The Seven C’s of Effective Communication

1. The Seven C’s of Effective Communication Prepared by Malik Ameer Sultan Awan Department of English International Islamic University, Islamabad

2. THE SEVEN C’s • Completeness • Conciseness • Consideration • Concreteness • Clarity • Courtesy • Correctness

3. Completeness Business message is complete when it contains all facts that the reader or listener needs for the reaction you desire. Senders and receivers are influenced by their background, viewpoint, needs, experience, attitude, status and emotions. Because of their difference, the receiver needs to be sure that he has included all relevant information. Completeness is closely related to clarity.

4. Completeness For completeness, keep the following guideline in mind: • Provide all necessary information • Answer all questions asked • Give something extra when desirable

5. Provide all necessary information Your reader needs to know how much, what size, what type, and other details. To achieve this clarity, your message should answer the “five Ws and one H”

6. Answer all questions asked • Replying to an inquiry or request, answer all questions asked, and even anticipate the reader’s reaction by providing other relevant information. Give something extra when desirable • Sometimes, as an intelligent writer, you know what your reader may need to know about any certain thing. In this case you must include anything that is of your reader’s benefit.

7. Give something extra when desirable Sometimes, as an intelligent writer, you know what your reader may need to know about any certain thing. In this case you must include anything that is of your reader’s benefit.

8. Exercise-1 • You are the president of an industry association and have received the following inquiry from an out of town member, “I think I would like to attend my first meeting of the association, even though I am not acquainted with your city. Will you please tell me where the next meeting is being held? • How would you reply to this letter keeping in mind Completeness of the message?

9. Conciseness • Conciseness is saying what you want to say in the fewest possible words without sacrificing the • other C qualities. Eliminate wordy expressions • To avoid wordy expressions, use single words whenever possible. Here are some examples of how word economy saves the reader’s time and effort. • Wordy: I want to take this opportunity to tell you that we are grateful to you • Concise: Thank you • Wordy: We are grateful and appreciative • Concise: We look forward with anticipation to… • Avoid “which” that clauses whenever possible • We wan to buy chairs which are of the executive types • We want to buy executive type chairs

10. Include only relevant material • Your reader will lose interest in your message if he/she finds irrelevant things in your message. Using only well-chosen words can help you convey relevant facts. • Avoid, information obvious to the reader • Avoid long introduction, excessive adjectives, pompous works

11. Exercise -2 • Find single word substitutes for the phrases • Along the same lines • At this time • Consensus of opinion • Date of policy • Due to the fact that • During the time of the day • During the year of • Few and far between • For a price of

12. Questions

13. Thank you for attending