Using quantitative and qualitative feedback for a sustainable communications strategy
Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) is an arm’s length trading body of the Ministry of Defence, managing a vast range of projects to buy and support all the equipment and services that the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force need. Employing around 11,500 civil servants, military personnel and private contractors across more than 150 global locations people are dispersed across the UK.
With a backdrop of transformational change, a new Chief Executive and an increasing volume of information being shared there was a need to ensure that all audiences were receiving the information they needed, in the right way and at the right time, and ensuring the communication approach that was designed was audience-centric.
We worked with the Head of Corporate Communications, to enable her to gain a clear picture of the effectiveness of the channels, communication tools and practices currently in use, internally and externally and provide recommendations on the ideal structure for the communications function. Deploying one to one interviews with partner organisations and customers, leaders from DE&S, online questionnaires with colleagues, and survey tools we were able to share both quantitative and qualitative feedback. Feedback from benchmark organisations was used to support investment in particular tools and channels and provided further impetus for change. In addition, recommendations for improvement were shared from all the key audiences.
“HarknessKennett’s support has enabled us to enhance the communications strategy, based on quantitative and qualitative data, and provided recommendations on how to build a better and more sustainable communications function.”
head of corporate communications