It’s time to stop measuring ‘internal communications’

Let’s stop measuring “internal communications” for two reasons:

I’ve been on a crusade to clarify the difference between “internal communications” and “employee activation.” It starts with measuring observable behaviors instead of tracking the consumption of the content. In the end, employee communications is not about counting impressions.

At Bloomberg, we no longer use the term “internal communications.” We call our team “employee communications.” It might even be more accurate to call it “employee engagement”—or “employee activation”—because we are not in the business of “internal” or “communications.” We are not in the business of storytelling. We are not even in the business of generating awareness.

We want to be in the business of driving behaviors that lead to business outcomes. Specifically, we are on the hook for improving sales, increasing productivity, opening the doors for our recruiters and building employee retention. We even help protect the firm by changing behaviors around security.

Awareness is just one arrow in our quiver; it’s not a business outcome.