Abigail Jones

Partner, Acumen Public Affairs

PA Action Day

8 February 2012

Justify the value of PA activities

Challenge to measure intangible

products of PA functions

I need to think about measurement because

I have to for my individual performance

I need to justify effectiveness and/or value for money

It will help improve PA objective/strategy setting

“The PA profession is no different from lawyers. We won’t promise that we will prevail in court but we promise to apply best skills and best knowledge but there is no guarantee of outcome.”

Measure: Lawyers per revenue

Number of lawyers + revenue of company (mEUR)

Desired improvement: lower

KPI: No of lawyers/revenue in mEURO

2010 to 2011 productivity/efficiency improvement: - %

Process

Outreach

Satisfaction / Reputation

Policy

Financial/Impact

Process

• KPI increasing key project completion for top priority issues: on 80% of projects, seek year on year improvement by 25% for top issues

Out-reach

• KPI on effectiveness of contacts taken: seek % improvement

Satis-faction

• KPI based on regular survey: seek % awareness or favourability improvement

Policy

• KPI based 3 priority issues/must win battles: seek green traffic light for 2 and orange for 1

Finan-cial

• KPI: Secure market access ahead of competition: seek 6 months

KPIs for individual performance

Mitigating factors

Individual impact

Policy impact

Strategic methodology:

Issue identification

Probability assessments

Performance indicators

Features:

Inclusion of business unit staff in preparing the estimate of financial impact to the company

Evaluation matrix that incorporates

probability of achieving success

Estimated financial impact to the company

Performance measures:

Earnings, secondary (e.g. favourable news coverage) and goodwill impacts (legislative support)

Hig

h I

mpact

Low

im

pact

Low cost High cost

Coalition

building

Drafting

position

papers

Advertising

Speaker

opportunities

with EU inst

Sponsorship

Response to

consultations

Commissioning co, TA,

TT research/ surveys

Advisory

board

Own company

roundtables/

debates

Speaker

opportunities

with Think

tanks

Issues

Prioritisation of issues

Validate priorities

Fix goals and metrics against

priorities

Measurement of policy goals

•Judgement call

•Issues that affect revenue and margins

•Short term priorities

•Reflect CEO’s vision

IMPACT ON CUSTOMERS

ABILITY TO CHANGE

•Issues where the company is a key actor, may be led by Trade Association

•Govt Affairs not the expert – HR or tax

RELEVANCE TO COMPANY

Time/ effort

Priority 1: 50-70%

Priority 2: 20-30%

Priority 3: 5 - 15%

Emergencies: 10%

• Judgment calls need to be made as to what is a priority.

• Emergencies: mostly PA declines when it does not fit in

agreed priorities.

• Stakeholder management goals

• Internal teams and agencies

• Have top targets been met?

• Track meetings and favourability

of top targets

Issues

Prioritisation of issues

Validate priorities

Fix goals and metrics against

priorities

Measurement of policy goals

• Against each priority determine what company plans to achieve

• Financial model with best/worst case outcome

• Evaluate against likelihood of change

32%

48%

20% Don't measure/ orspend less than 5%

Spend more than5% of time

Spend more than10%

Plan ahead:

Plan the process for measuring financial impact prior to commencing the PA activity

Develop a track record of financial contributions

Identify long-term impacts, not just those limited to current year

Involve others:

Encourage interdisciplinary solutions, incl. working closely with business units to develop estimates of the value added

Keep in mind internal client service and satisfaction

Manage the expectations of executives throughout the measurement process

Be pragmatic:

Apply a combination of both qualitative and quantitative measures that support and supplement each other

Select the most appropriate tool given the specific activity, corporate culture, time and resources available.