MindWiper

7 C’s of Communication | The Effective Communication Checklist

Ashim Sarmah

7 C's of communication is an effective communication checklist that includes clarity, completeness, conciseness, coherence, correctness, concreteness & courtesy

Effective communication is not merely how you communicate based on your knowledge & wisdom; the art of effective communication is how you value people’s need, interest, concern, expectation, and feeling while communicating.

We communicate at home, at work, at the sports club, and with our neighbors. We spend almost entire life communicating with others; how credible your communication skills are?  Well, that depends upon how credible values you created for others based upon your deliverable.

This checklist of effective communication is applicable for presentation, public speaking, email writing, article writing, Advertisement and drafting business procedures & policies

The 7 C’s of communication is also called as the seven principles of communication; this principle is very useful for effective business communication; even politicians, public servants, and social workers have to use this principle of effective communication.

What is the 7 C's of Communication

Here is the checklist for effective communication,

Clarity

Clarity means when you are speaking or writing, you have to be clear to your message or goals. You have to write short sentence explicitly based on your purpose of communication.

To write a clear message, write short sentences, avoid parenthesis, stick to the point and be specific to the call to action sentence. Make sure that the message is easy to understand by the reader.

Example

Substandard form

Hi Alison,

Please confirm your availability for the planned outage of 1AM-3AM on 26-08-2018  and 2AM-4AM on 27-08-2018 as you have been already informed about the plan and make sure to confirm your delegation if you are not available.

Best

Jack

Standard Form

Hi Alison,

Please confirm your availability for the below mentioned two outage plans,

Plan 1: 1AM-3AM, 26-08-2018

Plan 2: 2AM-4AM, 27-08-2018

If you are not available for the plans, please confirm your delegation.

Best Wishes

Jack

Conciseness

Concise messages should have consistency in storylines, well-mentioned facts, systematic implementation, supporting information, and clarity to the point in brief.
Avoid using unnecessary sentences & adjectives, keep the message as short as possible and filter out repeated words.

Example

Substandard Form

Hi Nelson,

As per the latest order of company board meeting held on last Monday, I want to share a detail regarding our company’s decision to expand retail outlets across rural Canada. The company has ordered me to prepare a report on feasibility analysis with you and we have to submit that report within next Monday.

Please let me know when you are available to work with me for preparing the feasibility report.

Thanks

Richard

Standard Form

Hi Nelson,

As per the latest order of company board meeting held on last Monday, the board has ordered us to complete the feasibility report on expanding retail outlets across rural Canada within next Monday.

Please let me know when you are available to prepare that report.

Thanks

Richard

Correctness

Try to avoid grammatical errors, use technical terms for effective communication; spell checker often doesn’t work for detecting the grammatical errors.

You can also use Grammarly, it’s a free tool to improve your writing skill and it checks grammatical error, spelling mistakes and helps you to fix it.

Example

Substandard Form

Hi John,

Please develop affective communication skill.

Thanks

Michal

Standard Form

Hi John,

Please develop effective communication skill

Thanks

Michal

Completeness

Your message should complete all the facts, figures, and supporting information so that readers can understand what you want to let them know. For example, if you are asking the reader, you specific of what you want from the reader; if you want to inform the reader, be specific of what you want to inform.

Example

Substandard Form

Hi Lara,

I have asked you to submit the report on email marketing campaign by yesterday; you have neither submitted nor informed me yet. Please submit the report within the end of the day.

Regards

Phillip

Standard Form

Hi Lara,

You missed the deadline; please submit the report on email marketing campaign by EOD.

Thanks

Phillip

Coherence

You have to be logical, consistent and follow the systematic approach while delivering a speech, writing an email or preparing a presentation.

Example

Substandard Form

Hi Melina,

You have not responded to my last email regarding your feedback on our new employee retention strategy, please provide the feedback sooner.

Thanks

Bob

Standard Form

Hi Melina,

Please provide feedback on new employee retention strategy ASAP.

Thanks

Bob

Concreteness

Concreteness means you are providing your reader or listener a clear, solid and direct message. You should be specific and short as much as possible.

Example

Substandard Form

Hi Johnny,

You are requested to report on coming Saturday for your joining at our company. Please complete the joining formalities on the same day.

Best Wishes

Brainy

Standard Form

Hi Johnny,

Please report on coming Saturday for completing joining formalities at our company.

Best Wishes

Brainy

Courtesy

You have to be friendly, honest, and courteous, charm the audience by keeping their view in your mind. Be positive and use terms “they, we” to engage a larger audience while speaking.

Example

Substandard Form

Stormy,

You did a great mistake, you were supposed to submit the report on yesterday, you are yet to complete the report “New Drug Delivery System”, report me by EOD.

Thanks

Ronald

Standard Form

Hi Stormy,

Please submit the report “New Drug Delivery System” by EOD.

You missed the deadline, don’t be sluggish.

Thanks

Ronald