How to report performance to tenants

It might sound geeky, but in my role, one of my favourite tasks is reporting performance to tenants. This is not because I'm mad about numbers or statistics, but because it brings together the three strands that I think should drive social housing: resident involvement, continuous improvement and communications.

What to report?

The Housing Corporation used to issue a code of performance that needed to be reported to tenants, but since the advent of the Tenant Services Authority, no specific guidance has been in place. Instead the regulators look for clear and honest performance reporting but delegate freedom on the specific elements to the social landlord. At Orbit East, we've made a commitment to tenants that we would report on our service standards. These standards are our promise to tenants of how we will serve them.

How?

It's important that performance information can be clearly understood. Tenants haven't got time to spend poring over figures and graphs. Traffic lights, smiley faces, colours and arrows are all simple ways to communicate performance. Sometimes a pie chart can communicate the information visually much easier than text.

Wherever possible it is also useful to include a benchmark - the standard that the best landlords are meeting - and the previous year or quarter's performance, so the tenant can see the trend.

I use the tenants' newsletter to report performance annually, but depending on your organisation's needs and your customer base, you could use your website, a dedicated publication or a letter quarterly or even monthly. I think it's also crucial to include commentary, to explain the results and most importantly, how the organisation will improve its performance moving forward.

Here's the most recent performance document I produced. I'd welcome anyone's (particularly from tenants) comments on how it could be improved.

Thanks to John Marchan for the use of his traffic lights image.

Are you a secret social media linker?

Recently, I've become aware that my social media habits are not regarded as normal. When I've enthused about something I've seen on Twitter to my family who aren't into social media, I've been met with raised eyebrows and smirks.

When my friends asked me what I was doing on a certain evening and I said I was going to an event about mashing up data, they wrinkled their brows and looked bemused. They knew better than to query me further and wrote it off as one of my little oddities.

When I told work colleagues that I was volunteering at Solihull Social Media Surgery, silence fell. I explained that I was one of a group of people who are helping councillors learn how to blog. One asked me 'are you paid?'. When I replied that I wasn't, he said 'but, why would you do that?' I started to say it was fun to help people learn about the power of social media but then I realised I sounded rather strange and I buttoned my lip.

It hasn't quite got to the stage where I sneak around in my pyjamas, looking for my next fix, but until my friends and family get hooked on social media too, I'm going to have to keep quiet about being a secret social media linker.

A quick round up of CIPR Northern Conference

I spent today at the CIPR Northern Conference in Leeds. It was a very inspiring day with great speakers and some strong examples of how PRs can improve their service offer in-house or to clients.

For those who can't decipher my notes above, here's a whistle stop tour:

1. FT columnist and MD of Taylor Bennett, Heather McGregor said as the speed of the news cycle increases, the value of opinion grows. PRs need to concentrate on targeting the commentariat by finding out what they like, being creative and building the relationship. You can use a tool like Editorial Intelligence.

2. Newly appointed Deputy MD of Wolfstar, Mark Hanson, stepped into the breach to deliver a session on Twitter in the place of Stuart Bruce, who was unwell. Steps: listen to the conversation, be human, consider who tweets (comms person might not be best choice), evaluate.

3. Yasmin Diamond, Director of Communications at the Home Office said her role is about being diplomatic, resilient and fast-paced. Her team wants to improve the reality and improve the perception of reality. Campaign to prevent theft worked well.

4. MD of Staniforth and author of PR and the Social Web, Rob Brown spoke about social media. Google insights shows in the past five years searches for 'PR agency' have halved. PR practitioners need to embrace social media to connect with journalists, promote brands and engage audiences.

5. John Neilson, Director of Group Media Relations at BAE Systems said working in PR is like being a fighter pilot, flying through the flack. His advice: don't take it personally, be open and PR you work internally so the rest of the organisation knows your value.

6. Sarah Knight and Charlotte Thompson of BJL presented a masterclass on social marketing. Steps: scope, develop, implement, evaluate, follow up. They talked through their campaign to reduce incidents of domestic violence in Hull.

7. Robin Wilson of McCann Erickson demonstrated tools to evaluate social media: twithority, tweetbeep, search.twitter.com. He summed up PR in social media to being about talking, energising and listening.

8. Blogger and former Director of Communications for the Labour Party, Alastair Campbell boiled reputation management down to objectives, strategy and tactics. Get those right - regardless of the tools you use - and you can't go far wrong.