The 7 Cs of Communication

There are 7 C’s of effective communication which are applicable to both written as well as oral communication. These are as follows:

Completeness - The communication must be complete. It should convey all facts required by the audience. The sender of the message must take into consideration the receiver’s mind set and convey the message accordingly. A complete communication has following features:
Complete communication develops and enhances reputation of an organization.
Moreover, they are cost saving as no crucial information is missing and no additional cost is incurred in conveying extra message if the communication is complete.
A complete communication always gives additional information wherever required. It leaves no questions in the mind of receiver.
Complete communication helps in better decision-making by the audience/readers/receivers of message as they get all desired and crucial information.
It persuades the audience.
Conciseness - Conciseness means wordiness, i.e, communicating what you want to convey in least possible words without forgoing the other C’s of communication. Conciseness is a necessity for effective communication. Concise communication has following features:
It is both time-saving as well as cost-saving.
It underlines and highlights the main message as it avoids using excessive and needless words.
Concise communication provides short and essential message in limited words to the audience.
Concise message is more appealing and comprehensible to the audience.
Concise message is non-repetitive in nature.
Consideration - Consideration implies “stepping into the shoes of others”. Effective communication must take the audience into consideration, i.e, the audience’s view points, background, mind-set, education level, etc. Make an attempt to envisage your audience, their requirements, emotions as well as problems. Ensure that the self-respect of the audience is maintained and their emotions are not at harm. Modify your words in message to suit the audience’s needs while making your message complete. Features of considerate communication are as follows:
Emphasize on “you” approach.
Empathize with the audience and exhibit interest in the audience. This will stimulate a positive reaction from the audience.
Show optimism towards your audience. Emphasize on “what is possible” rather than “what is impossible”. Lay stress on positive words such as jovial, committed, thanks, warm, healthy, help, etc.