Introducing a new measurement approach at BP

Friday, September 09, 2005

In 2004, the communication team in BP's Lubricants business set out to establish a more rigorous performance management model. Their goal: to produce reliable tracking information to measure the impact of business-crucial communication. The first step was identifying key performance indicators (KPI) to measure the "effects" of communication. Next, they designed a survey to produce answers that feed directly into and inform these KPIs.

The project, which was coordinated by Simon Elliott, communication manager at BP Lubricants and Helen Coley-Smith, an independent consultant, resulted in a pioneering approach currently being adopted by the rest of the business. Based on BP's key success factors, here's some suggestions for practitioners working to develop a measurement strategy for their organization:

• Get the buy in and interest of leadership and key stakeholders early in the process, and enlist their support during implementation.
• In working out what to measure, link communication strategy to business strategy, and make linkages with business performance.
• At the outset ensure you and your stakeholders have absolute clarity on why and what you are measuring. Do this before you think about how to measure.
• Develop a tailored research solution. Combine expertise in communication and engagement with expertise in research techniques.
• Position the survey carefully - make sure everyone knows its focus, how it differs from or complements other surveys and why it's a valuable use of their time.
• Enlist the support of external experts to help with both the thinking around measurement strategy and with running the fieldwork.
• Make sure local communicators fully understand and support the survey.
• Make sure you maintain focus throughout and don't get derailed by requests to include issues or questions not related to your objectives.
• Be inclusive. Translate the survey into local languages to increase response rates.
• Present the results in a way that has impact - avoid death by PowerPoint.

Source: This extract is from a case study in the latest issue of Strategic Communication Management called "Building a new performance management model at BP."

Blogged on 12:20 AM by Upay

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