Words are the new Data.

Is it possible to turn words into data?

And can this skill transform the conversations between communication leaders and business leaders?

To steal a quote from my fellow communication leader Jason Anthoine: “data is the admission ticket to the decision table.”??

But it’s not just any data that makes a difference - this data needs to show two things:

• That there is a gap between leaders’ perception of organizational priorities and how employees perceive them
• That improved communication is potentially the most cost-effective and time-effective solution to closing that gap.

This data is not about click rates, open rates, or employee engagement numbers, the most common kinds of numbers readily available to internal communication folk.??

Indeed, it doesn’t start as numbers at all.

It starts as words - as the answers to two questions:

• What are the three biggest priorities facing your organization?
• What are the three most important things you are working on at the moment in your job?

Counting and categorizing the words that are used to answer these questions can transform these words into strikingly powerful numbers.?

Because participants aren’t being guided towards specific answers, it becomes possible to analyze both what’s said and what’s not said.

The ways in which things are said also inform crucial findings that can be shared powerfully with senior management in the form of a “data story” or “measurement narrative.”??

Your measurement narrative is critical to bringing your leaders into the story being told by your words and numbers - and also for punching up the importance of communication as a powerful lever to drive business outcomes.??

It’s also a defining way to help your own team and stakeholders focus on activities that can be demonstrated to have direct impact on your measures - and to deprioritize activities, initiatives and spend that don’t.

How do you turn words into data - and data into measurement narratives?

That’s the focus of my masterclass - Measurement: Putting it on Rails.??

Offered on 11 October and 25 October, I’ll be teaching participants how to ask these questions, convert the answers into actionable data, and present them in a way senior leaders will find compelling.

It’s a two hour course and the tuition fee of USD 395 + 21% VAT also includes a free half hour consultation.

To register, visit www.changingtheterms.com/masterclass

Measurement is often the biggest gap in a communicator’s toolkit.?

But it doesn’t need to be.? It can actually be the key to the decision-making table.

It's time to put measurement on rails.