Editorial summary. This is our text summary of an article published by Built In. Charts, figures, and the author’s full voice are at the original — read it there .
Editorial verdict
Vendor-influenced. The OKR-performance review separation principle is well-supported by practitioner logic, but this is promotional content from Gtmhub executives — treat the methodology insights as directionally useful, not as independent evidence.
Executive summary
This article addresses the organizational question of whether OKRs and performance reviews should be integrated or kept separate. The authors — Gtmhub's Chief Marketing Officer Casey Carey and Head of People and Talent Mykaela Doane — argue that conflating OKRs with individual performance appraisals undermines both tools, as it causes employees to set conservative, achievable targets rather than ambitious, mission-driven ones. Key evidence is drawn from Carey's experience at Google and Doane's observations managing HR at Gtmhub, a Denver-based OKR software company that raised a $120 million Series C round and counts Adobe, Ubisoft, and Red Hat among its clients. The article presents Gtmhub's internal practice of separating OKRs from compensation and promotion decisions, arguing this preserves psychological safety, encourages risk-taking, and drives team-level alignment. The implied conclusion is that OKRs function best as a strategy execution and alignment tool, while performance reviews address individual behavior, attitude, and development — a separation that, according to the authors, also reduces administrative burden on HR functions.
Key insights
- 1Linking OKRs directly to compensation and promotions incentivizes employees to set deliberately achievable goals, weakening the aspirational and strategic function of the OKR methodology.
- 2Separating OKRs from performance reviews allows OKRs to function as team-level alignment tools focused on collective outcomes, while performance conversations address individual attitude, quality of work, and cultural fit.
- 3Transparency enabled by OKR platforms can reduce managerial micromanagement and allow organizations to delay formal HR infrastructure, as employees and managers gain ongoing visibility into progress and priorities.
Practical takeaways
- Gtmhub maintains a deliberate structural separation between OKR tracking and individual performance appraisals, with performance conversations focused on attitude, mindset, and cultural contribution rather than OKR attainment percentages.
- The company recast its corporate-level OKRs mid-cycle in response to changing economic conditions, using platform transparency to communicate the changes organization-wide — illustrating an agile approach to goal revision.
Frameworks mentioned
OKRs
A goal-setting methodology that pairs ambitious objectives with quantifiable key results, designed to align organizational strategy with individual and team-level execution.
Management by Objectives (MBO)
A goal-management approach referenced as a predecessor or alternative to OKRs, in which employees are assigned specific objectives and rewarded upon completion.
Four Disciplines of Execution
A goal and strategy execution framework mentioned briefly as one approach employees may have prior exposure to before adopting OKRs.
Source & Provenance
Built In
Not specified
August 17, 2022
Opinion/Commentary
United States
Original source metadata is preserved. AI analysis is generated separately.
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