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Examples of effective communication purpose statements

• The reason for writing the document (or communication purpose) is

to request agenda items from the team who will attend the monthly

management meeting.

• The reason for writing the document (or communication purpose) is

to respond to your concerns about the project.

• The reason for writing the document (or communication purpose) is

to update the team on the marketing project’s progress.

Once you have written the communication purpose statement, you can

then change the wording to improve readability and tone.

For example, you could change the wording to, “I would like to …” or

“The purpose of this document is to …” or “Could you please …”

Eliminate the need for expletives!#$

I am often questioned by participants in my course when I say that

they are not allowed to use expletives in their messages. Their point

of view is as follows.

They send a request that requires some form of response. The

recipient doesn’t respond, so they send the message again. By the

fourth time, the expletives are added to the request. Only then do

they get a response – maybe.

At this stage, I ask the participants to send me the four documents

for review. In 99% of the time, the problem is that the

communication purpose statement is incomplete, inaccurate or

missing.

What is the communication

purpose statement?

The communication purpose of any

document is the reason for writing

the document. It answers the

question, “Why am I writing this

document?”

Completing the following statement

will give you the communication

purpose statement.

The reason for writing the

document is to ...

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When you are responding to a

polite request you have been sent,

the communication purpose

statement could be as simple as,

“Following are the answers to

your questions” or “As requested,

here are the …”

Now let’s get back to the

expletives problem in the request

message.

Usually, when writers feel the

need to use expletives, they’ve

gone straight into the issue and

have only stated the request near

the end of the message.

So, unless the reader reads the

entire message (and unfortunately

75% of readers only scan

documents, they don’t read them

from beginning to end), s/he may

not even see the request. (And if

this is the case, who is at fault, the

reader or the writer?)

Let’s work through an example

together.

Dear Howard

I am having extreme difficulty obtaining answers to my questions

from the IT Department in a timely manner. Early yesterday

morning, I phoned Andy Applebaum to get an answer on how to

access a procedure document in the document management system. A

staff member needed specific instructions on how to complete a

technical job.

As Andy is away, the person I spoke to said I should try and

call Joe instead. Eventually, at noon I discussed my problem

with Joe. He said he would investigate and get back to me. Mid-

afternoon Randy called me and advised me that I didn’t have

author access authority.

Today at noon I was informed by Joe that my authority level had

been upgraded and I could now access the procedure. At long last

we could get the job done.

I am disappointed that information we require takes so long to

obtain. This is costing us time and money. Please recommend

appropriate actions so that we may prevent this type of

occurrence in the future. I would like to help in any way I can.

So, if you would like to discuss the issue in more detail,

please call me.

Regards

Darla

In the example, there is a problem with the accuracy and completeness of

Darla’s communication purpose statement. A problem results when there

is a discrepancy between the purpose stated in the introduction and the

actual purpose and outcome expected. This is exactly the type of

situation that can lead to misunderstandings and negative feelings. And

these are the types of communication problems that are most costly to

businesses.

Darla sees the document as a request and Howard probably sees the

document as merely communicating a complaint (and he may have not

even read the entire document). Darla will probably be unaware that the

fault was hers and the problem could have been avoided altogether.

Rewording the introduction and communication purpose statement as

follows would have ensured a complete and accurate written

communication. Dear Howard

I am having difficulty obtaining answers to my questions from

the IT Department in a timely manner. This is disappointing as

it is costing us time and money. I would like to explain what

has happened and then ask for your recommendations on how we may

be able to help avoid this type of problem occurring in the

future.

DETAILS

For details about our programs and services, please visit www.BusinessWriting.biz.

Verne Ordman is the owner of BusinessWriting.biz (a division of Verne Ordman &

Associates Pty Ltd) and can be contacted at verne@businesswriting.biz.

The problem is one of

perception. The writer

perceives the

document’s purpose to

be to request

something and the

reader perceives the

purpose to be to

provide information or

to complain.