Hardwiring the measurement of value-adding internal communication
Critical to the success of the internal communication team at Nationwide has been putting a performance measurement structure in place and creating a thirst for communication evaluation across the organization. Fiona MacAllan explains.
Measurement is a subject close to my heart and - like many of you reading this article - one that I have wrestled with throughout my career. We all know the power of measurement and the fact that when we make it integral to everything we do, it demonstrates our worth and adds value to the business.
When we focus our strategic effort we can influence and move the business in support of its strategic goals; measurement is our proof.
The internal communication team at Nationwide is responsible for articulating the business vision, strategy, goals and values in a way that involves, motivates and inspires employees to deliver a high performing organization.
I firmly believe that when we focus our strategic effort we can influence and move the business in support of its strategic goals; measurement is our proof. Without hard metrics all we are dealing with is opinion.
Internal communication is still perceived by some to be a soft subject so being able to converse at board level, by demonstrating hard metrics, adds real value. Not only does it build professional relationships with our internal clients; it helps us know where we should focus our efforts; it drives high performance; and it gives us the licence to do more.
And for me personally, one of my key drivers for measurement is the justification of my team, my budget, my teams' reward and ultimately my own reward.
So how does it work in reality?
The strategic measurement framework approach that we have adopted at Nationwide, and that I detail here, works for us as a team; it's not a one-size-fits-all solution and many organizations will understandably have their own approach.
Every company has a long-term view of where it wants to get to and typically this can be translated into a five-year strategy. The essence of this is then distilled into the short-term focus of what the company must deliver within its financial year - the one-year plan.
We show how internal communication support this by driving line of sight directly to the projects we manage on a day-to-day basis and - most importantly - how hard metrics demonstrate the value we add through effective communication and moving the business forward in line with its strategic goals.
Members can read the rest of the article here.
This article was originally published in Strategic Communication Management.
Have your say
Have you built a framework for measurement? How do you prove the value of your function to senior leaders? What do you measure and how often? Share your stories...
Recommended resources:
DATA: Linking communication to financial results