Kaleidoscope Communications

Recently, working on a fundraiser, I was reflecting on the wide range of things we needed to communicate to the wide range of people and organizations.  There were people inside the organization that needed to know what was going on, suppliers that needed to be coordinated, volunteers who needed to be recruited and instructed, customers that needed to be prospected and sold, community leaders who needed to be informed, reporters and editors who needed to be pitched, and much more!

It made me wonder if two-way communication was really an apt description for the complex, multi-faceted communications that are required in these situations.

In reality, most of the time we are communicating with multiple parties, with multiple messages, and multiple communication objectives.

Saying this is two way communications or a dialogue is like saying the Mona Lisa is a nice sketch.

It seems as if communications, especially communications for a major event or project, is more like a kaleidoscope.  The combinations are endless and can easily change; it works and is special because of the way all the pieces work together to create a whole, and it changes each time you look at it.

And used correctly, kaleidoscopes make everything around them look so much better!