This month’s guest is internal comms manager, Andrew Hesselden, who shares his thoughts on why as internal communicators we sometimes get in a muddle with metrics.
In any line of work, the ability to measure the impact of what you are doing is important to achieving success. After all, how will you know whether or not you’ve been successful if you can’t measure it? As internal communications people, we are usually very keen on measurement.
Herein lies the trap for internal communicators…
That’s right: widgets developed, widgets sold, business won and retained!
Business success is never defined in how many clicks your last internal newsletter got. Or how many page-views your intranet homepage gets.
It’s a simple fact that if you’re doing a great job with your internal comms, the results will be seen all throughout the business. All this success is wonderful, and it’s lovely that the Sales Director will get his/her bonus but the chances are, you’ll probably just be seen as the department that spent lots of money making a newsletter or running a costly intranet.
What does that mean for internal communicators?
Well, by all means keep on measuring whether anyone reads your newsletter or subscribes to your blog. That’s fine, but don’t let those metrics be what defines you. Don’t fall into the trap of allowing the organisation to equate clicks and questionnaires to the value of the Internal Communications department.
Instead report on successes and growth achieved around the business. Borrow the metrics from the business and highlight how effective communication & collaboration has made it happen.
I promise you, the business will love you for doing so.
This post was first published on Andrew’s blog.
Andrew is an experienced Internal Communications specialist who focuses on Channel Strategy. He is especially passionate about intranets and how culture impacts the uptake of employee social media tools in the workplace. You can find him on LinkedIn and Twitter.
He also collaborates with Browning York on the IC Channel Check, a comprehensive internal comms audit that helps organisations improve their comms, connect with their people and achieve more – find out more at www.icchannelcheck.co.uk