Performance Reporting as Edutainment

Physical security departments (CorpSec) protect corporations around the clock — non-performance is not an option.

Yet they’re rarely recognized for good performance, which is often delivered 99% of the time.

Of course, CorpSec’s failures are known immediately, like protesters invading a trade show, a pie in the CEO’s face at a press conference, or an active shooter rampaging unchecked across campus.

But if an org only sees its security department’s failures and not their successes, why would an org provide its CorpSec with an appropriate budget, headcount, or respect?

So it’s on CorpSec’s shoulders to publish its good work — to balance out the missteps that always occur. This critical reporting goes to upper execs in the form of Quarterly Business Reviews, or in Monthly Updates.

Hard to Reach ‘Em

Here’s the Catch-22, the execs higher up don’t want another boring meeting on their crowded calendars. If execs have to listen to CorpSec, it’s typically in 30-minute meetings that are painful data dumps. In, out, jumbled mind-numbing amounts of info, forgettable.

NextGen Performance Reporting

Luckily, there is a better way to gain execs’ attention, impress them, and get them looking forward to CorpSec’s next presentation — edutainment. That’s educational entertainment for performance reporting.

While edutainment is the next generation of performance reporting, it’s not for the faint of heart. It takes organizational savvy, security insights, creativity, and the courage to do something different.

But edutainment results are significant, this style of performance reporting can contribute to:

• C-suite recognizing CorpSec’s achievements, performance, & value
• CorpSec’s raising awareness of security initiatives & increase participation
• Execs looking forward to CorpSec’s next presentation
• Peers elevating their game to report performance — reducing boring meetings all around

What’s it Take?

For edutainment to work, CorpSec needs to change its perspective, and add creative resources. Here are several key points to move from boring meetings to edutainment.

 Know your audience

• Make choices for content & design that culturally align with execs’ personalities & styles
• Make the entertainment entertaining – without going over the top
  - Choose a unifying theme, such as science fiction, mobsters, comedians, etc.
  - Direct creative resources to use animation, video, & audio where appropriate
  - Keep the entertainment portion brief, like a wrapper around the core of the performance reporting

Standardize topics for consistency

• Entertainment themes should change from one reporting to the next but reporting topics should stay the same, such as:
  - Highlights: key wins, successes, etc.
  - Low lights: problems, corrective actions & lessons learned
  - KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)
  - Financials: cost savings & avoidances, budget variances, etc.
  - Strategic initiatives, upcoming challenges, etc.
  - Asks: Anything needed from execs?

Just do it 

• Commit to at least 3 edutainment presentations
• It can take awhile for the “buzz” to reach execs higher up & them to join in
• Add the creative resources  you’ll need
• It can feel risky the first time
• Create, rehearse, then take a deep breath & jump in

If You Make it Entertaining, They Will Come

Contact us to learn how we can help you promote CorpSec’s value and importance to your execs.

There are many ways to publish CorpSec’s good work and polish its reputation with execs and peers. Edutainment is one way that banishes boredom from execs endless meetings — while making CorpSec’s performance memorable.

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