7cs of Communication & Tips to Improve It
In our professional life, whether it is writing an email, conducting an interview, giving a presentation, or attending conferences, our days are spent communicating with our colleagues, clients, clients, supervisors, bosses, etc., Where the 7Cs of communication come into play. Role in this.
How effective is your communication? Are the messages you convey to people well received and understood?
When it comes to communication, whether verbal or non-verbal, the message must be clear, concise, concrete, correct, coherent, complete, and polite for information to be conveyed effectively from sender to recipient. , In other words, your message should contain the 7 C’s of communication.
What do you understand by the 7Cs of communication?
The 7cs of communication list seven principles that must be followed when communicating verbally or non-verbally to ensure that the message is effectively sent to the recipient.
The 7 C’s of effective communication are:
- Clear
- Correct
- Complete
- Concrete
- Concise
- Coherent
- Courteous
The 7cs of Communication Explained With Examples
1. Clear:
It should be clear for the recipient to understand what you are trying to convey in your message. If not, the recipient will waste time and energy coming back and forth to you for clarification or further information. The best way to make sure your message is clear is to stick to the point/purpose and provide detailed information. Refrain from adding unnecessary information in one go as it will only confuse the recipient.
Example: Let’s say you want to call a team meeting in the afternoon.
If you send a message saying, “Reviewing this month’s post-performance and generating ideas for new content in the afternoon in the conference room, we’re going to have a team meeting to track our social media calendar over the coming month.” require,” so it would be a bit confusing. Multiple agendas are stacked at once for the receiver. Furthermore, if the exact time and place of the meeting are not mentioned, the message remains unclear and incomplete.
You can go with, “There will be a team meeting in the conference room (mention the room number if you have more than one) at 1:00 PM to discuss next month’s social media calendar.”
2. Correct:
From grammar to spelling, the message must be correct for the recipient to understand it in written communication fully. In addition, the information included, such as dates or data, must be accurate. Before sending, always proofread what you draft and avoid shortcuts like “talk two you litre”.
Example: “Project 1 will be completed in weak.”
As you can see from the spelling errors to the double spacing, there are three mistakes in the sentence above. The sentence loses its meaning, and it looks quite unprofessional.
When we have to spend a lot of emails or texts in a day, we just hit the send button without checking it again and can make many mistakes in even a short sentence. That’s why proofreading is essential.
The correct example would be, “The project will be completed in 1 week.”
3. Complete:
A message must contain all the necessary information to be complete. An incomplete message will confuse the recipient, and the response you get will probably be for more information.
Example: Instead of saying, “I didn’t get the report I asked for.”
Go with – “I haven’t received the monthly budget report of AJA that I asked for on Monday. Please send it to me by 5:00 PM today.”
4. Concrete:
For a sentence to be concrete, the sender must provide facts or figures to the receiver. This way, there will be no room for misinterpretation as the receiver will know what the sender is trying to say.
Example: Let’s say a social media manager gives feedback to a team member. Instead of saying, “The engagement rate for XYZ is pretty low. We need to try to get the rate for ABC.”
Going with “The engagement rate for XYZ is only 0.75%. We need to try to get to ABC’s rate, which is 1.3%.” Tell the team member what to do.
5. Concise:
When sending a message, the sender should stick to the point and avoid adding unnecessary information, sentences or words. Therefore, you should avoid repeating the same point or sentence and use too many complimentary words like “I mean” or “you see” or “for example.”
Example: “I think we should talk about the office Holi celebration, I mean what we always do every year. I think we all should participate in the preparation because I believe it is team building. Basically, we can ask each member their thoughts on how we should celebrate. For example, we can ask them if they would like to play with Rangoli or water balloons.”
The sentence given above makes the sender uncertain and unconfirmed. In addition, word fillers make the message much longer than it should be.
A better way to convey the above message would be, “We need to discuss the annual office Holi festival. Let’s call a team meeting tomorrow at 2:00 PM so that the entire team can participate.”
6. Coherent:
A message should be logical and coherent. The points mentioned should be related to the subject matter. Even the tone used should remain the same.
Example: Let’s say you’re replying to an email about an XYZ report.
7. Courteous:
When communicating, the message needs to come across as honest and thoughtful. So, depending on your relationship with the person you communicate with, make sure you use the correct tone of voice and avoid using hate speech or even worse language. The method and language you use to determine how the conversation progresses:
Example: “Your team needs to speed things up as quickly as possible. We’re nearing the deadline, and you still haven’t sent us the first draft. Even if you have other projects, you should prioritize them because we are running out of time. It’s very unprofessional of you.”
The sender of the above message seems rude and arrogant. A better way to approach this would be:
“I understand that your team is working on other projects, and you have a lot on your plate. However, as we near the deadline for this project, I would really appreciate it if you would kindly post it next week because my team needs to get it done as soon as possible. Let me know if my team and I can do some help.”
5 Tips to Improve Your 7 C’s of Communication
If you find that your message is often not compelling and you need to work on your communication skills, here are our tips on improving the 7cs of your communication.
Know your audience: To have a successful conversation, you need to connect with the person you interact with. You need to know who you can be formal or informal with. That way, you’ll know how to set the right tone for effective communication.
Mind Your Body Language: If you talk to someone face to face, you need to pay attention to your body language. Maintain eye contact when you or they are speaking. If you are at work, sit or stand straight, but not so straight that you feel uncomfortable.
Active Listening: When they are speaking, listen to them instead of formulating your response in your mind. People want to know that what they say is heard and valued. Please pay attention to them and what they are saying. It will help you in enhancing your active listening skills.
Be Confident: If you’re a shy person or afraid of public speaking, you can boost your confidence by attending an improv class or another class that includes activities where you’ll have to communicate with other people.
Follow the Seven C’s of Communication: Following the 7 C’s of communication, clear, concise, concrete, correct, consistent, complete and polite, will make your communication more effective and successfully delivered to the receiver.
We hope this article will help you improve your 7cs communication skills and send your messages successfully.
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