How to show top bosses your value
It’s crucial that every communication initiative have merit and meaning. Finding viable metrics can be tricky, though. Try this approach to getting in sync with execs and proving your worth.
After some 32 years of measuring communications efforts, I can definitively declare that the three most frequent words I’ve heard are “show my value.”
They are frequently preceded by “help me” “need to” “can’t” and “how to.”
Whether you work for a giant conglomerate, a tiny nonprofit or a government agency, showing value is at the core of most communicators’ pain. At some point, everyone needs to somehow explain to senior management their contribution to the organization and to, hopefully, shed light on the best ways to communicate your value to senior leaderships.
Before we even get to practical tips, we need to dive into the underlying drivers behind those three words, so let’s start by unpacking the reasons behind the need.
Too many comms pros, as well as their bosses, see measurement as a binary construct: A campaign either wins or loses. In your performance review, you either show value or you don’t. And the downside of failure is much worse than the upside of success.
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