Communicating With Purpose

Why do we communicate? One simply answer is because we can. Another is that we communicate because we cannot help ourselves. The same holds true for breathing. We breath because that is what we do and, besides, what is there for us to do? We smile. We grimace. We stretch. All those day-to-day actions are acts of communication. It is very definitely what we do. But, then, one make the same observation about animals. They, too, communicate some type of message with everyone of their routine actions. This is a commonality we share with the critters of the world. But it also something that helps distinguish us from them as well.   


To site one example, in a recent interview on fundraising, researcher Penelope Burk discussed how today more and more donors are doing so with a specific entity. These people are earmarking money they contribute for specific purposes. On the decline, she says, are those who give money to, say, a university with no set of instructions, guidelines, or, more to the point, purpose. This, I believe, is a similar trend in the world of communication. People are sending out messages/signals with a more specific intent. The same holds true for entities seeking to communicate with various publics. There is purpose to their outreach as well.


This is a good thing. Given all the millions of messages put forth around the globe each day, ones that emit greater specificity seem to be the one carrying the most clout or weight. Those of us on the receiving end of the many messages need that as it helps us both better process or understand what is being communicated as well as decide whether the message is worth remembering and, ultimately, acting on. From a practical standpoint, as there is only so much time in the day, the more precise communiques can be, the better able we are to engage with others and determine our own actions. This is a basic but important point for crafters of messages to remember.