Answer the following questions "yes" or "no" and check your score. It may also be worthwhile to have the same questions answered by key public affairs customers as a means of cross-validating your answers.
Our public affairs department:
_____1. Can provide an accurate return on public affairs productivity for the last three yrs.
_____2. Can provide an accurate % improvement in public affairs productivity for the last three yrs.
_____3. Has trend data that demonstrates improvement in public affairs client satisfaction for the last 3 yrs.
_____4. Directly links its evaluation/measurement to the strategic planning and management process.
_____5. Has figures that demonstrate how much and in what ways it has improved its capabilities to top management.
_____6. Has figures which show percentage reductions in the amount of time taken to complete most of its primary recurring tasks (e.g., annual report, speech writing, issue analysis, time to respond to inquiries.)
_____7. Can identify public affairs programs that have been voluntarily eliminated or downscoped in the last 3 yrs.
_____8. Has in the past 2 yrs compared the costs of internal production of resource-intensive recurring activities versus the cost of outsourcing them.
_____9. Compares itself to peer departments in the industry in terms of staffing levels, budget, structure and key compensation figures on at least a bi-annual basis.
_____10. At least annually conducts major client satisfaction surveys or audits and tracks results to uncover trends.
_____11. Within the last two yrs has thoroughly mapped a few key processes and identified areas for improvement.
_____12. Has within the last couple of yrs prioritized its activities/programs in terms of relative organizational benefit.
_____13. Has rank-ordered its activities/programs in terms of total resources utilized, especially in terms of budget dollars, human resources and time.
_____14. Has within the last 2 yrs prioritized its major activities/programs in terms of satisfaction levels achieved.
_____15. Has within the last 2 yrs prioritized its activities/programs in terms of their cost/benefit.
_____16. At least bi-annually measures and communicates to top management the department's overall performance relative to industry peers across at least a handful of key performance criteria.
_____17. Has in the past year benchmarked a key public affairs work process/practice against a best-in-class or proven performer.
_____18. Has within the last 2 yrs evaluated the performance of its key external contractors (e.g., lobbyists, polling/survey firms, publishing or media production services.)
_____19. Has within the last 2 yrs performed comparisons demonstrating the costs of externally contracted services (i.e., comparisons showing different lobbyists' retainer rates, hourly costs for different word processing services.)
_____20. Has made comparison within the last 2 yrs with industry peer departments showing the percentage allocations of public affairs resources across key expenditure categories (e.g., operating, administration, memberships, external contractors.)
Score Scale (Total Number of Yes Reponses):
15-20: If you scored in this range, you have a world-class public affairs performance assessment approach to measuring your department's performance. You have a well-balanced and well-focused management approach to assessment. Yours should be a department that others benchmark for their assessment.
12-14: You have a reasonably well-developed approach to departmental performance assessment. Your approach to performance assessment and management is better than about two-thirds of peer public affairs departments. Chances are that you are weak in a few areas but are likely progressing on the journey toward world-class status.
8-11: A score in this range puts you in about the middle third of all departments, which says you are off to a good start. You probably use a few measures or approaches heavily and ignore a number of other important aspects. Chances are you view improvement in this aspect of your management as one of the "tough" challenges and you realize it will take quite a bit of hard work and time to improve your approach.
7-0: This score puts you in the bottom third compared with your peer departments. You are a long way from having an effective approach to performance assessment and management; however, this is where many departments are that are just recently starting to measure some aspects of their department's activities. Your department's decisionmakers or your organization's executives are probably not convinced that measurement and evaluation can benefit your department. You need to step back, identify your vision for the future and your department, identify its goals and critical success factors to achieve this vision, and then design some important measures.
Source: Public Affairs Council, Assessing Managing Maximizing Public Affairs Performance, Dr. Craig Fleisher, chapter author