Inner Communication Measurement - Why, When and How?

When Should We Measure Communications?

Annual in depth surveys. Satisfaction and participation surveys are typically carried out per annumand will carry added questions to supply some insights to the effectiveness.

Prior to some special communications campaign. So as to best understand the effect ofcommunications, it is necessary to measure (comprehension, approaches, knowledge etc) before acampaign.

Following an important communication or effort. It is necessary to assess the effectiveness andimpact of initiatives and major communications programs. This allows internal communications to betailored by you to ensure they are powerful and delivering quantifiable business value.

At times to track attitudes. Routine measurement helps communicators to tailor messages to makesure they are proper to their audiences and to gauge the ever transferring approaches and feelingsinside an organization.

Beat checks and to gather feedback on particular problems and also temperature checks during andafter particular events offer an insight to the issues and challenges an organization faces.

At periods to benchmark and track against KPI's. Measuring regularly against benchmarks andtracking trends over time provide an early warning of problems which could go undetected untilcommunicators have escalated farther.

What to Measure?

Determining which aspects of communication to quantify will depend on the particular business andcommunication goals of the organization. A few examples of useful communications measurementscomprise:

Baseline communicating measurements prior to communicating can measure; existing knowledge,attitudes and behaviors of employees, in addition to determining the existing information accessible,how easy it's to find, the present communications stations available also to identify other variablesaffecting attitudes and behaviours.

Practical communication measurements

Following campaign or a communication, practical aspects of communicating ought to be measured.Comparisons are not useless. Added measures can contain; the amount as well as types of messagessent, time of messages, message cut-through / reach, channel effectiveness and appeal, crowdsatisfaction with content (types, volume etc).

What to Quantify - Measuring Impact

Measuring of the impact communication is a critical step and measures can comprise:

Audience perception measurements including factors such as; % and kinds of messages received,communications remembered. Were messages viewed as consistent important and credible? Werethe messages understood? How well do workers feel they are being supported? Do employeesunderstand just what needs to happen as a result of the communication(s)?

Change in Behavior

Most internal communication's aim will be toalter employees' attitudes and behaviours. Soit is valuable to identify and quantifyvariables for example; What altered? Wasthere more or less of a behaviour? What isnow distinct?

Impact on company goals / Outcomes

Internal Communicators should be enabledby communicating measurement to quantify

the impact of communications on business objectives.

The quantity of workers who signed up for share scheme (following its promotion)

The shift in approaches involving the proposed impact of increased customer retention along withcustomer service

The quantity of ideas that were usable submitted via an employee suggestion initiative (and thefinancial worth of the ideas)

Isolating the effect of communication

It will often be hard to isolate the impact of Leadership Talent communication versus other factorsplus communication doesn't happen in a vacuum (incentive schemes, new product launches, factorsexternal to the business and so on). Possible solutions comprise:

Communications control groups (isolating a group, such as for example one place that is remote, andnot conveying them about a specific initiative or target, then looking at their actions differ fromgroups you've conveyed with)

Evaluating the change in behaviour with respect to a business goal that was conveyed nicely, versusa company goal with no communication or little

Estimate the % influence of communications versus other affecting factors.

Calculating the monetary value of communicating

Computations of the monetary value of communicating will, at best, be approximations. However, it'sstill a significant part communicating measurement as it starts a dialogue with senior supervisorsalso and can demonstrate the tremendous value of internal communication that is effective.

Look at the impact of an inner crisis communication response that is effective. A comparison couldbe produced against a situation (internally or within an identical organization) which was nothandled and quantifiable worth credited to factors such as:

Volume of customers kept

Retention of good staff who might otherwise have left

Tools to Assist the Measurement of Internal Communication include:

Desktop Computer surveys and quizzes. Aside from paper based surveys or in depth online, pop-updesktop surveys and quizzes provides benchmarking ability and added measurement through theyear.

Incentives. A prize incentive can encourage staff to take part in a quiz or survey.

Qualitative Communication Measurement

In addition to quantitative measures of communications effectiveness, qualitative communicationmeasurement should also be undertaken. Qualitative techniques can contain:

Free form replies in surveys.

Focus groups

Discussion forums. Although face-to-face interviews and focus groups are often the very best optionfor qualitative communicating measurement, internal social media may be a helpful add-on orsubstitute. Set up employee discussion forums to investigate particular problems. Screen opinionsproduced in discussion forums to gather qualitative measures of how employees are thinking feelingand acting

Preventing Survey Prejudice

Averting non- answer or self select bias. When surveys rely on workers to choose in or 'self select',you may mostly hear from the squeaky wheels or folks having an agenda prompting them toparticipate. A desktop computer survey tool can provide escalation, random sampling and returnalternatives to help ensure that representative internal communications measurement data isgathered from across the business.

Control groups. Identify survey responses from control groups and therefore to compare andmeasure the impact of internal communications campaigns.

Multiple select questions. For some types of questions, e.g. "Where did you hear about XXX from?"or "What factors influenced your decision" providing single response options can skew results. Inthese cases, provide multi-select response choices.

Comparisons. Gauge the effect of communications on individuals who viewed a specificcommunications against those who didn't.

The impact of time on recall. Remember hence if communication efforts should be compared withone another, speeds will drop over time, communications measurement must be completed at

precisely the same time period after each and every campaign. Ensure that communicationsmeasurement is performed at a regular time after every campaign.

Providing circumstance for survey or a quiz. Circumstance ought to be given for a quiz or survey.For example, a product knowledge quiz without circumstance could cause workers to be concernedabout the purpose of the quiz and possibly work more difficult to ensure they supply the rightresponses. Nevertheless precisely the same quiz having an explanation "the intent of this quiz if tosee how well the communications team are doing, consequently please be as truthful as possible" ismore inclined to supply a precise measure of communication effectiveness.

Encouraging Survey Participation

Boosting the survey to support involvement. The higher survey contribution rates are, useful and themore statistically precise the results will undoubtedly be. Use advanced internal communicationschannels for example; scrolling desktop desktop alarms, feeds, user and screensaver messagingcreated staff magazines to increase the profile of surveys and support involvement.

Conveying survey findings and activities being taken. When workers believe that the outputs fromstaff surveys will probably be constructively used, they may be far more likely to participate. So,ensure that survey outcome along with the ensuing activities being taken are well conveyed to staff.Posts, newsfeeds and screensaver messages in the staff magazines are fantastic ways get messagesacross becoming buried in email inboxes.