5 lessons from Jim Macnamara’s new measurement handbook you can use today

Johna Burke is CEO and global managing director, AMEC. 

There is no shortage of advice telling communication professionals to be more strategic, demonstrate value and influence business decisions, including from yours truly. Advice is plentiful. Practical guidance on how to deliver? Not nearly enough, but there is a major upgrade available!

Distinguished Professor Jim Macnamara, Member of the Order of Australia, delivers that upgrade in his new “Handbook for Planning and Evaluating Communication.” Drawing on decades of research and experience, Macnamara challenges persistent myths and provides practical guidance grounded in evidence, not another fashionable formula.

With more accolades and contributions than one article could capture, Macnamara is a champion of advancing communication measurement and evaluation best practices globally. No magic metric. No proprietary silver bullet. Just decades of knowledge translated into methods professionals can put to work.

I had the privilege of reading the handbook before publication. Here are five lessons I’d encourage every communication team to apply.

1. Stop planning before you understand the problem

A communication plan isn’t the starting point. Understanding the problem is.

Macnamara brilliantly challenges our tendency to jump into tactics before examining organizational objectives, stakeholder needs and the evidence behind our assumptions. A beautifully executed campaign solving the wrong problem is still a failure.

Before approving a plan, ask:

• What organizational objective are we supporting?
• What do we know about stakeholders, and how do we know it?
• What evidence supports our approach?

If the answers are assumptions dressed as insights, do the research.

2. Evaluation belongs at the beginning, not the end

Too many teams consider evaluation when the final report is due. By then, opportunities to learn, adapt and improve have passed.

Macnamara explains how formative research, process evaluation and summative evaluation make evaluation part of managing communication, not simply documenting it.

Establish three checkpoints:

• Before: Set baselines, objectives and intended outcomes.
• During: Monitor progress and adjust when evidence warrants it.
• After: Evaluate outcomes, contribution and lessons learned.

Evaluation should improve performance while there’s still time to influence it.

3. Understand why your activities should produce results

Theory of change sounds academic. Its central question is simple: Why should our activities create the change we want?

Coverage, content and engagement don’t automatically produce awareness, trust or behavior change.

Macnamara also distinguishes contribution from attribution. Communication doesn’t operate in a vacuum. Claiming exclusive credit for every positive outcome doesn’t strengthen credibility. It undermines it.

Complete this statement:

We believe [activity] will contribute to [outcome] because [evidence].

Then test your assumptions. If you cannot explain the connection, you may have a list of activities rather than a strategy.

4. Measurement tells us what happened; evaluation tells us what it means

Our industry still confuses collecting numbers with demonstrating value. Measurement provides evidence. Evaluation establishes its significance. Learning turns that understanding into better decisions.

Macnamara advocates measurement, evaluation and learning (MEL), a useful reminder whenever another impressive dashboard lands in your inbox.

Make every report answer:

• What happened?
• Why does it matter?
• What should we do differently?

If reporting ends with numbers rather than insights and recommendations, the work isn’t finished.

5. Give leadership recommendations, not just reports

Communication professionals should help organizations understand risks, identify opportunities and make better decisions.

Macnamara makes the case for translating evidence into recommendations leaders can act upon.

AI makes this increasingly important. We can generate reports faster than ever, but speed doesn’t guarantee accuracy, insight or sound judgment.

End your next leadership report with:

• The evidence indicates: What have we learned?
• The implication is: Why does it matter?
• Our recommendation is: What should happen next?

A report should inform decisions, not simply invite admiration of a chart.

My biggest takeaway? Measurement and evaluation aren’t specialist activities operating alongside communication. They’re fundamental to doing communication well. Macnamara has given our profession a resource worth investing in. Buy it for your team. Discuss it. Challenge existing practices. Most importantly, use it.

Jim Macnamara’s “Handbook for Planning and Evaluating Communication” (Archipelago Press, 2026) is available for purchase.

Disclosure: Jim Macnamara is an invaluable contributor to AMEC. I disclose that relationship proudly, without compromising my professional judgment.