7 C's of Communication

What are the 7 C's of communication?

The 7 C's of communication is a checklist that helps to improve your professional communication skills and increases the chance that your message/what you are trying to say will be understood in exactly the same way as it was intended. Learning to communicate effectively can help in all areas of career planning, such as maintaining good relationships in the workplace, job searching including completing applications and making speculative approaches.

The 7 C's are: 

• Clear
• Correct
• Complete
• Concrete
• Concise
• Considered
• Courteous 

Let's have a look at each in more detail

Clear

Firstly, it’s important to be clear about the purpose of the message you’re delivering. The recipient should be made aware of why they are receiving the message and what you’re trying to achieve by delivering it. If there are multiple goals, each should be laid out separately. 

Secondly, it’s essential that the content of the communication is itself clear. You should avoid jargon, use simple language, use simple structures and focus on the core points of your message.

Clear message make use of exact, appropriate words. Especially at competency-based job interviews, you should follow the STAR method:

Situation: Describe the background or context

Task: Describe the task or challenge you were faced with

Action: Explain the action you took, and how and why you did it

Result: Describe how it ended, what you accomplished and what you learned from the situation

This is also great for when you are writing your CV and looking to add in some additional information to make yourself stand out.

Correct

Whether it's CV writing, answering questions in an interview or speaking to clients your message should be correct and factual, and the right language should be used, ensuring that there are no grammatical and spelling mistakes.  

Complete

The message you are trying to convey in your answers, CV or at your interview should be complete. It must include all the relevant information as required by the people you are talking to. The complete information gives answers to all the questions you have been asked and helps in better decision-making by the recipient.  

A complete communication should develop and enhance your reputation, give additional information wherever required and leave no questions in the mind of the people you are talking/writing to. 

Concrete

Implies being particular and clear with no room for misinterpretation. Concreteness should be supported with specific facts and figures. In an interview setting this would be using examples or case studies.  

Concise

The message should be precise and to the point. The sender should avoid lengthy sentences and try to convey the subject matter in the least possible words. Make sure your CV is short and to the point and during the interview process make sure you are answering the questions.  

Being concise highlights the main message as it avoids using excessive and needless words. Concise communication provides short and essential messaging and limits words to the audience.  

Consideration

Understand your audience; their opinions, knowledge, mindset, background, in order to have an effective communication. If you are applying for a role that is a specialist in renewable energy, mention how that fits in with your ethos – this can be done in both the cover letter and interview setting - relate to the target recipient’s viewpoint and mindset.  

Make an attempt to imagine your audience's requirements, emotions as well as problems. Modify your words and message to suit the audience’s needs. Show optimism towards your audience.

Courteous

Think about both the feelings and viewpoints of the person you are talking or writing to, ensuring that the message is positive and focused at the audience. The message should not be biased. 

It is also important to remember that your body language gives away a great deal of information that is not conveyed by speaking alone. It can reveal whether you are confident, goal-oriented, and focused – or indeed, whether you may actually be bored, insecure, or nervous.