7 C's of Communication

Contents 1 CLARITY 2 CONCISENESS 3 CONCRETENESS 4 CORRECTNESS 5 COHERENTNESS 6 COMPLETENESS 7 COURTESY

The 7 Cs provide a checklist to make sure your meetings, emails, conference calls, reports and presentations are well built and clear - so your audience gets your message.

How is your communication? You write emails, facilitate meetings, participate in teleconferences, create reports, develop presentations, debate with your colleagues… the list goes on.

We can spend most of our day communicating. So how can we give our productivity a huge boost? We can ensure that we communicate as clearly and effectively as possible.

This is why the 7 Cs of Communication are useful.

According to the 7 Cs, communication needs to be:

• Clear
• Concise
• Concrete
• Correct
• Coherent
• Complete
• Courteous

CLARITY

When writing or talking to someone, make it clear about your purpose or message. What is your purpose in communicating with this person? If you're not sure, your audience won't either.

To be clear, try to minimize the number of ideas in each sentence. Make sure it's easy for your reader to understand its meaning. People should not have to "read between the lines" and make assumptions on their own to understand what you are trying to say.

CONCISENESS

When you are concise in your communication, be aware and be brief. Your audience doesn't want to read six sentences when you can communicate your message in three.

Are there any adjectives or "filler words" you can exclude? Often you can eliminate words like "for example", "you see", "definitely", "kind of", "literally", "basically" or "I mean". Are there any unnecessary sentences? Have you repeated the point several times in different ways?

CONCRETENESS

When your message is concrete, your audience has a clear picture of what you are saying. There are details (but not many!) And vivid facts, and there is focus on that of the laser. Your message is solid.

CORRECTNESS

When your communication is correct, it is targeted to your audience. And correct communication is also error-free communication. Are the technical terms you use appropriate to the level of education or knowledge of your audience? Have you defined any industry-specific jargon to help establish a common understanding?

Have you checked your writing for grammatical errors? Remember, spell checkers won't catch everything. Are all names and titles spelled correctly?

COHERENTNESS

When your communication is consistent, it is logical. All points are connected and relevant to the main topic, and the tone and flow of the text is consistent. Your points should also reinforce your intended message.

COMPLETENESS

In a complete message, the audience has everything they need to be informed and, if applicable, to act. Does your message include a “call to action” so your audience clearly knows what you want them to do?

Did you include all relevant information - contact names, dates, times, locations, and so on?

COURTESY

Courteous communication is friendly, open and honest. It does not contain hidden insults or passive and aggressive tones. It should be free of language that could be offensive to your audience. You keep your reader's point of view in mind, and you are empathetic with their needs.