THE 9 Cs OFF Effective Communication PDF

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These are the notes I prepared for "THE 9 Cs OFF Effective Communication - Lecture 1"...

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THE 9 Cs OFF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION When we talk about “Effective Communication” we mean to know what the basic principles of “effective communication” are:

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These principles focus on listening speaking, reading and writing. They focus on the reader/audience These principles tell us how a message can becomes effective for the target group These principles also tell about the style and the importance of the message.

These principles are as follows 1. Correctness 2. Conciseness 3. Clarity 4. Completeness 5. Concreteness 6. Consideration 7. Courtesy 8. Confidence 9. Conversational tone 1. Correctness: To be correct in communication the following principles should be borne in mind: 1. Use the correct level of language. 2. Include only accurate facts, words and figures 3. Maintain acceptable writing mechanics. 4. Apply the following qualities a. Avoid switching from third person to second or first person. If you are writing in the third person don’t use I, me, we, us & you. b. There should be proper grammar, punctuation, spelling and paragraphing. 2. Conciseness: Business executives are dead busy. They don’t have time to go through unnecessarily lengthy messages. The writer is also the loser if he writes wordy messages, because it involves more time and money to type and read. Conciseness makes the message more understandable and comprehensible. To achieve conciseness the following guidelines will help you. 1. Omit hackneyed expressions and clichés. 2. Avoid unnecessary repetition and wordy expressions. 3. Include only relevant facts. 4. Organize the message efficiently and logically (with logical reasoning). In business less in more but conciseness should not be accomplished at the cost of completeness. 3. Clarity:

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Clarity demands that the business message should be correct, concise, complete, concrete and with consideration. To accomplish these, observe the following: 1. Avoid Clichés like; “I beg to state’, ‘please find enclosed herewith’, or ‘thanking you in anticipation’. 2. Proper punctuation makes the communication clear. 3. Insert examples, illustrations, tables, graphs and other visual aids, if necessary. Make the message readable and understandable. 4. Make correct sentences and divide the message in properly sized paragraphs. 5. Use correct pronunciation 6.Choose pithy, short, familiar and a conversational words. 4. Completeness: The message should be complete to bring desirable results. It should include everything the reader wants or needs. We should be able to know the reader’s background, viewpoints, needs, attitudes and emotions to determine the extent of information to be included in the message. The following are the guidelines for completeness. 1. The message should answer all the questions in the order they were asked. 2. Give some additional information, if it’s important to the audience. 3. Ensure that you answer 5 W’s and 1 H as follows: i. Who ii. What iii. Where iv. When v. Why vi. How 5. Concreteness: Business writing should be specific, definite, unambiguous and vivid rather than vague & general. The following guidelines lead to concreteness. 1. Use specific facts and figures. Avoid words like good, bad, few, quick, soon etc. 2. Use action verbs. You can accomplish it by using active voice. 3. The message should have vivid and image building words. To achieve this make comparisons and use figurative language and concrete words. 6. Consideration: Consideration refers to your attitude, empathy, the human touch and understanding of human nature. Consideration means to construct the message keeping the receiver in mind. You should try to visualize your readers, their desires, problems, emotions, circumstances and possible reactions to your request. Consideration can be achieved through the following:

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1. Emphasize ‘You’ instead of ‘I or We’. 2. Use words like: please, sorry, excuse me etc. 3. Your message should convey the truth and a sincere vibe. 4. Stress the positive, pleasant aspects of facts. 5. Offer such service that your audience will value and remember. 7. Courtesy: Politeness and kindness is a good age-old guideline for written and oral communication. Courtesy is more important and advantageous in business writing than it is in face to face communication or conversation. Courteous messages strengthen present relations and make new ones. Courtesy is a goodwill builder. Courtesy may be achieved by the following: 1. By truly tactful, thoughtful and appreciative. 2. Omit expressions that might annoy or distress your audience. 3. Respond promptly i. e. your mail etc. 4. Grant and apologize candidly. 5. Your body language should be courteous too. In normal situations people tend to behave courteously. However, in unpleasant circumstances they tend to act otherwise. They may lose their temper and become discourteous. In fact irritating situations are the test of courtesy. Business situations call for cool mindedness and courtesy. 8. Confidence: Your presentation and document will be more successful when you show confidence in yourself, confidence in your reader and confidence in your message. Words with an optimistic tone should be used for negative issues. Confidence in communication creates a positive tone documents and presentations;. 1. Show your reader that you are decisive, positive, confident and straightforward rather than dubious, indecisive and negative. 2. Believe in yourself 3. Prepare the content well 4. Focus on you grooming and dress 5. Coordinate well with your group 6. Rehearse at least once 7. Focus on your language skills 8. Keep a track of time management. 9. Avoid ‘I hope, I trust, if, why not’. To have confidence in your reader means that you assume the reader will do what is right until it is proved otherwise. You should give your reader the benefit of the doubt. Spend the time necessary in designing your communication so that the message accomplishes the business

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objectives. If you lack confidence, the following undesirable results will tend to occur. 1. You may find yourself unable to write or speak. 2. You may not represent your case strongly. 3. You may leave a bad impression, which will damage the goodwill of the firm. 9. Conversational Tone: It is important how you say a thing. Your letter should read as if you are talking to the reader. The tone should be comfortable, natural, conversational, unpretentious and inconspicuous. Business letters are not scholarly dissertations. Conversational tone makes the writer emphatic. You should avoid legalese and business jargons. To accomplish a conversational tone: i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi.

Vary your words. Adjust the level of formality according to your audience (How frank/free/formal/casual or informal should you be?) Use proper grammar. Be direct Keep the sentences and paragraphs small. Avoid vague expressions

Non-conversational tone will bring out the following results: 1. The language may become formal making communication ineffective and weak. 2. The readers or the audience may get bored and inattentive. ______________________________________________...