How to Measure the Efficacy of Internal Communications Activity: Top Tips for Internal Teams
Internal communications is integral for business success and, without it, employers would struggle to keep their staff updated and their activities and views aligned with company objectives. But, as with any aspect of marcomms, gauging success and dictating activity accordingly is key. With this in mind, how do you measure the efficacy of internal communications strategies?
Measurement is key because the last thing communications teams want is a disengaged internal audience. Monitoring activity effectively helps organisations to identify gaps in information flows and better understand employee morale, as well as boosting transparency and trust in the business. Crucially, it also ensures there is alignment between company objectives and staff activities.
Effective measurement can enable leaders to understand whether their employees comprehend the wider direction of travel, and what’s expected of them from the organisation. If there is a misunderstanding or poor alignment between company and individual it can feed into their activity and impact morale, causing potentially significant lasting damage.
How to Measure Internal Communications Activity
How you measure success largely depends on the activity in question, and, as most readers will know, internal communications can come in many forms; this includes top-down messaging such as direct updates from leadership teams, newsletters, and company-wide meetings, and bottom-up approaches including employee feedback mechanisms. Equally, there are also lateral activities between workers on digital platforms like Teams or Slack, or via the intranet and, for those that don’t work remotely anyway, face-to-face town halls, one-on-ones and more informal ‘water cooler’ conversations.
Each of these aspects requires different monitoring and measurement techniques, although there are some that can be used in multiple ways, such as pulse or engagement surveys, for example. Equally, the likes of focus groups or even one-on-one informal chats that enable marcomms professionals to better gauge understanding can be effective.
These should be conducted on a regular annual or bi-annual basis to understand changes in employee sentiment, and ask a combination of qualitative and quantitative questions. For example, enquiring both ‘how well informed do you feel about company updates,’ and ‘In what formats do you prefer to receive company information’, should give employers more valuable data than if they simply focused on one type of questioning.
Data-Backed Insights
Equally, the technologically led world in which we now live in means that many marcomms professionals will already have access to a huge amount of quantitative data which can enable them to effectively determine the overall success of their activities. Metrics including meeting attendance rates, engagement levels (interactions in online meetings or webinars, for example) or post-event surveys, along with broader data on intranet activity, can all support internal communications professionals in ascertaining what’s working, and what isn’t. In addition, there are less obvious platforms for communications professionals to gauge feedback on their outputs; exit interviews, for example, are an ideal opportunity to gain potentially more honest feedback than they might receive from existing staffers.
Having access to this data presents a major opportunity; but how do communications professionals actually use it to their advantage in order to measure the efficacy of their strategies?
Using Data To Your Advantage
Combining different data points and metrics essentially enables communications professionals to optimise their activity, ascertain what works and what doesn’t, and make decisions accordingly. It builds out a fuller, more holistic picture of company-wide engagement, and the information can inform decisions on whether to diversify channels, for example, or drop those that aren’t widely utilised by employees to better redirect efforts.
This not only ensures that messages are being properly consumed by the workforce, but also helps to enhance transparency, encourage more two-way communication across the organisation, and identify opportunities to use technology more effectively. In addition, it could help marcomms teams to identify gaps in employee understanding and subsequently provide relevant, tailored communication training that helps to fill these gaps.
Ultimately, without measuring the overall success of their strategies, teams are shooting in the dark and will have no clear way of understanding whether messages are resonating or not. Effective internal communication fosters a positive workplace culture, improves productivity, and contributes to organisational success. By making measurement a priority, companies can ensure that their internal communication strategies remain dynamic, effective, and aligned with wider business goals.
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