The Seven C’s of Effective Communication

1. The Seven C’s of Effective Communication Chapter No.2

2. Introduction • To compose effective written or oral messages, you must apply certain communication principles. These principles provide guidelines for effective written and oral communication.

3. The Seven C’s • The seven C’s of effective communication are: • Completeness • Conciseness • Consideration • Concreteness • Clarity • Courtesy • Correctness

4. 1. Completeness • Your business message is complete when it contains all facts the reader or listener needs for the reaction you desire. • Remember that communicators – senders and receivers – differ in their mental filters; they are influenced by their backgrounds, viewpoints, needs, experiences, attitudes, status, and emotions.

5. 1. Completeness – Cont… • Because of these differences, communication senders need to assess their messages through the eyes of receivers to be sure they have included all relevant information. • Message receivers – either listeners or readers – desire complete information to their questions.

6. 1. Completeness – Cont… • Completeness offers numerous benefits: • Complete messages are more likely to bring the desired results without the expense of additional messages. • They can do a better job of building goodwill. • Complete messages can help avert costly lawsuits that may result if important information is missing.

7. 1. Completeness – Cont… • For completeness, keep the following guidelines in mind: • Provide all necessary information When initiating the message, make sure to provide all the information that reader needs for through and accurate understanding. To make your message complete; answer 5 ‘W’ & 1 ‘H’ questions including; • Who • What • When • Where • Why • How

8. Completness-cont…. Example: • For instance, to order any merchandise make clear what you want, when you need it, whom & where it to be sent & how payment will be made. • To reserve a hotel room, specify the accommodation needed (What), location ( Where), sponsoring organization (Who), date & time (When), event (Why), and other necessary details (How). • Answer all questions asked Whenever you answer any inquiry. Try to answer all the question asked.

9. Completeness-cont…. • Give something extra, when desirable When answering to any inquiry, you must do more than answering the customer’s situations.

10. 2. Conciseness • Conciseness is saying what you have to say in the fewest possible words. • A concise message is complete without being wordy. • It is a prerequisite to effective business communication. • A concise message saves time and expense for both sender and receiver.

11. 2. Conciseness – Cont… • Conciseness contributes to emphasis; by eliminating unnecessary words, you let important ideas stand out. • To achieve conciseness, observe the following suggestions: • Eliminate wordy expressions You should avoid wordy expressions; consider following; Example; • WORDY: At this time • CONCISE:Now • WORDY: Due to the fact that • CONCISE:Because

12. Conciseness – Cont… • Include only relevant material The effective & concise message should omit not only the wordy expressions but also irrelevant statement. Observe following suggestions; • Stick to the purpose of message • Delete the irrelevant words & rambling sentences • Omit the information obvious to the receiver • Avoid long introductions & explanations etc • Get to the important point tactfully & concisely.

13. Conciseness – Cont… • Avoid unnecessary repetition Sometimes repetition is necessary for emphasis. But when same thing is said two or three times without reason, message becomes lengthy & boring. Observe following guidelines to eliminate repetition; • Use shorter name after you have mentioned the long one. e.g: Institute of Management Sciences & IMS • Use pronouns or initials rather than long names: e.g: It, They or Abbreviations. • Cut out all needless repetition of phrases & sentences.

14. 3. Consideration • Consideration means preparing every message with the message receiver in mind; try to put yourself in their place. When you are considerate, you are aware of their desires, problems, circumstances, emotions, and probable reactions to your request. • This thoughtful consideration is also called “you-attitude”.

15. 3. Consideration – Cont… • Three specific ways to indicate consideration: • Focus on “you” instead of “I” and “we”. Example: We Attitude; I am delighted to announce that we will be extending our hours to make shopping more convenient; You Attitude; You will be able to shop evenings with the extended hours • Show audience benefit or interest in the receiver. Whenever possible & true, show how your receiver will benefit from the message.

16. Consideration – Cont… • Emphasize positive, pleasant facts relevant to the receiver. Another way to show consideration for your receive is to accent the positive.. It means that stressing what can be done instead of what cant be. Example: Negative-Unpleasant It is impossible to open an account for you today due to not enclosing your signature card with documents Positive-Pleasant: As soon your signature card reaches us, we will gladly open an account for you.

17. 4. Concreteness • Communicating concretely means being specific, definite, and vivid rather than vague and general. • The benefits to business professionals of using concrete facts and figures are obvious: your receivers know exactly what is required or desired.

18. 4. Concreteness – Cont… • Using concrete language has some advantages; when you supply specifics for the reader or listener, you increase the likelihood that your message will be interpreted the way you intended. Moreover, concrete messages are more dynamic and interesting. • The following guidelines should help you compose concrete, convincing messages: • Use specific facts and figures. Use an exact & precise statement or a figure in place of a general world to make your message concrete. Example: Vague/General/Indefinite: She’s a brain Concrete: Her CGPA in 2008 was 3.99 on a four point scale

19. Concreteness – Cont… • Put action in your verbs. • Use active rather than passive verbs Example: Passive: Tests were administered by the professors. Active: Professors administered the tests. Active verbs help make your sentences more; • Specific • Personal • Concise • Empathic

20. Concreteness – Cont… • Put Action in your verbs, not in nouns Example: Action in Noun: Students held the meeting in the Office Action in the Verb: Students Met in the office • Choose vivid, image-building words. Example: Vague: Please send your cheque for the amount soon Concrete: Please send your cheque for Rs. 5000 on/or before 30the April 2009

21. 5. Clarity • Getting the meaning from your head into the head of your reader – accurately – is the purpose of clarity. • For clarity, it is important to: • Choose precise, concrete and familiar words. Example: Familiar Pretentious After Subsequent Home Domicile Pay Remuneration Invoice Statement for payment

22. Clarity – Cont… • Construct effective sentences and paragraphs. To construct effective sentences & paragraphs, consider the following guidelines; • Length: Short sentences are preferred. Suggested average sentence length should be about 17 to 20 words. • Unity: In any sentence Unity means “One main Idea”, and any other idea in the sentence must be closely related to it. E.g: I like Lahore, and its rich tasty foods

23. Clarity – Cont… • Coherence: In a coherent sentence, words are correctly arranged to express the meanings clearly. Example: Unclear: His report was about managers, broken down by age & gender. Clear: His report focused on the age & gender of managers. • Emphasis: Put main idea up front within the message.

24. 6. Courtesy • True courtesy involves being aware not only of the perspective of others, but also their feelings. • Courtesy stems from a sincere you-attitude. • The following are suggestions for generating a courteous tone: • Be sincerely tactful, thoughtful, and appreciative. Don’t be abrupt or blunt Example Tactless: Stupid Letter; I cant understand any of it Tactful: I am sorry, its my understanding, the letter was not clear.

25. Courtesy-Cont… • Use expressions that show respect. Example: Irresponsible You forgot to • Choose non-discriminatory expressions Example: Questionable Desirable Manpower Workers, employees, workforce Man-made Manufactured Best Man Best Person

26. 7. Correctness • At the core of correctness is proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling. • However, a message may be perfect grammatically and mechanically but still insult or lose a customer. • The term correctness, as applied to business messages, also means the following three characteristics: • Use the right level of language. There are 3 levels of language, formal, informal, substandard. Formal language is associated with the scholarly writings, articles etc. Informal Language is characteristic of business writings. Here you use the words which are short.

27. Correctness-Cont… Example: Formal Less Formal Participate Join Procure Get Endeavor Try Ascertain Find out • Check the accuracy of figures, facts, and words. • Verify your statistical data • Double check your totals • Have someone else read your message • Determine whether the fact has changed over time • Avoid guessing

28. Correctness-Cont…. Avoid Confusing words Example: Accept, except Anxious, eager Between, among Biannually, biennially • Maintain acceptable writing mechanics. Check Grammar and spellings, punctuations etc.