This month we gathered our network of communication leaders for a private roundtable to discuss functional measurement. In today’s challenging economic climate, effectively demonstrating the business impact of the comms function has arguably never been more critical. However, without the same tangible metrics enjoyed by functions like sales and marketing, “tying comms activities back to business value is still a challenge,” as one leader expressed.
By sharing strategies from their organisations, our roundtable highlighted solutions to overcome the measurement challenge. We’ve outlined some below to help you approach this essential topic.
Why is functional measurement so challenging?
The very nature of the comms function makes measurement inherently challenging. As leaders noted, quantifying concepts like trust and reputation isn’t straightforward. You can’t easily break them down into bitesize statistics – which your business leaders might find easier to digest.
Other challenges shared include:
- A tendency to focus on outputs rather than outcomes.
- Adopting a ‘measure everything approach’, resulting in an overwhelming amount of data across different platforms.
- Difficulties analysing data because of a lack of time, good tools or an absence of strong data skills.
How can you overcome these barriers?
First, identify and measure the metrics your business leaders care about. If your organisation is focused on improving its reputation, your executive team will be interested in the metrics that demonstrate your influence in this area. As Paul Diggins from Santander noted, it might take some work to pinpoint the most important factor:
Trying to get the business to identify what outcomes they want is challenging – they still just want a ‘thing’.
Second, while your team might be more comfortable with words than quantitative data, you can use this to your advantage. You can use your storytelling skills to make data more engaging and impactful. As Lisa Gorski from HSBC noted:
There is an opportunity in getting people excited about data.
Third, it’s highly likely that what you measure will be impacted by other functions. The data you need might even be held by other functions. That’s why it’s critical to lean into colleagues outside of comms. You might find your tech and data experts to be particularly helpful to you.
Fourth, don’t forget the value of qualitative data. As Neil Jenkins from Iron Mountain noted:
Listening is fundamental to understanding what’s important to people and how comms are landing.
You can do this by providing feedback mechanisms on all channels so employees can share their thoughts directly.
Fifth, identify ways you can cultivate a measurement mindset within your team so it doesn’t become an afterthought. Iron Mountain’s approach is to encourage all team members to consider data in their conversations. As Neil Jenkins stated:
Measurement is not a capability that sits with just one person in the team.
Six, explore opportunities for upskilling. While communicators don’t need to be data experts, your team should be able to interpret data and use it to make informed decisions. Our roundtable suggested a significant gap exists in this area. You could start by encouraging team members with strong data skills to share good practices.
Kademy’s Skills Assessment can help you get a handle on the strengths and capability gaps in your comms team.
Connect with your peers at Kademy roundtables
Our live roundtables give comms leaders the opportunity to discuss challenges, priorities and trends with a group of like-minded professionals in a trusting, vendor free forum. By joining us, you’ll be able to:
- Pressure-test critical decisions in a trusting confidential forum.
- Deep dive and problem solve your most pressing issues.
- Mitigate risk by hearing lessons learned from similar businesses.
- Find inspiration and develop new thinking from those pioneering new strategies.
- Take away actionable ideas your team can adopt.
We’re currently finalising our roundtable schedule for 2025. Get in touch today if you’d like to find out more about how you could attend.
