Skip to main content
Commsy creative stuff straight to your inbox

Blog

How to Share Performance Updates 

< Blog home

How to Share Performance Updates 

In the 2016 survey by Newsweaver, 64% of internal communicators agreed that managing the volume of communications was their top challenge.  Sharing business results and communicating performance updates is a key element for most internal comms teams.

How do you share your performance updates? 

What methods have you found work best? 
How do you measure and track results?

We consulted our network of fabulous IC folk to find out how they were taking on these challenges and were provided with a vast mix of potential approaches, tips and ideas for annual, quarterly and monthly updates, as all require different approaches.  Here’s our summary of the great stuff we’ve been hearing. Much of the content in this article comes directly from those who contributed to the conversation, so huge thanks for your input!

Sharing monthly updates

Build them into your strategy with monthly comms focused on succinct, top level updates.

  • Prioritise info – remember that for frequent reports consistency is key; enable employees to find what they’re looking for quickly and easily without constantly changing formats
  • Let the ‘numbers’ become a positive obsession for all – Heathrow Airport publish their weekly performance KPIs with their staff via a custom mobile app. Interestingly, Google Analytics reveals that this information is one of the most popular parts of their content. Find out more about Heathrow’s success story  by reading their case study from Simply Communicate.
  • Broaden interactive experiences – If you use SharePoint or other similar collaboration software it’s possible to create KPI widgets and pull in data from performance systems to build visually appealing leaderboards. Top Tip: Get as creative as you like to craft fully customised, branded reports and animated versions.
  • Keep it simple – Monthly reports can end up being bogged down with in-depth stats and complex graphs. The National House-Building Council is implementing ways to simplify data; in particular, a dashboard using easy-to-follow traffic light status updates (loved by many of you!).
  • Keep the dots connected – Which? takes a staged approach to reach a wide audience, with a monthly update of their KPI dashboard on their business plan micro-site. This highlights and reinforces the connection between regular measures and the overarching business goals.
  • Use imagery to tell the story – High impact visuals like infographics often prompt positive feedback and satisfy the visual learners. Experian transformed financial updates and annual employee survey results using their vibrant storytelling approach, which features highly in their internal e-newsletter.
  • Look forward – When circulating updates remember to draw attention to next month’s goals and be mindful of what needs to be achieved to remain on track.

“I never used to understand what financial results meant and now I get it!” Experian

Sharing quarterly updates

Demonstrate progress and take advantage of opportunities for a different approach as your updates become more in-depth and you include elements that won’t always lend themselves to monthly updates.

  • Hit the headlines – Quarterly email messages from the CEO work well as headline stories and can be impactful when kept uncluttered. You can include links to a specific part of the intranet or a purpose built site, containing a breakdown of the actual business performance and the finer details.
  • Personalise the message – Make it relevant by asking department leaders to share quarterly messages, perhaps direct emails to their staff, each with the same overall points. Provide specific detail on what it means for their own particular part of the business.
  • Discover the hook – Finding the right angle and linking business updates with key motivators such as career progression or pay and bonus structure can make the figures more real for employees.
  • Offer a handy toolkit – Do managers really know how to explain what the numbers actually mean? Consider accompanying your webcasts and videos from the CEO or MD with useful briefing packs, enclosing guidance on the areas that require particular attention. It’s also important to add background and context – reeling off figures will only work when people understand their significance.
  • Catch attention and create continuity with a single page report – For quarterly performance reporting, present headline results on one page in the simplest possible way, using icons and minimal text. Enhance the message by creating a short film from the CFO/CEO to send out alongside the report – a video that uses the same headline visuals, but also offers the finer detail for those who want to know more.
  • Share project and initiative updates – Are plans on track? Combine updates with information about other projects that are happening within the business, particularly those that relate directly to the KPIs you’re sharing.

 

Sharing annual updates

Enhance year-end announcements and annual off-site meetings with an in-depth update report from the CEO, tying in with other suitable annual reporting to minimise the volume of heavy publications or briefings.

  • Remain consistent – where possible alongside monthly and quarterly updates so employees can easily recognise what’s important and digest the details.
  • End of year event and review – Make the moment something to remember. This is not only a review and update on the year but setting the scene for the year ahead. Capture the moment so that it can be shared with all aspects of the business and illustrate the bigger picture in areas where employees may have little day-to-day contact.
  • Team workshops – Create a process for team workshops that goes beyond regular team meetings. Encourage teams to define their own objectives for the coming year. Invite input and ideas from employees that will enhance engagement and will allow the opportunity for employees to personally connect with the business strategy.
  • Tangible takeaways for employees – Offer ‘packs’ of material to bring things to life in team meetings, something to soak up and reflect on later when time permits. Use this as an opportunity to interpret the numbers in a variety of clear and concise ways that will help your employees to understand and connect.
  • Link with your employee performance review process – Which?  introduced behaviours to Performance Development Reviews so employees understand that “how we do things” is equally as important as “what we do”. The categories and measures created to determine the desired behaviours are linked closely with the overall business performance and are published on the intranet alongside the CEOs own objectives, aiding transparency and reinforcing that executive teams are ‘in it together with staff’.

 

Other key points to consider

  • Include independent viewpoints – Consider enhancing your message with external commentaries and topical news stories supporting your performance to bring the detail to life.
  • Mind your language – It’s easy to overlook your terminology, but ask yourself, does it actually mean anything to your intended audience? A key pitfall to avoid is using highly technical jargon or complex financial terms that not every employee will immediately understand.
  • Timing’s critical – Sitting on information for too long or ‘massaging the end results’ will mean that by the time employees receive them, they’re out of date and irrelevant. Get the info out in a timely manner.
  • Rewarding good performance is crucial – Where possible, be selective with what you highlight and celebrate successes, rather than focusing too much on the negative.
  • Infographics, infographics, infographics! Yes, we’ve touched on this but it’s such an important point we thought we’d raise it again! Infographics are vibrant, versatile and effective, enabling the ability to mix stats, visuals and anecdotes in one communication channel. By positioning infographic posters by lifts and staff areas, the content is visible and easily digestible for a diverse audience and for those less likely to access the intranet regularly.
  • Animate to capture attention – like infographics, using animation is a visual way to get staffs attention and make it easier to understand more complex updates.

We’re not talking about sharing information as part of a box-ticking exercise or a formal obligation here; it’s deeper than that. The sharing of performance updates involves delivering messages appropriately and in a way that will influence employee attitudes and behaviours to generate desired outcomes. We also recognise that, suitably delivered, business updates should be an effective tool to support employee engagement, keeping staff at all levels involved and informed.

Tweet us @Alivewithideas or drop us message at hello@alivewithideas.com with your own experiences and top tips on developing and sharing your performance updates. We always love to hear them!

 

“I feel like they own and care for the project as much as we do! I would not use anyone else for my creative work and think Alive is ahead of the game.”

Jo Hobbs — Communications Manager

“Thanks for all your help. We are delighted with the campaign, both in terms of the creativity and messaging but also the thought taken over the rollout of the materials. All looks absolutely fabulous!”

Sarah Crowdy — Campaign and Media Officer Communications, South East Water

“We went to ‘Alive’ for ideas on how to run a specific employee program in Europe. Alan and his team were brilliant in coming up with fresh, creative and practical approaches. The team took charge and executed brilliantly. We are pleased with the progress made so far and hope to have the same level of partnership and commitment going forward.”

Sobha Varghese — Tata Consultancy Services

“Alive helped us create a video of our response to the floods of winter 2019. Our Chief Officer received messages from all round the country praising us for it and was really pleased with both the video and the response to it.”

Alexander Mills, Communications Manager — South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue

“We had the privilege to work with the Alive team. It was our first time to be involved in creating an animation for our patients within paediatrics. The team were approachable, friendly, creative and very accommodating. Your vision for what you want to create, is at all times acknowledged, appreciated and accommodated by the team. They worked effectively and with great passion towards our project and worked not only alongside health professionals but also our patients who really enjoyed the experience of working with the Alive team. It has given our team the confidence and inspiration to do further projects in the future. We highly recommend Alive and their exceptional team.”

DR ELENI ATHANASAKOS, Lead Paediatric Clinical Scientist — NHS Barts Health

“‘The short animation developed in co-production with clinicians and young people is outstanding! Informative, developmentally appropriate, vitally fun and engaging. We are really grateful for the expertise of the Alive with Ideas team for their innovative approach in building children’s health literacy.'”

Kath Evans — Director of Children’s Nursing at Barts Health

“Our mission was to update our brand visuals to better reflect our innovative and forward-thinking organisation. After receiving numerous pitches from different branding agencies, Alive stood out with their clear passion and understanding of our identity and goals. We thoroughly enjoyed working with the Alive Team to create an engaging new brand that we are immensely proud of.”

Lianne Springer — Communications and Engagement Lead

“Alive wowed us during the pitch process and they didn’t stop wowing us throughout the whole project. Every person we worked with at Alive were so friendly, knowledgeable and clearly passionate about what they do. They have worked with us to really understand what we do and have created a new brand and website that really stands out from our competitors. Thank you!”

Louise Burnard, Head of Marketing and Communications UK — Be | Shaping the Future

“I think the team have done such a brilliant job, particularly with responding to our requests. It's one of the best mental health videos I've ever seen. Very proud to be associated with your exemplary work. Thank you so much.”

Dr Anna Batho — Clinical Psychologist – Critical Care, UCLH

“We have worked with Alan, Caroline and the wider Alive With Ideas team for many years. In that time, they have provided a dedicated service that is second to none. We appreciate their attention to detail and creative approach to bringing our brand, communications and stories to life. And would recommend them to anyone looking for creative communications support.”

Georgia Beech — Internal Communications Specialist, Ocado Group

“This is brilliant. I wanted to give my heartfelt thanks to all of the team who worked on this. You all understood exactly what we wanted to communicate and why, and then managed to do it in a way that was far better than anything I could have imagined. I’m a bit choked up to be honest!”

Sarah Wright, Head of Communications and Campaigns — NEA

“Each time I work with the team, I am always stunned at the effort and creativity that goes into each detail and am always eager for the end result. The team is extremely accommodating and always provide a fresh approach to our projects that elevates our communications materials!”

Alana Khaytin, Communications Specialist — Braskem America

“What I really appreciate about Alive is that they work with us as partners, and care as much about getting it right for our patients as we do.”

Sara Langston, Patient Engagement & Marketing Manager — italk

“Alive are unique in how much they deeply listen and invest in you and your ideas. I have not come across a company that listens as much as they do to ensure your needs are understood and met (actually - they always exceed my needs and expectations). Everyone I recommend Alive to has an equally brilliant experience. When you work with Alive, you are not only getting some genius creativity brought into your life, you are also hanging out with some of the best examples of human beings I’ve ever known.”

Steph Tranter, Hybrid Exec Coach & Psychologist — StephTranter.com

“The (Alive) team were able to creatively pull together and document (in just over 2minutes) everything our service has achieved over the last few months, from thousands of prescriptions deliveries to hundreds of phone calls made to the vulnerable. The final product was so powerful and reflective of what our service has and continues to achieve. It couldn’t have been better received within the service – thanks Alive for once again helping us to communicate our vision!’”

Emma Wright — South Yorkshire & Rescue

“We worked with the team at Alive to create our staff recognition video.
At a time like this, its never been more important to share the amazing work that our staff have done and continue to do on a daily basis under very difficult circumstances. We wanted to shout about this and recognise that when the time came, South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue stepped up to the plate. We didn’t want an ordinary thank you post on social media or a basic email sent out internally, we wanted something special. Enter Alive. ”

Emma Wright — South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue

“Our company is fun, we have great brands, but most importantly we’re all about our people – and I wanted an agency who would understand that and help us bring it to life through our website and other comms. Straight away I felt that Alive ‘got’ us and provided the creative inspiration exactly where we needed it, as well as the technical expertise to deliver a well-functioning website.”

Keren McCarron, Head of Corporate Affairs & Communications — KP Snacks

“Boom!
Thank you so much. Incredible work done at incredible speed by incredible people.
Outstanding work as ever and what a turnaround. As for the concepts – wow. These are that good it would be an insult to describe them as just good. It’s a joke, quite frankly. This is exactly the Alive effect I was after. Right now I feel like I am living in an Alive With Ideas wonderland. Thank you!”

Jack Grasby, Campaigns Manager — SYFR

“If you are looking to improve creativity and build teamwork, I highly recommend a session like this for your team. No matter where you are in your creativity journey, a workshop like this can give your team a boost of energy and ideas to invigorate their creative thinking.”

Amy Lilja, IC Manager — Hennepin Healthcare

“Alive were there to help when we were working every hour to respond to the coronavirus outbreak. They gave us the creativity, ideas and support we needed to deliver campaigns which empowered our residents in the most difficult time most of us have ever seen, personally and professionally. The team understood what we needed, worked closely with us and delivered fast without any compromise on quality. Working with Alive has been a joy in the darkest of times and I have no doubt will have helped to save lives. Thanks team x”

Julie Odams, Assistant Director of Communications & Customers — Derbyshire County Council

“We got 'Alive' involved to help us shift mindsets across our organisation and they delivered! Using simple, clear and creative ideas the team have delivered us a campaign which has seen a dramatic increase in idea sharing and development. They’ve also played a significant role in creating a culture of shared success. I wouldn’t hesitate to work with again, in fact, we already are!”

Gavin Buckle — B&Q
Alive logo