Microsoft aims to improve OKR implementation with Viva Goals integration
New integrations with Teams and other applications are designed to increase the use of goals and key deliverables (OKRs) because new research shows that employees who have a clear understanding of goal setting are more motivated workers.
Microsoft has announced new features for Viva Goals designed to accelerate the adoption of goals and key results (OKRs) through improved integration with Microsoft applications such as Teams and Planner, as well as new analytics capabilities designed to help business leaders better understand how employees work with goals.
A Forrester study commissioned by Microsoft found that 47% of executives said that poorly structured goal-setting reduces employee motivation.
In addition, 50% of employees surveyed said that setting goals more clearly gives them a greater sense of purpose and motivates them to work harder. This view was supported by 60% of executives surveyed.
New research from Forrester and Microsoft shows that employees who have clarity in goal setting are more motivated employees
At Centicore Group, we devote a significant amount of time to motivating our developers. For example, we have an in-house mentor psychologist who works with specialists from different departments.
However, while 78% of survey participants said they fully understood their personal goals at work, only 63% said they understood their team’s goals, and clarity about company goals dropped to 39%.
In order to improve understanding and cohesion in the goal-setting process, Microsoft has announced expanded integration of Viva Goals with its Teams collaboration software. This innovation will allow managers and employees to receive notifications about OCD activities, include goal setting in conversations, and create, edit and tag OCDs directly in Teams chat.
In addition, Viva Goals will integrate with Microsoft Planner, Power BI, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Excel bulk import and Microsoft Project – meaning Viva Goals can be accessed directly from these applications.
The language capabilities of Viva Goals will be expanded to 37 languages. Russian language will also be added after this update. Currently, the software supports 10 Tier 1 languages, defined by Microsoft as localized language versions that are delivered to the most important target markets.
Viva Goals also has a new analytics feature designed to help accelerate OKR adoption by providing managers with a “holistic dashboard view” of metrics such as total number of team members and OKR.
Microsoft has also introduced an EU data residency mode to Viva Goals. This means that EU customers or multinational users can store their data in EU data centers, and new updates using Azure Active Directory (AAD) allow Viva Goals administrators to configure conditional access policies that ensure “the right users have access to the right data.”
Centicore Group believes that a clear understanding of objectives and goals is an important aspect of effective teams and enterprises. Integrating the new features with services such as Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Planner will improve productivity and the quality of departmental workflows.
