7 C’s of Effective Communication Show Effective communication is essential in every aspect of our life, whether it be at home, at work or with our friends. A person who can communicate effectively will always have the advantage when dealing with people. Fortunately there is a guideline that one can follow to implement the habit of effective communication. The 7 C’s of communication are 7 attributes that you need to keep in mind while communicating your message. The 7C’s of communication are as follows:
Let us take a look at each attribute in detail with examples for implementation 1.) Clear Convey your message in an easy to understand manner. Use short simple sentences while speaking or writing. The aim is to share your thoughts and ideas with utmost clarity. Clear messages consist of exact and concrete words. Bad Example Hi Pete, I would like to schedule a meeting with you in regards to yesterday’s conversation. The topics you covered were great, and I’d like to speak about it in detail. Please let me know when you would like to have this meet. Regards, Chris In the above example, we do not know which conversation Chris is referring to. If Chris had met Pete on multiple occasions that day then he wouldn’t know what Chris is actually talking about. Good Example Hi Pete, I would like to schedule a meeting with you in regards to your presentation on email marketing. The topics you covered were great, and I would like to discuss implementation on our current clients. Please let me know when you have the time so that we can discuss it in detail. Regards Chris In this example, the reader knows exactly what is expected of him because the message is clear. 2.) Concise Concise means to be to the point without using a lot of words. Avoid using filler words like “you see”, “at this point of time”, “a lot of sense”, “kind of”, “what I mean”, “sort of”. You need to ask yourself if there are any unnecessary sentences and if you have written the same points multiple times. Being concise saves the time of both you and your reader and adds value to your message. Bad Example Dear Bharat, I wanted to talk about the video editing ideas we sort of planned out the other day. Don’t you think it would make a lot of sense to also add additional elements to the videos? I mean, I think that would sort of improve the quality of the videos as well as have a stronger impact on the client’s message. For instance, we could add a dissolve transition on each movie, which would then give it a seamless flow. This would then make the video cleaner and be more appealing in the minds of the people. The impact would just be a lot greater. This makes a lot more sense according to me. What do you think? Regards Aaron There is a lot of repetition in this email and it is quite long. The email can be made shorter and to the point. Good Example Dear Bharat, I wanted to discuss the video editing ideas we planned out yesterday. It would be better to add additional elements to the video in order to have a stronger impact on the client’s message. A dissolve transition would give a seamless flow to each movie and make the videos cleaner and appealing in the minds of the target audience. What do you think? Regards Aaron 3.) Concrete Concrete messages are clear and usually supported with facts. It gives a laser focus touch to your messages without being vague. There are details in the message without it being too long. A concrete message is solid and specific. Bad Example Save time with the Indicator Master everyday This kind of tag line does not give the user any details. There are no facts and it’s vague. People might not download this application since it’s not concrete enough to entice the user. Good Example Have you ever been late for a meeting just because you didn’t know the train schedule? Hate waiting for a bus because you don’t know its timings? Then download the Indicator Master app. It will give you all the train and bus schedules so that you can avoid delays and save time! 4.) Correct Make sure all your facts and figures are accurate with the no grammatical errors. Always proof read your work before presenting it. A correct message with viable facts will add credibility to your work. Bad Example Hi Sam, It was wonderful meeting you last weak. I had a good time. I’m sure we will be able to do some great work on this project. Let me know weather you need any supplies from the company and I’ll get it delivered as soon as possible. Thanks again, speak to you soon! Regards Desmond If you noticed in the above email, there are two errors. The first one is the writer has spelled week incorrectly and the second is the use of the word weather instead of whether. Spell checkers don’t always work so make sure you proof read everything. 5.) Consideration Consideration is simply keeping in mind the audiences requirements and views while formulating your message. Follow the ‘You’ approach when dealing with your audience. Consider their level of education, interests, mindsets, etc. Emphasize on what is possible rather then what’s not when dealing with them. This will result in positive outcomes during your interactions 6.) Complete A complete message gives the user all the information and is clear and detailed. When your message is complete, your audience knows exactly what needs to be done. Make sure all the facts you want to convey in your message are accurate and there is a clear call to action present in your message. Bad Example Hi Guys, Please make sure to carry all the items tomorrow for the meeting. Regards Amar The message is clearly incomplete. There are no details as to what items, which meeting and at what time. Good Example Hi Guys, Just a reminder that we have a meeting scheduled at 10.00 am tomorrow to discuss the Britannia event. Please make sure you get all the event props that need to be presented to the client. Regards Amar 7.) Courteous Being courteous is the most important attribute of communication. Always be friendly and honest. Respect the speaker while you communicate. Even if you have some feedback that needs to be pointed out, it can be conveyed in a constructive manner. A courteous message will leave the speaker in a positive mindset rather than negative. Bad Example Dear Suzie, I have noticed that there are always delays in the orders. You need to focus on the orders department as a priority. Please get all the orders cleared ASAP! Regards Greg There is a very good chance that the reader will get angry if they receive a message like this. It might result in creating a toxic environment rather than solving any issues. Here is another way you can convey the same message: Good Example Dear Suzie, Thank you for your work on the book fair. I have noticed that there are orders pending which need to be cleared on priority. I would appreciate it if you could focus on getting these cleared so that we can avoid any delays to the customer. Thanks a lot, and please let me know if you have any questions regarding the same. Best, Greg Now you can see that the same message has been conveyed in a constructive and positive manner. The reader would be more likely to respond positively in this case rather than react. Conclusion The way we communicate is a huge factor on how successful we are in life. If we communicate effectively, it gives us more credibility in our jobs as well as personal life. Using the 7 C’s of communication, that is when you’re clear, concise, concrete, correct, consider the speaker, complete and courteous, with your message, you will become an effective communicator and find more success in your interactions with people.
The concept of »7 C’s of Effective Communication« first appeared in business, where time is precious and there is no room for mistakes done out of misinformation. The »7 C’s« stand for seven essential principles of communication starting with the letter C. Each one represents a requirement that the message should meet to be effective. Applying these principles to your communication ensures that your message will be in sync with the recipient’s understanding and free from ballast. Modern science is not much different from business in the sense that scientists face information overload. Oral presentations are the biggest problem in this respect: how many conferences or seminars have you attended where no speaker talked too fast or extended their talk over the allocated length because they wanted to squeeze too much information in too little time? When dealing with written communication, for example when reading research papers, scientists adapt to time shortage by skimming for key information, and read in depth only the most interesting parts. In both cases, if the communication is ineffective, the main message of your work will be obscured or lost. You risk missing opportunities to be cited or invited for collaboration. In this post, we reinterpreted the »7 C’s« of effective business communication to fit scientific purposes. They are applicable to both oral and written communication. 1. Clarity: Simplicity & OrganizationClarity is best achieved through short, simple and fluent sentences and paragraphs. Each paragraph should describe only one idea, and paragraphs should be organized from »the big picture« at the beginning to greater detail towards the end. The last sentence in a paragraph should indicate the information in the next paragraph. Appropriate idea flow ensures that the readers are exposed to right information at the right time, especially if they are not from your immediate scientific field. Clarity is interconnected with the principle of completeness and concreteness. 2. Conciseness: Get to the PointConciseness means forming your message with minimum number of words possible without invalidating the other 6 C’s. Avoid wordiness, repetition, and filler words or phrases, such as »in short«, »as stated before«, »due to the fact that«, »this is the first study«, etc. This is particularly important in project proposals or research papers with strict word limits. Concise message is also more appealing and comprehensible, and will save time both to you and your audience. Conciseness is interconnected with the principles of concreteness and consideration. 3. Concreteness: Specifics Instead of GeneralizationsConcrete message is like a factsheet put to words. For example, it is much better to say »In the review of the period from 2010 to 2015, A & B (2016) found that 75 % of publications from the research area of X reported on the phenomenon of Y« than »The phenomenon of Y has become increasingly recognized in the recent years«. Avoid also vague words and words with multiple meanings, such as »in the future«, »several«, »quickly«, etc. Concreteness diminishes the need to guess the meaning and the possibility of misinterpretation. Concreteness is interconnected with the principles of clarity, conciseness and consideration. 4. Completeness: No Necessary Information is MissingA complete message should convey all facts required by the audience. In interdisciplinary research, for example, your reviewers might be from another scientific field. It is therefore wise to include more general information than you normally would if you wrote a paper within your narrow expertise. On the other hand, there is no possibility for corrections or follow-up in the revision process of project proposals. You thus need to ensure that reviewers have all the facts at hand if you wish that your project is convincing. Completeness is interconnected with the principles of clarity and courtesy. 5. Correctness: Facts & ProofreadingCorrectness refers to both factual and linguistic accuracy. All the information you provide needs to stem from valid, reliable, and credible sources that can be located. This is the reason why Wikipedia is not accepted as an information source for scientific publications. Correctness is fundamental in research paper discussions, where your claims need to be supported with facts and figures from your results. Finally, you should always check your writing for typing, spelling, and grammatical errors. If English is not your mother tongue, it is wise to consult professional language editing services. Correctness is interconnected with the principle of consideration. 6. Courtesy: Stepping Into Audience’s ShoesCourteous message is written from the viewpoint of the audience. If you prepare a seminar about your latest discovery, you will need to provide background information for your students, but you can skip those and get right to the details for your coworkers. Messages for general public should always highlight the societal benefits of your research. Courtesy requires some thinking about what the audience knows or doesn’t know and forming the message accordingly. However, it is also a way of showing respect. Courtesy is interconnected with the principle of completeness. 7. Consideration: Scientists are People, TooJust because scientists are able to deal with complex ideas and tons of information, it doesn’t mean that they are able to deal with a flood of unformatted text. Whatever document you are preparing, be considerate and use visual design to make the main messages stand out. Figures, paragraphs, headings, bulleted lists, and highlights are tools you can use to make your paper, poster, or project proposal more appealing and comprehensible. Consideration also entails good language. Visually or linguistically, your message shouldn’t look as if it was prepared in a hurry! Consideration is interconnected with the principle of correctness. ConclusionUse the »7 C’s of Effective Communication« as a checklist when you make your next research paper, project proposal, conference presentation, or lecture. The better you communicate, the more credibility you’ll have with your colleagues, students, readers, reviewers, and general public.
Tea Romih (PhD in Nanotoxicology, 2016) is the Seyens.com editor and advisor at Seyens Education Institute, responsible for communication between researchers and illustrators.
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Communication becomes effective when it is supported by facts, figures, and examples
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