People can express their message with clarity, professionalism, and confidence by adhering to the 7 C’s of effective communication: Clear, Concise, Concrete, Correct, Coherent, Complete, and Courteous. By applying these concepts, people can ensure their message is understood, credibility is established, and leave a good impression on their audience. This can aid in building trust and boosting confidence, both of which are necessary for good communication.
Introduction
Clear communication is vital to achieving business success and enhancing your organisation’s productivity and morale. Known as the 7 C's of communication, they are seven fundamentals that help businesses to communicate effectively.
These principles provide guidelines to explain views, discuss notions or weigh the outcomes of a deal. This is to make the clients or workforce understand the intended purpose. The 7 C’s of effective communication are Clear, Concise, Concrete, Correct, Coherent, Complete, and Courteous.
Read this guide to know the 7 C’s of communication and apply them in your everyday activities while interacting with business investors, work teams, friends and family.
The upcoming sections will help you understand the importance of every aspect of the 7 C's of communication with short examples to give you a clear-cut idea.
Did you know? The research report by McKinsey and Company reveals that enhancing communication with workers helps achieve around a 25% rise in productivity levels. With effective communication, tasks like streamlining workflows and team collaboration can be consistent.
What Are the 7 C’s of Communication?
Implementing the 7 C’s of communication during formal and casual interactions will help you speak confidently while presenting your view.
Below are the 7 C’s of communication. Let's have a look at these with the help of examples.
1. Correct – The First C of the 7 C’s of Communication
Are you using the right words while conveying a crucial message to your workforce or clients? The factual accuracy of the information you communicate is paramount while communicating verbally or textually.
Your business communication language should have the proper dialect without grammatical errors, as it can distract your audience.
For example, avoid making false promises and tall claims while communicating with your clients while selling a product or service. Communicate with fact-based information to create a positive business impression.
To maintain correctness during communication, follow the tips below for the 7 C’s of business communication:
- Make sure the message is perfectly timed, correct and true.
- Check for grammatical errors and the accuracy of figures or facts.
- Make use of the correct language and appropriate terms while creating a message.
2. Concrete – The Second C of the 7 C’s of Communication
Shape up your communication skills by making sure it is a blend of specific messages and logic to convey your thoughts. You must provide credible sources and solid facts to support your argument regarding a specific topic.
Concreteness is an effective aspect of the 7 C’s of effective communication, as it makes your messages reliable and your business partners or workforce trust you.
For example, to impress a new client for your business, create assertions with data from research reports to convince your sales pitch. Communicate with your clients and teammates with concrete details.
Include the following features to maintain effective communication:
- Support your message with the correct figures and facts.
- Use short and precise words to convey your sales pitch with confidence.
- Do not misinterpret vague or generic data.
3. Clarity – The Third C of the 7 C’s of Effective Communication
Before communicating with a stakeholder or project team, clarify its purpose. The person at the receiving end should completely understand what you are trying to say without confusion.
If you are discussing multiple aspects of a project, speak about one aspect at a time to avoid mixing up. Use simple language for quick understanding and avoid jargon to focus more on the theme of the message.
Read More: 5 Types of Grapevine Communication and How to Handle It in Your Organisation
You can understand these 7 C’s of communication with examples.
For instance, if you are discussing various product development ideas, choose short sentences in easy-to-understand language. Rather than putting all ideas in one message, split them into separate sentences to give time to the listener to process your ideas.
Clear communication will prevent them from making wrong assumptions and achieving business objectives quickly.
Communicate with the following features to maintain clarity:
- Stress a specific goal or idea for easy understanding.
- Have clear ideas and convey them in simple language.
- Use appropriate words to communicate.
4. Complete – The Fourth C of the 7 C’s of Business Communication
Did your workforce face difficulties completing tasks because they did not receive adequate instructions?
To achieve the desired project outcomes, maintaining complete communication is essential. This is why you need to recognise the importance of the 7 C’s of communication, especially completeness.
Ensure specific details for every task are mentioned in the message along with all necessary details to prevent misinformation in business.
For example, if you assign your content writer a task to create website content, provide specific details. Mention the title, word count, targeted customers, and the time of submission to get it done on time.
Features to follow to maintain complete communication:
- Do not miss out on any significant information, and ensure no aspect is ignored.
- Provide additional data or instructions to answer questions arising in the receiver's mind.
- Whether it is emails, business meetings, or a project discussion, communicate with specific points to perform the task with clarity.
5. Considerate – The Fifth C of the 7 C’s of Effective Communication
Always be empathetic when communicating with your clients, employees, or customers by listening to their feedback and thoughts. When attempting to resolve an issue, convey your thoughts with consideration, but avoid words that might be cruel or condescending.
When communicating with a client from a different culture, respect and appreciate the differences if you plan to expand your business beyond boundaries.
For example, if you have clients in Nordic or Asian countries, they prefer you to communicate in a soft tone without being authoritative. When discussing an issue with your workforce, consider their condition and provide a solution to improve it without hurting them.
When communicating, use these features of the seven Cs of communication:
- Analyse other points of view before expressing your thoughts.
- Empathise and show interest when an employee or client communicates.
- Have a committed and warm tone while speaking about possible outcomes to resolve an issue.
6. Concise – The Sixth C of the 7 C’s of Business Communication
Limit your discussion to one topic rather than four or five. You can save time explaining what you mean by conveying your views directly in a direct and crisp manner.
Short and direct conversations will convey essential instructions to your team without deciphering the unimportant ones.
For example, instead of sending a long email explaining the tasks to be done in a week, send small messages to help them stay focused.
Include these features of the 7 C’s of effective communication:
- Avoid repetitive sentences during communication.
- Do not include irrelevant information disconnected from the present topic.
- Avoid fillers to create lengthy messages.
Read More: All You Need to Know About the Flow of Communication in Your Organisation
7. Courteous - The Last C of the 7 C’s of Communication
To become a courteous communicator and grow your business, be respectful and maintain a polite tone. Respect your workforce, and avoid aggressive and insulting tones to earn your client's trust and respect.
Have honest and open conversations, as it is a vital part of the 7 C’s of effective communication.
For example, if your team has an elderly member, avoid calling him an old man or making fun of a team member for his language dialect.
Incorporate the features listed below to increase your efficiency while responding to a customer or employee.
- Use a warm, friendly tone while conversing.
- Talk after considering your client or partner's view.
- Avoid derogatory remarks about others.
- Do not jump to conclusions or make assumptions about others.
The Importance of the 7 C’s of Communication
The 7 C’s of effective communication—clear, concise, concrete, correct, coherent, complete, and courteous—are crucial for people and organisations to reach their target audience. To ensure the message is heard and understood, each C is essential.
For example, being succinct and precise helps prevent ambiguity and uncertainty, while being polite ensures respectful communication and establishes rapport.
Applying the 7 C’s of communication can enhance relationships between people and organisations, increase productivity, and improve communication quality.
Conclusion
These 7 C’s of effective communication are imperative to nurturing your personal and professional connections. This is to have a healthy relationship with your business partners, investors, team members, friends and family.
With these seven C’s, conveying information or messages to an audience or teammates is simple. When equipped with excellent communication skills, it is easy to communicate with a large audience base confidently.
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