Why Goals Alone Don’t Guarantee Alignment: The Case Against OKRs and the Path Forward
Many organizations turn to goal-setting frameworks when they sense internal misalignment—teams pulling in different directions, departments prioritizing tasks that don’t serve the bigger picture, or simply a lack of clarity about what matters most. The assumption is that defining clear goals will naturally bring everyone onto the same page.
But here’s the catch: setting goals isn’t the same as achieving alignment.
Let’s explore why.
Direction ≠ Coordination
Organizational goals provide a shared direction—they highlight what the company should focus on right now. But direction alone isn’t enough. Alignment requires coordination of effort, not just agreement on the destination.
This is where most goal-setting frameworks—including the widely adopted OKR (Objectives and Key Results)—fall short.
At Sengi, we don’t believe OKRs deliver on the alignment promise. In fact, we argue they often create misalignment by design. Let’s unpack why.
The OKR Trap: Misalignment by Design
In a typical OKR process, you start by defining corporate goals (called “Objectives”). Next, you define 3–5 tangible outcomes (called “Key Results”) that support those goals. Then, departments create their own OKRs aligned to these corporate OKRs—and some organizations take this even further, cascading them down to teams and individuals.
On the surface, this sounds reasonable. But in practice, it often results in siloed thinking. Departments create goals in isolation, without cross-functional discussion or initiative planning. The result? A lack of coordinated action.
Let’s illustrate this with a real-world example.
Case Study: A Goal Without a Plan
Corporate Goal: Increase Profits
Simple enough, right? Profit equals revenue minus operational costs. So, the company could:
- Increase revenue (without increasing costs)
- Reduce costs (without impacting revenue)
- Or both
But here’s where things unravel.
Departments independently define objectives to support this goal:
- Sales: Increase prices by 10% before EOY
- Tech: Reduce infrastructure costs by 10%
- Operations: Cut 5% of costs via CMS automation
- Product: Introduce a new pricing tier for reporting, targeting +15% revenue
Each department is working toward the same goal—but with zero coordination. And that’s a recipe for disaster.
When Siloed Objectives Collide
- Sales & Legal: Sales can’t unilaterally raise prices due to fixed annual contracts. They need Legal—but Legal wasn’t involved in profit-related planning, so they’re late to the party and unmotivated.
- Sales & Marketing: Marketing realizes the price hike won’t fly with current customers. They propose targeting a richer segment, but that requires a new go-to-market strategy, product messaging, and tech support. Sales is stuck waiting.
- Product & Tech: Product designs a premium feature set—but Tech is knee-deep in an architecture overhaul. They can’t help without abandoning their own objective to cut costs.
- Operations & Tech: Operations chooses a CMS to save costs but needs Tech to integrate it. Again, Tech can’t help—too busy with their own siloed project.
Meanwhile, Marketing and Legal are disengaged, Tech is overwhelmed, and Sales and Product are frustrated. Everyone did what was asked of them. But nothing is working.
The Outcome? A Total Breakdown
- None of the departmental objectives are met.
- Time, energy, and resources are wasted.
- The Management Team is forced to step in with a command-and-control override, abandoning the promise of autonomy.
Morale plummets. Trust in the OKR process evaporates. And the very people encouraged to “own their objectives” now feel blindsided and undermined.
So What Went Wrong?
The issue isn’t bad intentions or weak execution. It’s the framework itself.
The OKR model—and others like it—treat alignment as an output of goal-setting. But true alignment only happens when goals are paired with initiative planning that coordinates efforts across departments.
Without that? You get silos. You get conflict. You get failure.
What We Recommend Instead
At Sengi, we advocate for a radically different approach—alignment by design, not by assumption.
Here’s how it works:
1. Define Goals
Start with clear, qualitative organizational goals that reflect your strategic priorities.
2. Plan Initiatives
Before setting any objectives:
- Brainstorm possible cross-functional initiatives
- Identify participating departments
- Describe required activities, risks, dependencies, and timeframes
- Connect each initiative back to specific goals
3. Define Objectives Within Initiatives
Objectives aren’t created in a vacuum—they’re bound to initiatives. This avoids “free-floating objectives” that no one can realistically deliver.
4. Evaluate Initiatives as a Set
Review all proposed initiatives as a portfolio, not in isolation. Approve a subset that aligns without internal conflict.
5. Execute Together
Each department delivers its part of the initiative. Outcomes are tracked, and impact is evaluated at the right time.
6. Learn and Iterate
After initiatives are complete and outcomes are measured, apply those learnings to the next round of planning.
How Sengi Helps You Align By Design
We’ve built this process into the core of the Sengi platform.
- We allow corporate goals to be defined—but we prevent unconnected objectives from being added.
- We enforce initiative planning as a mandatory step before objectives are defined.
- We promote cross-departmental coordination by encouraging shared ownership of initiatives.
This approach eliminates the chaos of siloed OKRs and ensures that every objective has a clear path to delivery—and support from all the departments it depends on.
Final Thought
Most frameworks assume alignment happens as a byproduct of goal-setting. At Sengi, we know better.
Alignment is a process. A design choice. A shared commitment.
And it starts with connecting the dots between goals, initiatives, and cross-functional execution—right from the start.
Let us help you build alignment into the fabric of how your organization operates.
Sengi: Alignment by Design.
