An Inside Look at Internal Communications

Katie Delahaye PaineCEOPaine Publishingmeasurementqueen@gmail.comwww.PainePublishing.com

Communications then and now

Traditional role 21st Century Role

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Welcome to the “I want what I want, not what you send me” era (aka: “The Relationship Era” ®)

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Changes in communications

► Big data raises false hopes► There is no market for your messages► Impressions are not sales or

awareness ► Everyone is “media” ► Sentiment is overrated

► It’s not about the media, it’s about your mission & what your stakeholders do with the info when you put it out there

► The Barcelona Principles

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How are you communicating?

The majority of Americans get their news from Twitter and Facebook

Millennials rely on Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat communications

Gen X gets their information from YouTube

Older generations use the internet as a tool for research, shopping, and banking

E-mail is for old people

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Just because you’ve “reached them” doesn’t mean they’re aware, engaged, or motivated

Awareness is worthless unless someone takes action

Where’s the “So what?”

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Where are they getting the messages?

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“Likes” are not engagement

AdvocacyCommitmentTrial/Consideration

FollowersLikesImpressions

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There is ROI in good communications Companies that communicate effectively have a 19.4%

higher market premium than companies that do not

Shareholder returns for organizations with the most effective communications were 57% higher

Communication effectiveness is a leading indicator of financial performance

Firms that communicate effectively are 4.5 times more likely to report high levels or employee engagement

Companies that are highly effectives communicators are 20% more likely to report lower turnover rates

(Source: Watson Wyatt Worldwide 2005/2006 Communication ROI Study)

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The New Rules of Organizational Communications

You aren’t in control

Empower employees, rely on customers

Enable the conversations—conversations are going on, with or without you

Spin is dead, long live transparency – you can’t fake it, so be who you are and see who is pleased

Social media must be a core competency for all employees

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What are the excellent companies doing?

They are 26 times more likely to make extensive use of measurement

They are 15 times more likely to benchmark

What are they measuring:

Productivity

Behavior change

Business outcomes

Focus on continuous improvements

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Transparency: The cure for relationship problems

Transparency increases trust

Transparency is:

Disclosing what you *have to* disclose

Disclosing what you *want to* disclose

Disclosing what you *do NOT want to* disclose, but it’s the thing to do

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Principles of Excellent Communications

Two-way symmetrical communication works best

Comms participates in making strategic decisions

Research is used for planning not just evaluation

To define issues, relevant stakeholders, problems to solve, appropriate strategies

Communications takes place at 3 levels:

1) Program

2) Organizational

3) Societal

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6 steps to standards-compliant measurement

Step 1: Define the goalWhat outcomes is this strategy or tactic going to achieve? What are your measurable objectives?Step 2: Define the stakeholdersWho are you are trying to reach? How do your efforts connect with those audiences to achieve the goal?Step 3: Define your benchmarksWho/what are you going to compare your results to?Step 4: Define your metricsWhat are the indicators to judge your progress?Step 5: Select your data collection tool(s)Step 6: Use the data to make better decisions Turn it into action, measure again

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6 Steps to Success

1

2

3

4

5

6

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Step 1: Define the goals

What return is expected? – Define in terms of the mission.

Define your champagne moment. – If you are celebrating complete 100% success one year from now, what is different about the organization?

SMART

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Realistic

Timely

“No resumption

of hostilities”

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Goals & Suggested Metrics Engage as Owners

With Employees

• % increase in “engagement score” in pulse survey

• % increase in of employees who participate in extra effort action/volunteer

Improving Perceptions &

Creating Advocacy

• % increase in awareness of Acme Corp’s CSR activities & community involvement

• % of employees agreeing that they have a clear understanding and are informed of how work contributes to achieving Acme Corp goals.

• % change in ratio of favorable to unfavorable coverage & conversations

Support the business

• Adherence to budget

• % increase in revenue per Communications employee (by source coding of revenue)

Goals, Actions, and Metrics

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Goal

Improve Customer Satisfaction

Increase access to highly qualified

candidates

Communications role

Drive employee knowledge and

engagement with a variety of

communications tools

Grow & improve relationships with

mentors, teachers, and other influencers

Outcome Metric

% increase in employee retention

% increase in customer satisfaction

% increase in highly qualified recruits

Activity Metric

% employee engagement in

communications products

% improvement in relationships with

influencers

Step 2B: Connect the dots

How does a good relationship with each group benefit your organization?

What’s important to those stakeholders?

What shapes their decisions?

Influencers?

Entertainment?

Media?

What makes them act?

How do your efforts connect with those stakeholders to achieve the goal?

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Definitions of “Success”

What’s the path?

Engage as Owners

Trust

Recommend

Cost savings

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Activity Metric

• % increase in participation rates in CSR program

• % increase in message understanding

• % increase in message comprehension

• % increase in community goodwill

• % reduction in recruitment costs

• % reduction in employee churn

Goals, Actions, and Metrics

Goal

Increase Employee Engagement

Increase Advocacy

Support the business

Action

• Messaging events• Leadership involvement• Culture communications

• Connect & engage with customers online

• External messaging• Strategic communications

outreach

• Entertainment events• International outreach to

support new markets

Outcome Metric

• % increase in employee engagement

• % increase in desirable employee sentiment

• % increase in belief in Acme Corp as referred and responsible brand

• % increase in advocacy• % increase in desirable

customer engagement

• % increase in source coding revenue per employee.

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Comparing messaging & sentiment across channels

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

Positive Sentiment Across All Channels

News Social Media Employee

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-6

-4

-2

0

2

4

6

Jan Feb Mar Apr May June

% point change since last month

Share of desirable voice Share of undesirable voice

Unique visits to Website Engagement Index

Overview

Brand Metrics

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0

20

Jan Feb Mar Apr May June

% point change since last month

Share of desirable voice in biologics

Visits to UnderstandingBiologics.com

Share of desriable HepC voice

Share of undersirable voice in HepC

-10

0

10

Jan Feb Mar Apr May June

% point change since last month

Desirable Oncology SOV

Innovative positioning in media

Visits to specific URL

Innovation social engagement index

Perception of AbbVIe as Oncology leader

2222-5

0

5

10

Jan Feb Mar Apr May June

% point change since last quarter

Ratings on trust

Employee knowledge of "Way We Work"

Understanding of Strategic Objectives

Reduction in Say/Do gap

Culture Metrics Science & Innovation Metrics

On-Market Products

Step 3: Establish benchmarks

Peer data from Industry Groups

Past performance over time

Measurement is a comparative tool

Whatever keeps senior leadership up at night

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Step 4: Define your Kick Butt Index

You become what you measure, so pick your metrics carefully

The Perfect KBI

Is actionable

Is there when you need it

Continuously improves your processes & gets you where you want to go

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Activity Metric

• % increase in participation rates in CSR program

• % increase in message understanding

• % increase in message comprehension

• % increase in community goodwill

• % reduction in recruitment costs

• % reduction in employee churn

Goals, Actions, and Metrics

Goal

Increase Employee Engagement

Increase Advocacy

Support the business

Action

• Messaging events• Leadership involvement• Culture communications

• Connect & engage with customers online

• External messaging• Strategic communications

outreach

• Entertainment events• International outreach to

support new markets

Outcome Metric

• % increase in employee engagement

• % increase in desirable employee sentiment

• % increase in belief in Acme Corp as referred and responsible brand

• % increase in advocacy• % increase in desirable

customer engagement

• % increase in source coding revenue per employee.

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Social Media Engagement Index

Action Score

Like/Follow/Opens/+1 0.5

Favorite or Opens or Views 1

Comment 1.5

Share content 2

Signs up to receive email or other owned content 2.5

Shares a link to an owned site 2.5

Total 1024

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Elements in an Employee Engagement Index

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Element Score

More likely to invest discretionary time 0.5

More likely to recommend to family & friends as a great

place to work1

Greater understanding of organizational mission vision

& values1.5

Greater understanding of key organizational messages 2

Lower retention rate 2.5

Lower recruitment costs 2.5

Total 10

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Step 5: Pick the right measurement tools

If you want to measure messaging, positioning, themes, sentiment: Content analysis

If you want to measure awareness, perception, relationships, preference: Survey research

If you want to measure engagement, action, purchase: Web, Social, and E-Mail Analytics

If you want predictions and correlations you need two out of three of these tools

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Activity Metric

• % increase in participation rates in CSR program

• % increase in message understanding

• % increase in message comprehension

• % increase in community goodwill

• % reduction in recruitment costs

• % reduction in employee churn

Goals, Actions, and Metrics

Goal

Increase Employee Engagement

Increase Advocacy

Support the business

Outcome Metric

• % increase in employee engagement

• % increase in desirable employee sentiment

• % increase in belief in Acme Corp as referred and responsible brand

• % increase in advocacy

• % increase in source coding revenue per employee.

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Tools Required

• Intranet metrics, Banana Tag (Email metrics) sentiment analysis

• Pulse Survey

• Web Analytics

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Ask “So What?” 3 times Rank everything from worst

performing to best performing Compare to last month, last

quarter, 13-month average Move resources from what

isn’t working to what isworking

Be data informed, not data-driven

Step 6: Research without insight is just trivia

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Photo Event

High Engagement Index

Resource Use

Low

Hig

h

Med

ium

Ver

y hi

gh

Level of Engagement

Ver

y H

igh

Med

ium

Hig

h

Low

High Resources

Low Engagement Index

Low Resources

Webinar

Status update

Link

Ultimate

Road Trip

Google + Chat

Media Day

Corporate Video

What gets the most bang for the buck?

Resource Use

Low

Hig

h

Med

ium

Ver

y hi

gh

Ver

y H

igh

Med

ium

Hig

h

Low

Webinar

Status update

Link

Ultimate

Road Trip

Google + Chat

Media Day

Corporate Video

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What Worked:

What Didn’t:

What we will do next:

Employee Communications Dashboard Program YTD 2012 Q1 2013 YTD 2013

Increase in “engagement score” in pulse survey

50 76 +26% 76 +26%

% increase in employees proud to work with score

1% 2% +1 2% +1

% increase in of employees who participate in extra effort action/volunteer

1% 2% +1 2% +1

% of employees agreeing that they have a clear understanding and are informed of how work contributes to corporate goals

50& 76 +26% 76 +26%

% decline in Absenteeism 49% 30% +19 30 +10

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20

30

40

50

60

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept October Nov Dec

Employee Engagement vs Sentiment Over Time

Employee Positive Sentiment Employee Engagement Index

What people are doing with metrics

Saving over $2 million in IT costs Demonstrating communications impact on

organizational goals Ensuring consistency between external and internal

communications Demonstrating impact of employee engagement on

recruitment Demonstrating impact of employee engagement on

profits

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Want more Internal Comms knowledge?

Check out the following articles we recently published in The Measurement Advisor newsletter: “5 Steps to Measure and Improve Communications with Your

Employees”

“Why You Need to Integrate Internal Communications Into Your Measurement Dashboard Now”

“Best New Communications Measurement Tool of the Month: Bananatag”

“The Essential Toolkit for Internal Communications Measurement”

Please note: Some articles in this list/the newsletter are premium content which means they require a paid subscription to read. Get 30 days for free, then it’s only $9.99 per month for complete access to all content! Details here.

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Thank You!

For more resources on measurement, check out Paine Publishing’s Measurement Mall

For any questions, email me at measurementqueen@gmail.com

Follow me on Twitter: @queenofmetrics

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Or call me at 1-603-682-0735

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