Eight C’s of Effective Communication ￮ Achieve appropriate readability and

listening ability
1 Clarity ￮ Include examples, illustrations, and other
visual aids.
Are you coming across specific
and clear? Improving the clarity of your own
communication
Hi James,
1. Consider your audience
I wanted to write you a quick note about How you talk to people within your
Daniel, who's working in your department. department may be different from that of
He's a great asset, and I'd like to talk to you within another department.
more about him when you have time.
2. Say exactly what you mean
Best, Be direct without being unpleasant.
Paul
3W Feedback Model by People First
Hi James, Productivity Solution

I wanted to write you a quick note about What: Describe the situation and be
Daniel Santos who's working in your specific. Your description should be based
department. In recent weeks, he's helped on your own observations, not on hearsay
the IT department through several pressing or assumptions. Use “I” instead of “You” at
deadlines on his own time. the beginning.
Why: Describe the impact of what you’ve
We've got a tough upgrade project due to observed. If there is not significant impact, a
run over the next three months, and his reason why this truly matters, then skip the
knowledge and skills would prove feedback.
invaluable. Could we please have his help Way: Describe what you would like to see
with this work? as a replacement behavior. Again, be
succinct.
I'd appreciate speaking with you about this.
When is it best to call you to discuss this “I have noticed that your dirty dishes have
further? been left in the shared kitchen sink each of
the past three days. I wanted to bring this to
Best wishes, your attention because my lunch time
Paul comes right after yours, and I have to move
your dishes before I can wash my own. I
Tips on Clear Communication have some severe food allergies, and it is
￮ Choose precise words alarming to me when I have to touch plates
￮ Choose short, familiar, conversational with unknown foodstuffs on them. So I’d
words really appreciate it if you’d take a minute to
￮ Construct effective sentences and rinse and remove your dishes
paragraphs when you’re done eating.”
3. Avoid jargon ￮ Moreover, they are cost saving as no
Whether you’re talking to your cohorts or to crucial information is missing and no
people outside your department, it’s best to additional cost is incurred in conveying extra
avoid jargon. message if the communication is complete.
￮ A complete communication always gives
These are the kinds of terms and phrases to additional information wherever required. It
avoid: action item, vet the idea, monetize, leaves no questions in the mind of receiver.
bandwidth, paradigm shift, big picture, ￮ Complete communication helps in better
outside the box, sharpen your pencil, decision-making by the audience/readers/
manage the optics, feet on the street, receivers of message as they get all desired
bench strength, plug and play... Just speak and crucial information.
like you would in a non-business setting. ￮ It persuades the audience.
Your clarity will be a breath of fresh air. ￮ The sentence or the message to be
communicated should be complete and
4. Keep it short and simple unambiguous to prevent any blunder while
Give the highlights and the key points. Less communicating.
is more ￮ Answer all questions asked -- Give
something extra, when desirable
5. Ask for a playback ￮ Check for the 5W’s and an H (Who, what,
“I want to make sure we’re in agreement on when, where, why and how)
next steps so why don’t you play back for
me what you’ll do next.” Hi everyone,

6. Over-communicate (Redundancy) I just wanted to send you all a reminder

The more important it is, the more times you about the meeting we're having tomorrow!
need to say it.
See you then,
7. Choose the right medium for the Chris
message
E-mail? Voice mail? Old school memo?
Video conference? Webinar? In person to a Hi everyone,
group?One-on-one?
I just wanted to remind you about
tomorrow's meeting on the new
2 Completeness telecommuting policies.
8 The meeting will be at 10:00 a.m. in the
Is the message complete as to second-level conference room. Please let
what, where, when, how, who me know if you can't attend.
and why?
See you then,
Features of complete communication Chris
￮ Complete communication develops and
enhances reputation of an organization.
3 Conciseness Mr. Chua, who was my former team leader,
won his lawsuit.
Communicate what you want Mr. Chua, my former team leader,
to convey in least possible won his lawsuit.
words, without foregoing
completeness. ➔ Delete expletives (words such as it is,
here is, and there is).
Features of concise communication
￮ It is both time-saving as well as There is a meeting on Friday that will
cost-saving. address this matter.
￮ It underlines and highlights the main The meeting on Friday will address
message as it avoids using excessive and this matter.
needless words.
￮ Concise communication provides short ➔ Use single-word modifiers instead of
and essential message in limited words to prepositional and verbal phrases.
the audience.
￮ Concise message is more appealing and He carries a briefcase made out of leather.
comprehensible to the audience. He carries a leather briefcase.
￮ Concise message is non-repetitive in
nature. ➔ Eliminate unnecessary words, choosing
simple one-word expressions rather than
Ask yourself: longer phrases.
￮ Are there any adjectives or "filler words"
that you can delete? You can often eliminate The company is taking applications at this
words like "you see," "definitely," "kind of," point in time.
"literally," "basically," or "I mean." The company is taking applications
￮ Are there any unnecessary sentences? now.
￮ Have you repeated the point several
times, in different ways? 4 Concreteness

Be specific, definite, and vivid, rather than

Notes on Wordiness vague and general.
➔ Reduce the modifier into a phrase, or a What is concrete communication?
word ￮ Communicating concretely means being
specific, definite and vivid rather than vague
Attached are documents that are previously and general.
checked by the department head. ￮ Concreteness is important especially
Attached are documents previously when you present or promote yourself, a
checked by the department head. product, or a service.
￮ There need to be details that capture the
➔ Use appositives instead of clauses attention of the audience, not bore them.
beginning with that, who, or which. ￮ Ensure your message has important
Sepera details and facts, but that nothing deters the
focus of your message.
Tips on Concrete Communication 6 Correctness
￮ Use specific facts and figures
￮ Choose image-building words Communication is correct if it fits the
￮ Avoid uncertainty audience and is free of grammatical errors
and misspelled words.
The Lunchbox Wizard will save you time
every day. Features of Correct Communication
How much time do you spend every ￮ The message is exact, correct and
day packing your kids' lunches? No well-timed.
more! Just take a complete ￮ If the communication is correct, it boosts
Lunchbox Wizard from your up the confidence level.
refrigerator each day to give your ￮ Correct message has greater impact on
kids a healthy lunch and have more the audience/ readers.
time to play or read with them! ￮ It checks for the precision and
accurateness of facts and figures used in
the message.
5 Considerateness ￮ It makes use of appropriate and correct
language in the message.
Effective communication must take the ￮ Maintain acceptable writing mechanics
audience into consideration— stepping into ￮ Choose non-discriminatory expression
the shoes of others.
Hi Daniel,
￮ Effective communication must take the Thanks so much for meeting me at lunch
audience into consideration, i.e, the today! I enjoyed our conservation, and I'm
audience’s view points, background, looking forward to moving ahead on our
mind-set, education level, etc. project. I'm sure that the two-weak deadline
￮ Ensure that the self-respect of the won't be an issue.
audience is maintained and their emotions Thanks again, and I'll speak to you soon!
are not at harm. Best,
￮ Modify your words in message to suit the Jack Miller
audience’s needs while making your
message complete. 7 Courteousness

Features of considerateness Courteous communication is friendly, open,

communication and honest. There are no
￮ Emphasize on “you” approach. passive-aggressive tones and keeps in
￮ Empathize with the audience and exhibit mind the reader's viewpoint.
interest in the audience. This will stimulate a
positive reaction from the audience. Tips on Courteous Communication
￮ Show optimism towards your audience. ● Courtesy implies taking into
Emphasize on “what is possible” rather than consideration. both viewpoints as
“what is impossible”. Lay stress on positive well as feelings of the receiver of the
words such as jovial, committed, thanks, message.
warm, healthy, help, etc.
 ● Courteous message is positive and Thanks so much and please let me know if
focused at the audience. there's anything i can do for you best feel.
● One should have the civility to
respect the other person's dignity Regards,
and self-esteem. Phil
● The message, which will be
communicated, should not be cruel
or ruthless. 8 Coherence
● Be sincere thoughtful and
appreciative The message needs to have a logical flowʴ
● emit expressions that irritate hurt or Are all the points relevant and consistent
belittle grant and apologize good with the tone and flow of the text?
naturedly
● it make use of terms showing An effective paragraph shows coherence
respect for the receiver of message
● it is not all biased Coherent Communication
● Coherence is the trait that makes the
paragraph easily understandable to
Jeff a reader.
● You can help create coherence in
I wanted to let you know that i don't your paragraphs by creating logical
appreciate how your team always bridges and verbal bridges.
monopolizes the discussion at our weekly
meetings. I have a lot of projects, and i How to Achieve Coherence
really need time to get my team progress
discuss as well. So far thanks to your Logical Bridges
department i haven't been able to do that ● The same idea of a topic is carried
and you make sure they make time for me over from sentence to sentence.
and my team next week thanks ● Successive sentences can be
constructed in parallel form.
Phil
Verbal Bridges
Hi Jeff, ● Key words can be repeated in
several sentences.
I wanted to write you a quick note to as a ● Synonymous words can be repeated
favor during our weekly meetings, your in several sentences.
team does an excellent job of highlighting ● Pronouns can refer to nouns in
their progress but this uses some of the previous sentences.
time available for my team to highlight ● Transition words can be used to link
theirs. I'd really appreciate if it you could ideas from different sentences.
give my team a little extra time each week
to fully cover their progress report.
Logical bridges ensure that the same idea is
carried over from sentence to sentence.
Verbal bridges use language — repetition of F a. the schedule of a meeting should
keywords and synonyms, use of transitions, appear first in an email
etc. — that makes the logical connections T b. generally, the information appearing
between your ideas clear to your reader. first in a message is given emphasis
T a. constructing grammatically and
Tips on Coherent Communication mechanically accurate sentences contribute
● Readers identify the topics of to the messages clarity
individual sentences clearly. Topics
of sentences come in a paragraph: a F a. reputable company is known for its
coherent group of sentences all employee's ability to avoid communication
clearly related to one point. breakdown
● Don't begin a sentence with a bit of T b. complete and concise messages are
new information. time- and cost-saving
● Don't begin a sentence with a bit of
technical information (unless you've T a. the use of one-word modifier can
already defined or explained it). eliminate the wordiness
● Use your openings to refer back to F b. a message is complete if it persuades
previous material or gently introduce the audience
a new topic.
T b. keeping the message short brief and
Dear Nam, simple may compromise clarity and
completeness
Thanks for submitting the industry report.
Finn will give you some feedback on it. Finn F a. emails and memos must not contain
also wanted to find out if you will be tables or figures
available for the client meeting tomorrow.
We will be discussing the budget for the T b. one must not neglect completeness
next phase of the project. when composing very short messages

Regards, F a. fillers may be used to communicate

Shirley concrete ideas

Dear Nam, T. fillers make a message illogically wordy

Thanks for submitting the industry report. F. miscommunication is always caused by

Finn will give you some feedback on it. You the audience lack of comprehension skills
will be receiving an email from him with
detailed comments. F. the use of conversational word in email
must be avoided to achieve conreteness
Regards,
T. a good communicator is able to highlight
Shirley key messages without sounding repetitive
F. repetitiveness is the same as redundancy

F. redundancy is needed to over

communicate highly important messages

T. clauses beginning with relative pronuouns

like that, who, or which can be transformed
into appositives to avoid redundancy