How do you compare communication performance with your peers?

1 Define your communication goals

Before you can compare your communication performance with others, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve with your communication. What are your communication goals? Who are your target audiences? What are the key messages and outcomes you want to convey and generate? Having a SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) communication plan can help you define your communication goals and align them with your overall objectives.

2 Identify your communication metrics

Once you have your communication goals, you need to decide how you will measure them. What are the indicators and data sources that will show you if you are reaching your audiences, delivering your messages, and creating the desired impact? Depending on your communication channels and tools, you may use different metrics, such as reach, engagement, feedback, conversion, retention, satisfaction, etc. You should also establish a baseline and a target for each metric, so you can track your progress and performance over time.

3 Benchmark your communication performance

Now that you have your communication metrics, you can compare them with your peers. But who are your peers? How do you find them and access their data? One way to do this is to conduct a stakeholder analysis, which is a technique to identify and understand the interests, needs, expectations, and influence of the people and groups that are relevant to your communication goals. You can use various methods to conduct a stakeholder analysis, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, observation, etc. By doing this, you can identify your communication peers, learn from their best practices and challenges, and benchmark your communication performance against theirs.

4 Evaluate your communication strengths and weaknesses

Based on your communication metrics and benchmarks, you can evaluate your communication strengths and weaknesses. What are you doing well and what can you improve? How do you compare with your peers in terms of quality, quantity, consistency, and effectiveness of communication? What are the gaps and opportunities for improvement? You can use various tools and frameworks to conduct a communication evaluation, such as SWOT analysis, feedback loops, surveys, etc. By doing this, you can identify your communication strengths and weaknesses, and prioritize your areas of improvement.

5 Implement your communication improvement plan

After you have evaluated your communication strengths and weaknesses, you need to implement your communication improvement plan. How will you address your weaknesses and leverage your strengths? What actions will you take to improve your communication performance and achieve your communication goals? How will you monitor and measure your results and impact? You can use various strategies and techniques to implement your communication improvement plan, such as SMART action plans, PDCA cycles, communication audits, etc. By doing this, you can implement your communication improvement plan and enhance your communication skills and performance.

6 Review and update your communication plan

Finally, you need to review and update your communication plan regularly. Communication is not a one-time activity, but a continuous process that requires constant adaptation and improvement. How will you review and update your communication plan? How often will you do it? How will you incorporate feedback and learning from your communication activities and outcomes? You can use various methods and tools to review and update your communication plan, such as communication reviews, communication reports, communication dashboards, etc. By doing this, you can review and update your communication plan and ensure that it is aligned with your changing goals, audiences, messages, and contexts.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?