It's All About Measurement - Observations On Internal Communications Measurement
This is the tenth submission in an 11-week series on how to launch an employee engagement program. Last week I spoke about project management for smooth implementation. In this post I will discuss the importance of metrics and ROI.
Just about every day, we get asked, “How do you measure internal branding, employee engagement and Internal/External alignment?” My usual answer is, “It depends on your goal setting, culture and formality of your company”. Generally speaking two approaches to consider are tangible and intangible measures. Here they are.
Tangible measurements
- Tangible methods include establishing measurable metrics and benchmarks that are evaluated periodically. For instance, we would recommend an Employee Brand Engagement benchmark study utilizing our proprietary research tool, ChangeFX™. This study would provide both pre-launch and post-launch measures of success as well as useful diagnostics on constituency acceptance, believability and behavioral change.
- Other tangible measures include KPI and formulaic indexes of performance, customer satisfaction, employee retention and recruitment scores, “Best Places to Work” rankings, and training attendance and completion rates. Leaders should also consider standardized measures of employee engagement from syndicated suppliers such as Gallup.
- As a result of these tangible measurements, organizations are able to determine, through annual audits and employee feedback, whether brand engagement goals have actually been achieved.
Intangible measurements
- Intangible measures are also valuable indicators of success. They include happier employees, people articulating what the company stands for, and their overall understanding of how to improve customer service. When there is high brand engagement and employees start living the brand promise, people notice and start holding each other accountable for their words and actions.
- A successfully engaged workforce feels and acts differently. There is buzz and enthusiasm in the hallways. People feel anticipatory rather than anxious and are eager to collaborate instead of working in isolation.
- This emotional connection to the company and each other creates a team mentality and enhances problem solving.
- Strong employee brand engagement contributes to a corporate culture that is enabling rather than inhibiting. It creates fresh ideas and innovation, replacing fear and doing things the same old ways.
We encourage clients to find balance between tangible and intangible measures of success for the proposed employee brand engagement program. If you would like to discuss your approach, please let us know.