In business and government, we write functional documents. Functional documents demand purposeful communication.

Traditional models of communication have understanding as the goal of communication. A person constructs an idea, codes into media (speech, text, images), and then transmits it. The receiver decodes and reconstructs that as a new idea. Feedback and re-transmitting continues until both the sender and the receiver have the same idea. That is, the aim is a shared understanding. But that is not good enough for functional documents.

Purposeful communication starts by asking ‘Why?”.

The purpose of all business and government communication is to impact the thinking, attitudes or behaviour of readers in some way. We write to achieve an organisational purpose.

For example, marketing communication aims, ultimately, to get people to buy from you. Policies and procedures aimed to cause people to act in a particular way.

Purposeful communication goes beyond understanding and effectively transmitting ideas. It is more about influence.

So, the simplest way of testing any communication piece is to look at your audience. Are they doing what you wanted them to do? Are they moving towards doing what you want? Is your document achieving purpose?

Define purpose before you write

Plain language writing starts by being clear about your purpose. Before writing, complete a sentence in this structure:

As a result of reading this document <my reader> will
<do, think, feel> something.

The purpose of your document will support the overall purpose of your organisation.

For a government agency or not-for-profit, purpose will likely be related to fulfilling its mission. That mission may be to provide good roads or to administer taxes fairly or to provide care services to a part of the community.

For a business, its ultimate purpose is probably to make a profit. (But there will be other important things like ensuring its employees work safely, protecting the environment and the like.) A business will have other aims and objectives that support this purpose like increasing market share, keeping quality on track, or improving the skills of its employees.

Effective purposeful communication will supports these aims and objectives.

Workplace communication aims to enhance the business performance of the organisation. Purposeful communication enables and energises employees to carry out strategic intent. Communication is a means, not an end.

Can you know a document will achieve purpose before it is published?

Sensible user testing gives good insights and can help you avoid reckless writing. Communication products, like all products, should be tested before being released.