OKRs vs KPIs explained for African teams: clear differences, when to use each, examples, and a simple setup process you can run this quarter.
Marketing Lead
February 19, 2026
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5 Mins read
You are in a cramped meeting room (or a loud Zoom), trying to close the month.
Ops says, “Our KPI is to launch the new dispatch flow by Friday.”
Finance says, “No, KPI means revenue per customer.”
Someone brings up OKRs, and the room goes quiet because nobody wants another framework.
I have been in that meeting. It usually ends with two spreadsheets, three definitions, and zero clarity.
KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are the small set of metrics you watch to understand whether the business or a function is healthy. They are “how are we doing” signals. You monitor them continuously and you do not change them every week. A standard definition is that KPIs are quantifiable measures of progress toward a desired result. (KPI Institute)
OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) are time-bound goals designed to create change. They help you focus effort on outcomes you want to improve in a specific period, often quarterly. Google’s guidance frames OKRs as a way to set goals, measure progress, and communicate priorities, including a scoring approach for key results. If you only remember one thing:
I use this mental shortcut with managers:
Example:
Same domain. Different job.
Also, OKRs usually include a small number of key results that are measurable. The point is specificity. Decades of goal-setting research shows that specific, difficult goals outperform vague “do your best” goals in driving performance.
That research is not saying “make goals brutal.” It’s saying “make goals unambiguous.”
You already have constraints your peers in richer markets often ignore:
Those constraints matter because OKRs and KPIs fail for different reasons.
If you treat a KPI like a goal, you get this:
Now the review turns into a debate about fairness.
Organizational KPIs can be clear at the top, but it is often less clear what “good performance” means for individuals and teams, and that clarifying how KPIs cascade matters.
In practice: KPIs should inform performance, but they should not be the only performance story.
Here’s what I see in growing African companies:
Then you end up “managing the spreadsheet,” not the business.
Good OKR and KPI design respects those constraints. It aims for fewer metrics, clearer owners, and a review cadence that fits reality.
If your KPI is “Net revenue retention,” that’s not a goal you assign to one team. It is a health outcome influenced by Sales, Customer Success, Product, and Pricing.
Use KPIs to detect a problem. Use OKRs to attack a problem.
Bad key result: “Launch new website.”
Better: “Increase demo conversion rate from 1.8% to 3.0%.”
Tasks belong in your project tracker. Key results belong in your outcome tracker.
Many teams try to cascade OKRs down every layer, then drown.
John Doerr’s OKR popularity is partly because it gives teams a clear method to set and pursue goals, but the method still needs judgment about scope and simplicity.
For many African SMEs, “company OKRs + department OKRs” is enough. You do not need five levels.
If everything is a KPI, nothing is.
A KPI set should feel slightly uncomfortable in how small it is. That discomfort is focus.
People will optimize what you measure.
If your KPI is “calls made,” you get calls. Not necessarily deals.
If your OKR key result is “close 50 deals,” you may get rushed, low-quality deals.
This is why you pair outcome measures with quality checks and narrative evidence.
This is where teams get stuck. They start with a framework instead of a decision.
Ask:
Examples of decisions:
Choose 5–9 KPIs total for the business, then 3–6 per function.
Typical business-level KPIs (pick what matches your model):
Use credible definitions. Even general business references emphasize that KPIs are quantifiable measures used to evaluate performance against objectives and targets.
Constraint acknowledgement: If your data is messy, start with KPIs you can measure reliably today. A “perfect KPI” that you cannot compute is theater.
Now pick the KPI that matters most this quarter and set OKRs around it.
A practical pattern:
Example (logistics company):
Notice: the KPI is “on-time delivery.” The OKR is the quarterly change plan.
For each KPI and OKR:
Documentation constraint acknowledgement: If you don’t write the evidence source, you will relive the same argument every month: “Which spreadsheet is correct?”
A simple rhythm that works in many African SMEs:
Google’s OKR guidance includes scoring and emphasizes measurement discipline.
To reduce gaming:
If you are doing this in spreadsheets, it works at 10 people. It gets fragile at 80.
This is one place a lightweight system helps. For example, Talstack’s Goals module is built to align goals at company, department, and individual levels, and its Analytics helps you see progress without manually chasing updates. That matters when managers are busy and KPI definitions keep drifting.
I still tell teams to start simple. The tool should remove friction, not add process.
OKRs Vs KPIs- Comparison
OKRs Vs KPIs- Examples
If you are starting from scratch:
Then run a clean weekly cadence.
If you want a tool-supported version, Talstack can carry this workflow without spreadsheets: Goals for alignment, Analytics for progress visibility, and Performance Reviews to connect outcomes to growth conversations.
Quick Checklist
“Quick reset. A KPI is a health metric we monitor continuously. A key result is a quarterly change we are trying to achieve. Which one are we talking about?”
“I want us to pick one outcome to improve this quarter. If we nail it, what becomes easier for customers or for ops? Now, what would we measure weekly to know we are moving?”
“We are cutting our dashboard to the few numbers that change decisions. If a metric does not influence a decision, it is not a KPI. Track it locally if you need it.”
“We are going to start with metrics we can measure reliably today. If a metric is important but unmeasurable, we will create a 2-week plan to fix the data source before we judge performance with it.”
Both, but small.
Startups need a tiny KPI set to avoid delusion. Then one or two OKRs to focus. I would rather you track 6 KPIs reliably than 25 KPIs inconsistently.
Not really.
OKRs are a change mechanism. KPIs are monitoring. Atlassian frames KPIs as ongoing “vital signs” that track business health, which matches how most operators use them.
Common answer: 3–5.
Real answer: often 1–2 for teams with heavy operational load. If you are running retail outlets, field ops, or logistics, too many OKRs becomes fantasy planning.
Lightly.
Andy Grove’s view, summarized in an OKR book excerpt, is that OKRs should not be treated like a legal document used as the sole basis for performance reviews.
Use OKRs as evidence and learning, alongside role expectations, competencies, and peer feedback. If you want structure, that’s where a system like Talstack’s Performance Reviews plus 360 Feedback and Competency Tracking can keep it fair without turning it into “who had the easiest metrics.”
Then your first OKR might be about clarity.
Example objective: “Create a measurable operating model for the next growth phase.”
Key results:
It sounds boring. It is also usually the highest leverage work.
Start with a “data trust ladder”:
Then decide: no Tier 2 or 3 numbers should drive compensation decisions.
AIHR’s KPI resources for HR teams are useful for examples, but your first job is still definition and data discipline.
Remote teams need two extra things:
If you do not write definitions, you will argue in Slack forever.
This is where goal-setting research is still relevant: specificity reduces ambiguity about what is to be attained.
Open a doc and write:
If you want, you can run that OKR in Talstack Goals and track adoption with Analytics, then connect the results to your next Performance Reviews cycle so this does not die as “another initiative.”
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