Top-down and bottom-up describe the two directions goals can flow. Top-down goals are set by leadership and cascaded down, giving clear alignment but risking buy-in. Bottom-up goals are proposed by the teams doing the work, giving ownership but risking coherence. Most healthy systems blend the two rather than choosing one.
Pure top-down is fast and aligned, but tends to produce goals teams comply with rather than commit to. Pure bottom-up is motivating, yet can drift into a set of local goals that do not add up to the company's strategy. The common guidance for OKRs is roughly a blend, with leadership setting the company objectives and teams proposing most of the goals beneath them.
The mechanism that reconciles the two is catchball: direction proposed from the top, plans proposed from below, negotiated until both fit. The aim is goals that are aligned and owned at once, instead of trading one for the other.
Leadership sets the company objective to enter the DACH market (top-down); the sales, marketing, and product teams each propose how they will contribute (bottom-up), and the two are reconciled in planning.
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