According to the Chief Executive Officer of Paine Publishing, measures of effective
communication and success include the following:
1. Defining one’s goals
2. Understanding the key stakeholders
3. Defining and setting benchmarks for performance
4. Choose the appropriate metric
5. Select the correct tools for data collection
6. Use the data collected to enhance performance and make better decisions
I absolutely could not agree more with Ms. Paine’s measures of effectiveness. Often,
organizations have remote workers, or global operations that create a lack of communication
due to the minimal face-to-face interactions. Using these measures enables companies to
gather the information in a smart manner to ensure goals are aligned and communication is
strong to accomplish those goals.
Currently, one of the companies I account for deals with manufacturing but it is still early
stages therefore the communication is essential for us to ramp up. We have remote locations
and employees that make it difficult to ensure we are on time with expectations, which creates
lags in revenue recognition, shipments of products, etc. We recently brought on a program
manager to set up meetings with key stakeholders, provide timelines for better understanding
and takes note of the learning process so that we can continue to evolve and succeed. Being
able to measure these efforts ensures that everyone involved understands the task at hand, the
goals to achieve, and the best ways to stay on track to avoid any disruptions financially or
operationally.
The use of program management is essential or external stakeholders, as well as internal.
Effective communication builds a sense of trust with customers, opens the floor to address
any concerns, and also enables the team to better understand the external stakeholders’ needs.
Without having these metrics, a project or program can become cumbersome and ultimately
fail, which is the worst-case scenario that companies try to avoid as much as possible.
Reference:
The National Academics of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. (2016). Strategies to
Enhance Air Force Communication with Internal and External Audiences: Measures of
effectiveness and success. p. 24.
