Most internal communication efforts play the role of town crier rather than business problem solver. Where is the power of the town crier approach? To add value to an organization, internal communication needs to focus on improving results rather increasing activity that has little to no business impact. That begins by changing what gets measured…. Read more
Communication Measurement
Are You Out Of Touch With Your Business?
Most internal communication departments work on the outskirts of town. That’s what a vice president of operations told me recently. “They’re worried about stuff that doesn’t matter that much. They worry about click-throughs, opens, mentions, share of voice, awareness and retweets. I’m worried about financial and operating results. They need to work with us in… Read more
Measure What Matters
What gets measured gets done. Even though we’ve heard that a gazillion times, many organizations are still managing the wrong measures. Consequently, they’re getting the wrong results. Too many leaders today don’t give enough thought to what they’re measuring. The leader of a large U.S operation once suggested that training should be measured by how… Read more
Social Media is Missing the Point
When you don’t know what to measure, you should know you’re in trouble. Many in the social media world might be wise to consider themselves in trouble. Not long ago I interviewed the head of marketing for a $20 billion company. “Our communication people are worried about the wrong things,” he told me. “I explain… Read more
Business Strategy Drives Communication Strategy
Communication measures must be aligned with an organization’s measures. Why should the two entities work at what could be cross purposes? Communication should be managed to improve results that the company, its customers and ultimately shareholders care about? And, it needs to do so with an acceptable return on investment, meaning the cost to create… Read more
Finding ROI in Communications Audits
Talk about teaching an old dog new tricks… The venerable communication audit has been repurposed and now is playing a critical role in how organizations are managing communication to improve results. The communication audit has been around for decades. It has been used to measure the effectiveness of formal communication channels such as newsletters, wall… Read more
Engagement Surveys That Drain Value
Must your employee engagement survey drain value from your business because its cost was greater than any gain you could expect from flawed research? I hope you never have to ponder that dilemma! Employee and customer experience research can serve up a mountain of data that can improve a business–if the people doing the research… Read more