Introduction to 7 Cs of Communication
The 7 Cs of communication are a list of principles of communication that we should ensure to apply during any kind of communication. In our daily life, we always communicate in our personal as well as professional life. These fundamental principles, apply to industry, job roles, any situation, and even leadership skills. The purpose of this principle is to ensure that your communication is effective and to the point. The seven c’s of communication can also be called the basics or the fundamentals of communication as well.
7 Cs of Communication are enlisted
- Clarity
- Conciseness
- Completeness
- Correctness
- Concreteness
- Courtesy,
- Coherence
1. Clear
Starting the first C of communication is clarity. There are different stages to clarity to start with. You need to be clear about the purpose of the message that you are delivering. Your audiences should be well-informed. Why they are receiving this particular message and what you are trying to achieve from it. If there are multiple goals, each goal should be laid out separately.
For example, suppose you have a high-priority task and you delegate this task to your team member. In case, if you don’t ask the team member to be urgent about that task, your team member would work on that task as per its availability of time instead. If you give a task with a specific deadline, that means you are clear with the expectations of when you want that task to be completed. Also, the content itself in the communication must be very clear.
2. Concise
The next C of communication is conciseness. While communicating messages it is important to stick to the point and also ensure that your messages are short and simple. Don’t use 10 words, if you can use just five, and avoid repeating your messages. For example, you can eliminate words like (you know, I see, definitely, literally, basically I mean, so), etc. You can eliminate these words from your communication. The next thing that you can eliminate is unnecessary sentences and also avoid repeating the same point in different ways. Avoid that risk by solely focusing on the things or points you need to deliver.
3. Complete
The third C of communication is completeness, one of the most important parts of the seven seas of communication. While creating a message you need to give all the information necessary for the recipient to get to understand. And, make sure to reach the same conclusions you have. Along with it, the level of detailing would be different in different situations and you need to adjust your communication according to these situations.
In addition, you should make your communication as easy as possible for the recipient to understand. If you’re asking the recipient for action then you need to provide explicit guidance on that specific action. For example, Mandy is to give product details to the customer, before that you need to provide full information about the product to Mandy. And also provide solutions or answers to Mandy to the questions the customers may ask him. Besides, it is common to use hyperlinks or attachments of details when you’re writing an email. So, both of these would help the audience to access the complete set of information. Ensure that core communication focuses on the core message itself as you can ask yourself.
- Who
- What
- When
- Where
- Why
4. Correct
The next C of communication is correctness. The information that you provide must be factual. The language and the grammar that you are using must be correct. If your audience identifies these errors then they would be distracted by you. Chances are they would lose their credibility in you which means they would lose their belief in you or they might not take your communication seriously. And overall, this would damage the effectiveness of your communication.
For example, if you make grammatical errors or spelling mistakes while sending mail to a customer, then your boss may not believe you the next time. Chances are they might not even give you this task doubting your ability or your competency. If you communicate incorrectly, you will lose the effectiveness of your communication.
5. Concrete
The next C of communication is number 4 which is concreteness. While communicating you should ensure that your messages are logically specific. Are you using the messages to fit together building on each other and supporting each other? The arguments should be based on solid facts and opinions from credible sources. You should share data that is impossible to deny to support your arguments. Sometimes, it would also be important for you to create examples to show the relevance of what you’re speaking.
6. Courtesy
The next C of communication is courtesy. You can increase the effectiveness of your communication by showing the audience that you are polite and by respecting them your message should be friendly, respectful, professional, considerate, open, and honest. Also, consider yourself courteous enough, you need to bring in a lot of empathy. And need to understand the mind of the audience before creating your messages.
7. Coherence
The final C of communication is coherence. To ensure your communication is coherent, you need to take care of a couple of things. The first is the logical flow of your communication. Second, have a consistent style of your communication. Third, be consistent in your tone, a consistent language of your communication is an essential factor. For coherence, always remember that consistency in your communication is the key factor.
You should avoid jargons that are specific words that are very difficult for others to understand. Use simple words, use simple language, and simple structures, and focus on the core point of your message. You need to complete this task by tomorrow end of the day. And make sure that you do not make any mistakes. If you complicate the whole process of giving a call to action or giving an order. It becomes difficult for the person to understand your expectations.
Recap of 7 Cs of Business Communication
So, these were the seven Cs of communication that should always be kept in mind. I hope you had a quick revision of what are the Cs of communication. Clarity, Conciseness, Completeness, Correctness, Concreteness, Courtesy, and Coherence.
