7Cs of Effective Communication

Pritima Kaushal
www.enablersindia.com
www.facebook.com/enablers.institute

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 Seven Cs of Effective Communication
 For making Effective Communication in
office- both oral and written, we must apply
certain basic principles.

 These principles commonly known as 7 C’s

of effective communication.

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 7 Cs
1. Completeness
2. Conciseness
3. Consideration
4. Concreteness
5. Clarity
6. Courtesy
7. Correctness

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1.Completeness
 Message must consist of all the facts
the receiver would need for the
action or reaction the sender
desires.

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Get Those Damn Documents ……… FAST!
It is 9 Am
Your boss wants you to send your junior colleague Albert to the court and
bring some ultra sensitive documents from your lawyer. Your boss wants
these documents immediately as he has to discuss these documents with the
minister today about 4 hours from now.
Your boss does not want that these documents should be seen by anyone.
Your boss tried to contact the lawyer but failed.
You know that the lawyer leaves for court at 9:45 am from his residence.
The desired documents maybe at lawyer’s residence or in his chamber in the
court.
You are not sure whether Albert has visited lawyer at his residence although
he has been to his chamber in the high court.
A car is ready now for Albert to collect these documents. If these papers do
not reach your boss by next 3 hours, he cannot have his meeting with the
minister who will be terribly annoyed with your boss.
Your boss would like to be briefed with the success of your mission from
after 2 hours from now.
Albert is standing before you for instructions.
Please issue necessary instructions for Albert.
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1.Completeness
 Provide all necessary information
 Answer all possible questions asked.
 Give something additional when
desirable.
 Check for Six W’s & one H
 Who, What, When, Where, Why. which and How

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Seven Friends

I keep six honest serving men,

They taught me all I know;
Their names are What and Why
and When,
And How and Where and Who.

from a poem by Rudyard Kipling

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Seven Friends.

Also the reverse questions

 What ---- What not
 Where ---- Where not
 When ---- When not
 Why ---- Why not
 Who ---- Who not
 Which ---- Which not
 How ---- How not

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Exercise-1
 The owner of a mutual fund stock wrote
to the investment department of your
bank, that he wanted to sell his shares.
He asked, ”Just how does your bank want
me to authorize this sale?”

 How would you reply to this query

keeping the five Ws and one H guideline
in mind?

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Exercise 2.

 A sales manager sends a request to

the HR Dept to hire 5 sales
executives as soon as possible.

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 2.Conciseness

 Managers today are always hard pressed for time

 Conciseness means Saying or writing what
you want to convey in the fewest possible
words without sacrificing the other 7c
principles.

1. Eliminate wordy expressions (Use single word

substitutes instead of phrases without changing their
meaning)
2. Include only relevant material
3. Avoid unnecessary
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repetition. Use Pronouns
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(They, he, it,)
 Lets scrutinize!

 At the present time, we are in the process of

accepting applications from interested applicants
for the position of Scientists.

 13/20 sentences used are unnecessary. Can you

refine the sentence?

 At the present time, we are in the process of

accepting applications from interested
individuals for the position of Scientists.

 (You can reduce up to 65%)

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 Some Examples

Absolutely complete
Advance planning.
Why say
Due to the fact
At an early date
it
At all times twice?
For a period of
For the purpose of
For the reason that

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 At this time
 Now
 Due to the fact
 Because
 in due course
 Soon
 Have need for
 Need

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Exercise:
 There are 5 rules that must be observed
 Five rules must be observed.
 She brought flowers that were beautiful
 She brought beautiful flowers.
 Allow me to say how helpful your response was
 Your response was helpful
 We here by wish to let you know that our company is
pleased with the confidence you have reposed on us.
 We appreciate the confidence you have reposed on us
 Last and not the least
 Finally

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Rewrite the following sentences
making them more concise.
1. In regard to the new rating system that will be going into
effect, there are two points that must be clarified in order
to ensure that we can be as selective as possible.
2. We are unable to fill your order due to the fact that there
has been a dock strike.
3. I am writing in response to some questions that have
arisen with respect to the recent announcement that
there will be an increase in the charge for the use of the
copiers.
4. I am enclosing herein my report for the month of
December.
5. The following statistics serve to support my personal
opinion with reference to pension planning.
6. The data conclusively show that Cerial 206 is a more
superior product.
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Rewrite the following sentences
making them more concise.
 Every administrator seems inclined to agree with
the concept that time is money.
 It was the first time in my life that I attended a
conference on sharing cost.
 We are in receipt of your cheque in the amount
of Rs 4,500.
 A few of the participants left the room early
before the chairperson adjourned the meeting.
 In Bangalore, he had at least six different jobs.

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3.Consideration
 Focus on “You” instead of “I” and
“We”.
 Show audience benefit or interest in
the receiver. WIIFM.
 Emphasize positive, pleasant facts.
 See your message from readers
point of view

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Write with a ‘you‘ attitude, it
shows consideration

 I want to send my congratulations

for ---
 We will soon ship the goods against
your May 4 order.
 We pay eight percent interest on
Fixed Deposits.

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Write with a ‘you‘ attitude, it
shows consideration (contd)

 May I take this opportunity to express my

thanks for the account you recently opened with
our store. We are pleased to furnish a wide
variety of products for the home of the individual
customer. We want you to take full advantage of
the store services, for we have the largest store
in the city. Also we make deliveries for our
customer free of charge within a 10 Km radius of
our store. If we can be of additional help please
let us know.

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Avoid negative – Use positive words to
show consideration
 It is impossible to open an account for you
today.
 We don’t refund if the returned item is soiled
and unusable.
 When you travel on company expense, you
will not receive approval for first class fare.
 To avoid further delay and inconvenience,
we are sending this report by express mail.

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4.Concreteness
1. Use specific facts and figures.
i. Eastern Europe is making progress in obtaining investments
ii. In 1990 investments in Eastern Europe was US$30 million,
today it has increased by 12%.

2. Put action in your verbs. (Active verbs)

1. It will be shown by results.---The result will show

3. Choose vivid, image building words.

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1.Use specific facts and figures.

 Come early to office

 I have told her several times
 I have almost finished the report.
 The chief guest is about to reach.
 I will see you soon in your office.

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2 Put action in your verbs. (Active
verbs)
 Active voice VS Passive voice

 Active voice means that Subject is the doer of

the action. Passive voice means the subject is
the receiver of the action
 The study was completed by marketing Director
 The marketing director completed the study
 Separate requisition should be prepared by each buyers
 Each buyer should prepare a separate requisition
 The report was written by Sandhya.
 Sandhya wrote the report.
 The violin was played by Rahul.
 Rahul played the violin
 The workshop will be conducted by Dr Sharma.
 Dr. Sharma will conduct the workshop

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 Some Exceptions:

 When the subject has to be subordinated rather

than highlighted
 Our Restaurant has been recommended by all leading
hotels in Singapore
 All leading hotels in Singapore recommend our restaurant.

 When Focus has to be placed on action and not on

subject
 The correction in the report has not been carried out
 You have not carried out the correction in the report

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 3.Choose vivid, image building
words.

 Paint the picture

 Cricket Commentators on radio used to convey
what exactly was happening on the ground.
 In written Communication, we can draw figures,
tables and diagrams to make it vivid and
concrete

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Please draw this animal.
 The body is stout, with arched back; the limbs
are short and stout, armed with strong, blunt
claws; the ears long; the tail thick at the base
and tapering gradually. The elongated head is
set on a short thick neck, and and at the
extremity of the snout is a disc in which the
nostrils open. The mouth is small and tubular,
furnished with a long extensile tongue. A large
individual measured 6 ft.’ 8 in. In color, it is pale
sandy or yellow, the hair being scanty and
allowing the skin to show.

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Aardvark

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 5.Clarity
 In effective business communication the message
should be very much clear. So that reader can
understand it easily.
 Choose precise, simple and familiar words.
 Construct effective short sentences and
paragraphs
 Achieve appropriate readability by using formal &
informal language
 In oral communication, listener can seek
immediate clarification
 Include examples, illustrations & visual aids

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Always choose familiar and easy words.

Familiar Less familiar words

1-after subsequent
2-home domicile
4-pay remuneration
5-invoice statement for payments
6. Do Accomplish
7. Change Modify
8. Show Demonstrate
9. Sent Dispatch
10.Start Commence
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 “If there are any points on which you
require explanation or further particulars
we shall be glad to furnish such additional
details as may be required by telephone”
 “If you have any question, please do call.”

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 After perusal of pertinent data the
conclusion is that a lucrative market
exists for the subject property.

 The data we studied show that your

property is profitable and is in high
demand

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Do not use Jargons/ slangs
 Jargons are technical terms for a
specific area management jargons/
medical jargons
 Slangs are casual words can be used
in oral informal communication and
not in writen communication.

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 6.Courtesy
 Be sincere, tactful, thoughtful,
respectful and appreciative.
 Omit expressions that hurt, irritate, or
insult
 Offer apologies graciously
 Choose nondiscriminatory expressions.

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 Tone of your communication

 It should sound firm friendly polite If you

use wrong tone it may seem rude, sarcastic,
bossy, condescending. Even if you feel
angry, or frustrated, try not to vent your
emotions in writing.

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Tone of your communication
 “You have failed to meet sales target”
 “With a little effort, you could have achieved the target”
 You have deliberately failed to reply to my letter
 Your interview will be held on Thursday at 2 pm (Too
bossy)
 Your interview has been scheduled for Thursday.
 Your computer’s guarantee has expired, so we will not be
able to repair your machine unless you buy a service
contract.
 Your computer guarantee has expired. In order for us to
give you uninterrupted service, kindly…

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 Airhostess PPT

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7.Correctness
 At the core of correctness is proper grammar,
punctuation and spelling.
 Check accuracy of figures, facts, and
words.

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Use the right Level of Language
Three levels
1. Formal
2. Informal
3. Substandard

Take a quick guess: what kind of

communication is associated with each
level? What is the style of each?

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Formal and Informal Words
 Formal writing is often associated with scholarly
writing: doctoral dissertations, scholarly, legal
documents, top-level government agreements
and other material where formality is demanded.
 Informal writing is more characteristic of
business writing. Here you use words that are
short, well-known and conversational as in this
comparison list:

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Formal and Informal Words
More Formal less formal
 Participate Join
 Endeavor try
 Ascertain find out
 Utilize use
 Interrogate Question
 Procure Get

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Substandard Language
Avoid substandard language. Using correct words,
incorrect grammar, faulty pronunciation all
suggest as inability to use good English. Some
examples follow:
Substandard More Acceptable
 Ain’t isn’t, aren’t
 Can’t hardly can hardly
 Aim to proving aim to prove
 Desirous to desirous of
 Stoled stolen
 Didn’t knew Didn’t know

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Accuracy of Facts and Figures

 Verify your statistical data

 Check Accuracy of Facts, Figures and words
 Double-check your totals
 Avoid guessing at laws that have an impact on
you, and the recipient .
 Have someone else read your message if the
topic involves data.
 Determine whether a “fact” has changed over
time.

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 Proper Use of Confusing
Words !
 A, An use “a” before consonants and
consonants sounds or a long ”
u” sound. Use an before vowels.
 Accept, except Accept is a verb and means to
receive. except is a verb or a
preposition and relates to
omitting or leaving out.
 Anxious, eager Anxious implies worry, eager
conveys keen desire
 Eminent, imminent Eminent means ‘prominent”,
imminent means about to happen
 Imply, Infer imply means “suggest”, infer
means to “conclude”

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Proper Use of Confusing Words !

Biannually and Biennially Two times a year, Every two years

Which, That, Who Which refers to things, That refers to

person or things, and who to people

Who , Whom Use “who” as the subject of the verb

, (Who will Give a presentation?)
Use “whom” as an object of the verb,
(For whom will you vote ?)

Between, Among Between involves two people or two

groups, Among involves three or
more people
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Group Exercise
 Write a circular inviting everyone in IEMR to
Independence Day function.
 Form a group of seven persons each. Sit in a
circle.
 Pass your paper to the person on your right.
 First round – Comment on Completeness of the
message. Grade out of 10 marks (Time: 1
Minute.)

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Group Exercise

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 Pass the paper to the person on your right.
 Round 2: please comment on the conciseness of
the message. Grade out of 10 marks.
 And so on- for
 Consideration
 Concreteness
 Clarity
 Courtesy
 Correctness

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