BSO COMMUNICATION STRATEGY – Evaluation and Resource Plan
The Communication Strategy Group has taken a Total Process Planning approach. Within each stage there are key tasks. We consider that we have, to date, examined the Scope (partly through the Communication Audit and partly through our discussions with staff) and Developeda strategy.
There are three stages yet to complete. However, we consider that the next stages, that of implementation and evaluation, will be critical to the success or otherwise of the strategy and within this stage the following tasks are necessary to improve outcomes.
Effective communication requires good evaluation. Without evaluation we would not know the impact of our communications efforts. The impact of all our communications activity proposed within our strategy can be measured and failure to evaluate could blight our best efforts to improve.
Evaluation is important for four reasons:
Efficient impact: measurement of the Outputs – our e-newsletter, staff meetings, Facebook/intranet activity, in other words what we can easily measure; Out-takes – what our customers take away as a result of our communication activity; Outcomes – quantifiable changes in attitudes, behaviours or opinions .
Boardroom credibility: Measurement will help bring our communication activity into the broader corporate decision making process.
Continuous Improvement
Return on Investment: our measurements will help us to assess the effectiveness of the resources we apply to the implementation of the strategy.
Implementationand Evaluation – 17/18
Implementation Action
/Measure/target
/Evaluation
Invest in Engagement & Communications.- Design anEngagement/Communication
- Secure resource to fund position.
- Assign officer to role.
Manager given specific development and implementation targets for Quarter 3 & 4 of 17/18. / Baseline pulse survey undertaken Autumn 2017 and again at May 18.
Increase in customer satisfaction ratings
Enhance Media Channelsfor Engagement/Communication…
- Upgrade the BSO internet site.
- Upgrade the BSO intranet site.
- Introduce Facebook to all functional areas in the organisation.
- Introduce Twitter to all functional areas in the organisation.
- Continue to develop our e-magazine, Business Matters
- Evaluate other channels for engagement and make recommendations as appropriate.
Communication satisfaction of clients increases in 2018-19.
Clients that report they like the look and feel of our web presence in Annual Customer Survey increases by March 2019
Staff knowledge about other areas of BSO increases in 2018-19 – baseline survey required by March 2018.
Staff positive identification with BSO and its functions increases in 2018-19.
Specific questions on positive identification to be developed for customer survey to be included in BSO pulse survey by March 2018. / Annual Customer survey – communication satisfaction increases by 5%
Staff survey – 5% improvement on staff engagement
Staff survey – positive identification satisfaction increases by 5%
Review BSO branding to ensure consistency of communication across all areas
Develop a strapline for BSO. / Clients that positively identify with BSO increases in 2018-19 – Annual Customer Survey to baseline and subsequently measure.
Strapline to be in place by December 2017.
Specific questions on positive identification to be developed for customer survey by March 2018. / Client survey – positive identification satisfaction increases by 5%
Staff engagement increases in line with target of 5%
Develop a dissemination policy on critical information – good & bad news. Staff should be the first to know about good news and our success and similarly not learn about bad news through the media or ‘grapevine’.
Include Communication as an item at every meeting to identify what is to be communicated and who is responsible. / The Communication Co-Ordinator should work with Directorates to develop processes to disseminate BSO business information by December 2017.
Specific questions developed for the staff survey on engagement and whether the staff voice is being heardby December 2017. / Customer and staff satisfaction ratings increase by 5%
Behaviours and culture begins to change and is picked up through pulse surveys
Staff engagement increases by 5%
Annual Customer Survey – increase of 5% in client satisfaction with our communication.
Develop communication style and etiquette guidancefor all media types and channels. / Templates should be designed by the Communication Co-ordinator by March 2018.
Guidance should be issued on the preferred font and format of communication by March 2018.
Guidance should be issued on communication etiquette by March 2018. / Our internal and external communication becomes more consistent.
Each area of BSO will identify what success looks like and how to communicate success most effectively to all stakeholder groups.
Additional information will help staff engage with the business and improve engagement. / Behaviours and culture begins to change and is picked up through pulse surveys in 2018-19.
A baseline measurement of our level of business should be taken by March 2018, and a target set. We would expect to meet the target and increase business further over the longer term. / Staff engagement increases in line with target of 5%
Level of business increases in line with target set.
Regularly showcase organisational successes – small wins rather than Chair’s Awards / Publicly thank people on our media channels by December 2017.
Enhance Chief Executive presence by December 2017.
Develop baseline measurement analytic for a staff pulse survey by march 2018. / Staff engagement increases in line with target of 5%
Behaviours and culture begins to change and is picked up through pulse surveys
Identify training needs of staff in senior roles in media handling skills / Relevant media training undertaken in line with training needs analysis during 2018-19. / Measure increase in trust response in surveys from 2018/19 onwards.
When to evaluate our communication plan
We would propose that evaluations of our communication strategy should be conducted both during its implementation and after its completion. By conducting short ‘pulse surveys’ during the implementation stage, we can make any necessary adjustments, respond to new information and needs mid-cycle. How and when we intend to implement the Communication Strategy should be disseminated to all staff.
Who is responsible for the evaluation?
In the main, the Communication Co-ordinator would work with others across the organisation to develop an implementation and evaluation plan. However, as communication is a key focus of SMT, it will therefore fall to SMT to drive the implementation and evaluation of the strategy.
The Resources and Costs of the Strategy
To ensure that our strategy is successful, it will require ongoing attention and resources. The Communication Strategy workgroup considered whether the work and development of protocols etc. could be ‘attached’ to an existing post. While we thought initially that this might be possible, as our work progressed we came to the conclusion that we needed additional resource to allow the communication strategy the space, time and ability to grow, to mature and become part of our culture. We believe that the BSO should aspire to excelling in its desire to engage and communicate effectively with each other, with our customers and with the wider public and citizens. The expectation is that the Communication Co-Ordinator, in collaboration, with all areas of BSO would develop a detailed action plan to cover all areas of the strategy.
Costs
Much of the resource required can be attributed to opportunity cost. The implementation of the survey requires the development of policy and guidance which could be undertaken by the Engagement/Communication Coordinator in collaboration with Directorates. There will be modest costs (estimated at £20k) for the development of materials, such as the updated website, templates and poster/Branding information across BSO sites. We estimate the hard costs attached to the strategy as £20.000 in 17/18, reducing to around £5000 per annum in subsequent years. This represents materials and the costs of updating our website.