CE 403

Professional Practices and

Communication
Lecture 2
Seven C’s of Effective
Communication
 Seven C’s
• Completeness
• Conciseness
• Consideration
• Concreteness
• Clarity
• Courtesy
• Correctness
 Completeness
• Contains all relevant facts
• Style or manner such as to get desired reaction
• Have all necessary information for thorough
accurate understanding
• Answer five W questions:
– Who
– What
– Why
– Where
– when
 Completeness
• Answer all questions asked by receiver
completely
• Admit unavailable information frankly and
openly
• Provide unfavorable information honestly but
tactfully
• Give additional extra information when
desirable (as receiver may not know what they
need or what to ask)
 Conciseness
• Say what one has to say in fewest words

• Be complete without being wordy

• Include relevant material only

• Relevant: Material related to purpose of

message
 Conciseness
• Omit:
– obvious information
– long introductions
– unnecessary explanations
– pompous words
– gushy politeness
 Conciseness
• Avoid:
– Needless repitition of phrases and sentences
– use shorter name after mentioning longer name
and its shorter abbreviation once
– use pronouns rather than repeating long nouns
 Consideration
• Being aware and sensitive to
– Desires

– Circumstances

– Problems

– Emotions

– Probable reactions
of receiver of message
 Consideration
• Handle message from point of view of receiver
– “you attitude”

– Empathy

– the human touch

– Understanding of human nature

 Consideration
• Considerate message sender does not
– Lose temper

– Accuse

– Charge without facts

 Consideration
• Focus on you instead of “I” and “we”. For this
– Downplay own feelings

– Emphasize points of receiver

– Make explicit reference to or directly quote

message or response of receiver

– Focus on needs and wants of receiver and means

to satisfy those needs
 Consideration
• Show interests/benefits of receiver in
responding favorably to message
– Identify legitimate benefits of receiver

– Benefits should be realistic and tailored to

individual needs

– Assess receiver’s perspective by putting oneself in

his position

– Address receivers needs, concerns

 Consideration
• Emphasize pleasant and positive facts by
– Stressing on what can be done and NOT on what
cannot be done

– Focus on words that the recipient can consider

favorably
 Concreteness
• Being
– Specific
– Definite
– Vivid
• Not being
– Vague
– General
• Using
– Denotative words (direct, explicit, in dictionary)
– Not connotative words (ideas, notions associated
with word, phrase)
 Concreteness
• For concrete messages message sender should
– Use specific facts and figures

– Use exact, precise statements, not general words

– Use active verbs. Active verbs make sentences

specific, personal, concise, emphatic

– Choose vivid image building words having sensory

appeal, comparisons, examples etc
 Concreteness
• Concrete messages are

– Dynamic and interesting

– Receivers know what is exactly required or

desired
 Clarity
• Clarity needed for accurate understanding of
message. For clarity
– Choose precise, concrete, familiar words
conveying right meaning
– Choose words appropriate for situation
– Construct grammatically correct sentences, use
correct sentence structure clearly expressing main
idea
– Use short sentences with one main idea
– Sentences should have unity of idea
 Courtesy
• Courtesy implies
– Politeness that grows out of respect and concern
for others

– Requires sincere “you attitude”

– Requires being aware of feelings of receiver in

addition to their perspectives
 Courtesy
• To be courteous
– Be sincerely tactful, thoughtful and appreciative
– Lack of courtesy: intentional abruptness, bluntness
(sometimes stem from lack of awareness of another
culture, country)
– Use cordial appreciative messages that show and
build goodwill and respect
– Avoid irritating expressions or questionable humor
that may offend
– Choose non-discriminatory expressions reflecting
equal treatment of people regardless of gender,
race, ethnic origin
 Correctness
• Correctness implies using proper grammar,
punctuation, spelling. In addition,
– Use right level of language. Formal (impersonal
with long sentences), informal (use short
conversational words as in business writing), sub-
standard (incorrect words, grammar,
pronunciation)
– Check accuracy of facts, figures, words. Verify
statistical data, substantiate all information,
determine whether facts have changed with time
– Give careful attention to appearance, format