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Rosalyn Leonard Achiro

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We spend most of our working day communicating. After all, as social beings, we

use communication to establish connections with others on which our very survival,

personal contentment, relationships, job successes etcetera depends. Communication is a

complex process of interaction between people with the goals of persuading, expressing

feelings and imagination, or performing social rituals. (Barbara, 1994) When

communication occurs, it typically happens in one of the three ways; verbal, non-verbal

and visual. Communication also requires two parties –a sender and a receiver, who

interact within a common frame of reference consisting of shared social, cultural,

religious or national emblems. It is therefore necessary that both the sender and receiver

co-operate with each other and are willing to speak, listen then act appropriately to avoid

any barriers to effective communication.

Communication barrier is anything that prevents us from sending, receiving,

[interpreting and responding to] messages others use to convey their information, ideas

and thoughts as they interfere with or block the message you are trying to communicate

(Joseph, 2003). Common barriers to effective communication include the following; use

of jargons such over-complicated and technical terms that distort the clarity of the

message. A difference in perceptions and point of views greatly distorts messages.

Information overload that exceeds our processing capacity results in loss of information

and less effective communication and especially when all the 7 C’s of effective

communication are not adhered to.

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Therefore, one of the best ways to boost our productivity is to communicate

effectively and in the clearest way possible during the course of our working hours.

Barbara (1994), states that an effective communication is a communication between two

or more persons wherein the intended message is successfully delivered, received and

understood, especially when both the sender and receiver assign similar meanings and act

positively to the message.

A great tool for an effective communication is the 7 C’s. It is a checklist with

guidelines that helps to improve the professional communication skills and increase the

chances that the message will be understood in exactly the same way as it was intended

(Mind Tool, 2018) The 7 C’s are; clarity, correctness, completeness, concreteness,

conciseness, consideration and courteousness. These are explained, with examples, in the

following paragraphs;

1. Clarity

Practicing clarity in your communication ensures that the message is received

accurately. You should know what you wish to say and how to say it. Use language that

can be easily understood, and resist the temptation to include unnecessary information.

Clarity can be achieved in the following ways. Clarity in communication is being

definite, precise, specific, and familiar to your readers and listeners. Clarity means to

speak without erring, and to be brief without repeating (1).

i. Endeavour to achieve appropriate lengths for sentences and paragraphs.

ii. Choose short, familiar and conversational words and phrases.

iii. Support the message with examples, illustrations, and etcetera.

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Example:

Instead of saying, “We have considered the existing policy on the hiring

strategies we employ with our human resources department and updated them

accordingly,” say, “We have updated our hiring policy.”

2. Correctness

In oral and written communication, grammatical errors should be avoided, you

must communicate with correct grammar, language, data, etcetera. In written

communication, you should proof read before sending.

Example:

“You may enter the Library during working hours but must show relevant I.D.”

Immediately, the recipient of this information has two questions:

“What are the opening hours, and what Identification is considered relevant?

Correctness in this communication is conveyed by saying, “You may enter the

Library during the opening hours of 9am to 5pm daily, but must show your National

identity card.”

3. Completeness

Your message should include all the relevant information as required by the

intended audience. Your message should be complete, delivering all the facts needed for
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the recipient to make an informed decision. Incomplete messages often receive poor

responses.

To ensure your communication is complete, ask if it answers the what, when,

why, who, where, and how.

Example:

“You haven’t completed the task that I set you,” is a message full of ambiguity.

Instead, make sure you include all relevant facts:

“The data analysis for Patricia Joyce Ajok that I asked for on March 5 should

have been completed by today. Will you have it finished this afternoon?” (2)

Be specific, give details of the task to be worked on , time and purpose, and asks

the receiver to respond. If you require the reader to take some kind of action, ensure that

you have a ‘call-to-action’ in your message and also communicate the urgency of the task

in question. Incomplete message leads to iterations, a lot of back-and-forth, waste of time

and effort on both ends

4. Concreteness

In communication concreteness means the message should be clear, particular,

practical and useful such that no room for misinterpretation is left. Concreteness is the

quality which needs to come to the fore especially during marketing or advertising

campaigns. Communication need be specific, clear, and meaningful. It avoids vagueness,

uses available facts and figures to add authenticity, and builds around an active voice.

Example:

An example would be poor communication from a news paper article. It might

say, “Studies showed that many teenage pregnancy cases in Uganda was becoming
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common. Thousands of girls in Acholi Region were made pregnant during the Covid 19

lockdown. And that an average of 33 young girls were believed to have been impregnated

everyday in Acholiland. It’s therefore, against this background that workshops are being

organized.”

“Research found out that the rate of teenage pregnancy in Uganda is 25% and it

is said the percentage is on the increase. Over 4,000 girls in Acholi Region only were

made pregnant during Covid 19 lockdown, [between March and November, 2020.] And

that over 33 teenage girls are impregnated every day in Acholiland. It’s therefore,

against this background that regional workshops are being organized by the MoES

through the NCDC with funding from Development Partners for all the secondary school

Head Teachers, starting with Kampala and Wakiso on the 31st July, 2021.”(3)

Give the reader concrete facts, direction with evidence and an active voice.

5. Conciseness

Never use more words than is necessary. Brevity is more easily understood,

though you must avoid discourtesy. Concise messages save you and the recipient time,

too. avoiding repetition and deleting unnecessary adjectives and fillers such as ‘I mean,’

‘sort of,’ ‘for instant,’ ‘kind of,’ ‘basically,’ etcetera. To be concise, follow these rules:

 Eliminate unnecessary words

 Use action verbs

 Remove repetition

Example:

Wordy: The teacher demonstrated some of the various ways and methods for

cutting words from my essay that I had written for class. (22 words)
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Concise: The teacher demonstrated methods for cutting words from my essay.

(10 words)

6. Consideration

Be considerate with your messaging by putting yourself in the position of the

recipient. Focus on communicating to ‘you’, considering needs and issues experienced by

the recipient.

Example:

Imagine that you are unable to pay a debt. How do you communicate this?

“I am unable to pay you now. My business is awaiting payment from a major

client. Once this payment is received, I can consider paying in installments as soon as is

practicable.”

This could be better conveyed as follows:

“Unfortunately, I am not presently in the position to pay you back. However, as

soon as my major client has settled their account, I will pay all debts owed to you. I am

sorry about this delay,.”

7. Courteousness

Your message should be friendly, open, empathetic and polite even if you are

communicating negative things by avoiding hidden insults or passively aggressive tones,

ensure that you are sincere, thoughtful, and do not use discriminatory language. This

shows you respect the recipient and helps to build goodwill.

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Example:

“You are wrong”.

“Our perceptions appear to be different”.

The second sentence calls for capacity development and reflection. This then

means that courteous communication helps the sender to take into consideration the

receiver’s opinions, knowledge, mindset, background, etc., in order to have an effective

communication.

To sum up, communication is a critical skill. Whenever you communicate, keep

in mind the 7 C’s of effective communication –Clarity will ensure you emphasize on

specific goals, correctness will add credibility to your message, completeness will make

your message detailed and specific, conciseness will make the message simple and

comprehensible, concreteness makes the message particular and gives no room for

misinterpretation, etcetera. The combination of the 7 C’s of effective communication is

very useful in our career growth and organizational development. The prosperity of an

organization and humanity as a whole is dependent on effective communication.

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References:

Joseph A. Devito, (2003). Messages: Building Interpersonal Communication Skills. (5th

ed.). Allyn and Bacon Press. Boston City. Glossary. (p. 890)

Ronald b. Alder, (1987). Looking in, Looking Out. Fifth Edition. New York City. (p. 376)

Diamond level, (2001). Writing and Grammar: Communication in Action. Annotated

Teachers’ Edition. Prentice Hall. (p. 909)

Barbara l. Clinton, etal (1994). Effective Speech Communication. Third Edition. Glenco

McGrow-Hill Press. ( p. 13)

The 7 C’s of Effective Communication. Retrieved March 15, 2021, from

https://www.mindtools.com/page/articles

Carrier, J. (2019). The 7 C’s of Communication. Retrieved March 15, 2021 from The

World of Work Project: https://worldofwork.io/2019/07/the-7-cs-of-

communication/

Management Study Guide website. Seven C's of effective communication. 

www.managementstudyguide.com/seven-cs-of-effective-communication.htm.

Accessed

March 23, 2021 from Google scholar

Citations:
(1)
From a speech by (Joseph, 1988, p. 90). New World Dictionary of Quotable

Definitions. Prentice Hall.

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(2)
An extract from Rosalyn’s mail received from her supervisor, Mr. Oryem John

Bosco, who is the Programme Coordinator for Children Up Uganda. 23 rd March,

2021.
(3)
The Independent News Papers. An Article by (The Editor p. 9). Pregnancy Cases

among Teenage Girls During Covid 19 Lockdown in Uganda. 11th November,

2020.