Necessary: International standards for Internal Communication Measurement
[Translate to Englisch:] Source: Newsweaver
Recent research results show: the success of internal communications is barely measured. That’s why an international “Internal Communication Measurement Standards task force” started to develop standards for internal communication measurement. The results will be presented at the Public Relations Society of America International Conference in November.
In a recent article on IPR Sean Williams, owner of Communication AMMO, Inc. and professor of Public Relations at Kent State University points out that though employee engagement is widely measured and formal research shows strong linkages to differential performance, the value of internal communications hasn’t been as widely recognized in the boardroom, except in terms of change management, impact on retention and on recruitment. The potential negative impact of poor employee relations and associated crises are also noted, but these outcomes need further research and measurement by internal communicators. Research has shown that effective internal communication matters for employee motivation, productivity and organizational performance. However, there has been a lack of consensus regarding how to measure the success of internal communication efforts or simply on what to measure. That’s why an international team of ten internal communication practitioners, academics and consultants came together to develop standards for internal communication measurement under the direction of Williams. As an ambassador of the german working groups “communication controlling and value creation” (DPRG) and “communication controlling” (ICV) Mark-Steffen Buchele takes part in the team. The owner of buchele cc and docent at University of Leipzig for communication controlling contributes practical and academic experience from the last few years of several german and international companies.
The task force patterned their work after the team that developed the standards for traditional media measurement, starting with defining key outcomes, both from academic and practitioner sources. They then articulated means of measuring performance against each, as the baseline measurement of each outcome. Over the course of the next few weeks, this process will pick up steam, as they prepare to present their initial findings at the Public Relations Society of America International Conference. They also plan to write a white paper on the initial work and present it, if accepted, at the International Public Relations Research Conference in March 2016. The necessity of standards is reflected in latest studies and discussions in social networks.
The success of internal communications is barely measured
Newsweaver partnered with Melcrum on “The Internal Communication and Technology Survey 2014” focusing on the use of technology and channels within organizations. Over 500 Internal Communication professionals around the world participated, spread over twelve industries and ranged from SMB to global enterprises. They give a view of emerging trends and challenges in this field providing insight into how internal communicators are using technology to create, implement and measure their employee communication strategies. The remarkable result: 60 percent of communicators are not measuring internal communication. Further results show that 70 percent of communicators state that their communication strategy is aligned with their business strategy, but only 16 percent are satisfied with their ability to measure the effectiveness of their internal communications. In addition, less than 50 percent of respondents believe their team has the digital and technological skills necessary to do their jobs. The most common real-time metrics available to communicators are content popularity, followed by opens and clicks – but both of these are available to less than half of communicators. Besides, nearly half of the respondents skipped the question “What Internal Communication metrics are available to you in real time?”. This indicates the lack of access to measurement mentioned by Williams.
Why are 60 percent of communicators not measuring internal communication?
To see why this may be the case, CW Executive Editor Natasha Nicholson asked their LinkedIn community why they think the majority of the profession still isn’t measuring their work.
The conversation was kicked off by eight reasons for why communicators fail to measure:
They don’t know how, including where to begin.
They’ve never done it—or had to do it—before.
They believe they don’t have the time it would take.
Their bosses don’t understand the value.
If they did measure, they wouldn’t know what to do with the results.
They’re told there isn’t any money to measure.
Their bosses, and often on up to senior management, say they “know” what it would show. They prefer to go with their “gut” instincts.
And, yes, some are lazy and/or set in their ways, and just don’t want to do it.
Other reasons shared by the group included a lack of familiarity and comfort with numbers and research, and simply, that it may not be asked of internal communicators. A related issue that was raised was that when measurement does happen, communicators often focus on inputs and outputs, rather than striving to link communication to business results, leaving them with less meaningful results. Overall, the group agreed that a shift needs to happen within the profession and communication education so that it’s always expected.
On IABC Denise Cox, Content and Communiations Specialist, Newsweaver, gives some fundamental tips for a jump-start access to internal communication metrics which support measuring employee engagement:
Use up-to-date technology: Conduct a channel audit. Identify where you need to update your channel technology (such as email and intranet) to software that delivers the real-time metrics and analytics you need.
Set goals: Why are you sending your communications? What are you looking to achieve? What behavior do you want to change? When answering these key questions, make sure the goals are aligned to your organization’s business strategy.
Identify KPIs: Select the key performance indicators that will allow you to accurately measure internal communication, based on your goals. Select from these three internal communication metrics groups. You should look at internal communication metrics from three different angles:
Granular: Opens and clicks are indicators, but they do not provide the insight you need. Drill down on the types of clicks, such as content and section popularity, downloads, and event registrations, etc.
Organizational: Use data to break out metrics by employee groups. This will allow you to measure employee engagement across the organization. These fields could include departments, pay grade, offices, regions or countries.
Benchmarks and trends: While industry benchmarks are interesting, it is more important to create your own unique benchmarks tied to your goals. Review trends over months, quarters and the financial year to get a truly accurate view of peaks and troughs in employee activity.
For further information about the Internal Communication Measurement Standards task force you can click here.
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