conversion rate
- Gross Margin
Each KPI answers: Are we performing at the level we should be?
Strengths
- Great for tracking stability and predictability.
- Simple to understand and benchmark.
- Useful for accountability in ongoing operations.
Weaknesses
- Don’t drive innovation or step-change growth.
- Easy to track without learning anything.
- Can lead to “measurement theatre” — focusing on metrics that look good but don’t matter.
Best fit
KPIs work best for steady-state performance — finance, customer success, support, or marketing optimisation.
They’re your guardrails, not your compass.
3. OKRs: mobilising the mission
The philosophy
OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) are about transformation — what needs to change or improve in the next quarter to move the business forward.
They originated at Intel, popularised by Google, and are built on one belief: focus creates momentum.
Objectives express ambition (“what we want to achieve”).
Key Results measure progress (“how we know we’re succeeding”).
Examples
- Objective: Improve product onboarding experience.
- KR1: Increase activation rate from 45% to 65%.
- KR2: Reduce average time-to-value from 10 days to 3.
- KR3: Launch guided onboarding for new users.
Strengths
- Drive alignment and focus.
- Create shared accountability across teams.
- Encourage ambition and learning.
- Make strategy tangible and measurable.
Weaknesses
- Easy to overcomplicate or set too many.
- Require leadership discipline to review consistently.
- Can demotivate teams if set unrealistically.
Best fit
OKRs shine in growth and transformation cycles — when you need to shift direction, improve performance, or coordinate multiple teams around a goal.
4. OKRs vs KPIs: the simple distinction
| Dimension | OKRs | KPIs |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Drive improvement and change | Measure ongoing performance |
| Timeframe | Short-term (quarterly) | Continuous |
| Ownership | Shared across teams | Functional or individual |
| Ambition Level | Stretch goals | Baseline expectations |
| Frequency | Reviewed weekly/quarterly | Monitored continuously |
| Culture Impact | Alignment and innovation | Accountability and consistency |
Think of KPIs as your pulse, and OKRs as your heartbeat goal.
KPIs keep you alive. OKRs help you evolve.
5. How they work together
A healthy company needs both — KPIs for stability, OKRs for progress.
KPIs tell you if your current model works.
OKRs tell you what needs to change to reach the next level.
For example:
- Your KPI might be “Churn < 5%.”
- Your OKR might be “Reduce churn to 3% by improving onboarding.”
KPIs measure results.
OKRs create results.
6. Common founder mistakes
-
Using OKRs as glorified KPIs.
Setting OKRs like “Maintain 95% uptime” misses the point — that’s a KPI. -
Too many OKRs.
If everything’s a priority, nothing is. Keep company OKRs to 3–5 per quarter. -
No review rhythm.
OKRs are not “set and forget.” Review weekly. Adjust as context changes. -
Lack of linkage.
Department and team OKRs must align to company goals, not exist in silos. -
Confusing ambition with pressure.
Stretch goals should energise, not exhaust.
7. The cultural dimension
KPIs create accountability.
OKRs create alignment.
KPIs build a culture of performance — people know their numbers.
OKRs build a culture of purpose — people know why their numbers matter.
The most effective scale-ups combine both:
See: Execution Rhythm Playbook
8. Choosing the right rhythm
| Company Stage | Primary Focus | Dominant System |
|---|---|---|
| 0–20 people | Survival and traction | KPIs (cash, growth, retention) |
| 20–100 people | Alignment and learning | OKRs (focus and collaboration) |
| 100–500+ people | Predictability and scaling | OKRs + KPIs (dual system) |
When teams grow beyond 30–40 people, intuition no longer scales.
OKRs turn direction into action; KPIs turn data into discipline.
9. Implementation playbook
-
Start simple.
One company-level OKR per quarter is enough. -
Review weekly, learn monthly.
Don’t wait until quarter’s end to course-correct. -
Visualise progress.
Public dashboards create shared visibility. -
Reward learning, not perfection.
OKRs are about stretch, not certainty. -
Use consistent language.
Everyone should understand the difference between a metric and a milestone.
10. Case studies
Google: Uses OKRs to maintain focus and autonomy across thousands of teams. Each team’s OKRs ladder up to a simple mission-driven hierarchy.
Atlassian: Balances KPIs (operational health) with OKRs (strategic priorities) — ensuring agility doesn’t erode consistency.
HubSpot: Tracks KPIs for funnel health but drives quarterly OKRs to evolve GTM strategy and retention.
These companies show one pattern: growth comes from measuring what matters and improving what’s measured.
11. The founder’s role
Founders must model both clarity and curiosity.
- Clarity: Define what success looks like (KPIs).
- Curiosity: Define what must change to reach it (OKRs).
Your job isn’t to set every metric — it’s to build a rhythm where everyone knows how their work contributes to impact.
12. The psychology of measurement
Metrics shape behaviour.
If you only track KPIs, teams optimise for the past.
If you only set OKRs, teams chase the future without grounding.
Accountability emerges in the tension between the two — between ambition and evidence.
13. The next evolution: adaptive goals
Modern scale-ups are moving toward adaptive goal systems — blending OKRs and KPIs into living dashboards that update weekly.
AI tools now flag when goals drift, suggest re-prioritisation, and auto-sync dashboards with project tools like Asana or Notion.
The future of measurement is not static — it’s responsive.
But the principle remains timeless:
What gets measured drives behaviour. What gets reviewed drives culture.
14. Conclusion: alignment creates accountability
You don’t need to choose between OKRs and KPIs.
You need to sequence them.
Use KPIs to measure the engine.
Use OKRs to steer the car.
Then build a rhythm that keeps both in sync.
The companies that scale fastest don’t track the most metrics — they track the right ones, together.
Recommended next step:
Explore the Strategic Planning Playbook to design your OKR–KPI alignment framework.
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