Goal setting and management: Viva Goals

Article
02/21/2023

Microsoft Viva Goals is a goal-alignment solution that connects teams to your organization’s strategic priorities. It uses the power of the objectives and key results (OKR) framework. Because Viva Goals is a part of Microsoft Viva, it integrates into the employee experience so users don't have to disrupt their everyday flow of work to check OKRs and update status.

Viva Insights page

Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)

Viva Goals uses the ORK framework. OKRs align your entire organization to strategy, shifting focus from output—the everyday work of your team—to outcomes, which are the results of that work. This mindset shift keeps your team highly engaged with a clear sense of purpose and understanding of how everyone is contributing to forward momentum.

Objectives are what you and your team want to accomplish according to your definition of success.

Key results describe how you'll measure your success in accomplishing these goals.

For best results, teams and individuals should be aligned in a hierarchy.

Initiatives/Projects are focused efforts that help you achieve your key results.

Incorporating initiatives/projects in your OKR program ensures alignment between company-wide OKRs and the work prioritized by every department in your organization.

Check-ins are updates you make to share progress on your OKRs. When you update progress on a key result, it automatically updates the status of the parent objectives as appropriate.

The keys to success with OKRs are transparency and alignment. Right from the CEO to managers and colleagues, an employee can view anyone's OKRs in the system. This transparency fosters openness and removes conflicts and redundancies with work. OKRs are also aligned vertically and horizontally, allowing employees to see how their work connects with the organization's overall strategic goals.

Learn more about OKRs

Using Viva Goals

After you purchase Viva Goals licenses for your organization, you can log into Viva Goals using your Microsoft Entra credentials. You can set up your OKR model and create one or more Viva Goals organizations to contain your OKRs. Additionally, Viva Goals supports multiple levels of hierarchy, from department level down to individual teams and functional units.

Set up your OKR model

Learn how to create an organization

Learn how to create teams and sub-teams

Additionally, you can integrate with popular platforms and tools that you already use.

Learn more about integrations