Write KRAs for departments and not roles

All roles in a department have similar KRAs

The whole idea of cutting departments is to group talent basis the kind of goals they would run after. So most roles in a department focus on very similar result areas. 

Assume five levels of hierarchy in any department and write KRAs for each of the roles in those levels. If by ideal standards you assign each role some 5 KRAs, you'd find almost 3 of them common between any two levels. You'll hence aggregate some 13 unique KRAs that all roles across five levels are eventually aiming to work on.

Role level KRAs can restrict target setting

In a dynamic business scenario, you'd want to give your supervisors flexibility to point their talent gun in a direction most suited for business. Imagine an argument every time a different target is set for the resource, keeping a common KRA set for the department ensures minimum conflict.

Training for future roles

In point 1 we said that there can be 60% overlap in KRAs across two levels in same department, which also means that some 40% KRAs can be unique. By exposing all staff to department levels KRAs and allowing supervisors to pick from across the set while setting targets, you begin training resources for larger roles. Opportunity to do on ground might be your best bet on preparing talent for future.

Summary

If you want to run effective performance management & talent development initiative, set KRAs only for the department. Then allow supervisors to set targets based on business needs by picking from the department KRAs. This allows more flexibility and grooms talent for future.

plugHR platform has departments and their KRAs already defined, you just have to create account and start assigning targets. Your PMS gets set in a day.