7 Key Elements of Effective Communication

The game of telephone can teach us an important lesson

The game of telephone is familiar to many of us because it has been around for years. There are some most important life lessons we can learn from this game that we learned early in life.

The game of telephone is still popular because it can be played at any age in any situation: school, parties, or family fun night. It shows how many nuances there are to communication, and little misconceptions can make a big difference. The game is fun for us because it helps us generate laughs and teaches an important lesson we forget.

Communication is hard.

The information you receive via word of mouth, via writing, or via videos is not always accurate. There are lot of messages that are incorrect, especially with the advent of social media.

“Learning to doubt is learning to think.” — Octavio Paz, a Mexican poet and diplomat

We spend almost our entire day communicating, so how can we improve our communication skills to boost our productivity and deepen our professional and personal relationships? There are seven Cs of communication that can help you with the foundation for effective communication.

Effective communication is critical for professional and personal success. Top performers understand the importance of great communication in meetings, via emails, on conference calls, written in blog posts, and given via presentations. If used correctly, powerful communication can make you more successful.

Let’s discuss the seven key elements of effective communication.

1. Concise

Concise communication is to the point and brief. Your audience doesn’t want to read 10 sentences when they could read 2 sentences. Eliminate filler words like definitely, always, basically, literally, and honestly.

• Have you repeated your opinion or point of view several times in different ways?
• Do you have unnecessary sentences that don’t add value to your story?
• Are you communicating irrelevant or redundant information?

Being concise is about the depth and breadth of your message rather than it’s length. Concise information helps your audience focus on what’s important, speeds up the processing of information, and increases understanding.

2. Clear

When you communicate, it’s important to be clear about your goals and messages. What’s your purpose for this communication? If you don’t know, your audience won’t know.

To be clear, minimize the number of ideas you are trying to communicate. Use an analogy to make a complex concept simple to understand. Don’t make your audience read between the lines and make assumptions on their own of what you are trying to say.

Most communication pitfalls happen when you are vague and not specific. Clear communication is built on agreed terminology and concrete words that reduce confusion. Clarity and simplicity are interwoven.

The problem with communication is we often think we are saying something we are not. We have the message in our heads. Yet, it’s not written on the page or being said in words.

Remind yourself that you need to communicate like you are seeing it for the first time. Your stories and ideas should be crystal clear, so your audience could accurately share the story with someone else. If you gave your audience a test after they talked to you, could they pass?

3. Complete

A complete message is when your audience has everything they need to be informed about a topic. You told them an anecdote or back story to offer them more context. If you require your audience to take an action, ensure your call to action is clear and you communicate the urgency.

Incomplete messages require back and forth, and they waste everyone’s time and effort. Complete communication includes relevant information such as names, dates, times, locations, and any other details to help with your story. Your messages shouldn’t be sloppy or negligent, which causes a negative impression of your communication. Be thorough.

4. Confident

To be effective with your communication, you need to be confident in your messages. Not cocky where you are conceited or arrogant, but sure of yourself where you are bold, hopeful, and positive. You need to get your audience to believe in your messages.

The only way to be confident with your communication is to really know what you are talking or writing about. Do your homework, research, and ask yourself potential questions that others may ask. Know your stuff so you are satisfied that you can be confident answering tough questions about a topic.

A confident message is correct without grammatical errors. It is a concrete message that is specific, tangible, and vivid. It’s supported by facts and figures, so you feel confident in what you are saying and writing about.

5. Considerate

Functional communication is open, honest, and friendly. There are no hidden agendas or passive-aggressive tones. You keep your audience’s viewpoint in mind and show them empathy.

Courtesy means respecting the audience’s point of view and their background of values and beliefs. Don’t judge their opinion. Craft a message that is genuinely polite and as unbiased as possible.

You don’t get over emotional with your message that the audience perceives your message in a negative light. You tailor your message in a way that applies to their experience and background, so it’s easier for them to process your communication. You are thoughtful, patient, and helpful with your communication.

6. Charismatic

Charismatic communication is about being charming, fascinating, and magnetic. It’s about your personality. Charismatic is about being skilled about communicating on a deep and emotional level.

When you are charismatic, you can articulate a compelling and captivating message. Everyone has charisma, you just need to bring it to the forefront. The best way to be charismatic is to know what you are trying to communicate and having conviction with your story.

Charismatic is about building good body language skills. We communicate with non-verbal signals as much as we do with our verbal communication. With writing, there’s no opportunity to show your body language, so your charisma must jump off the page with your personality.

7. Check

Check is all about feedback and keeping the feedback loop open. Checking with your audience helps you make sure your messages are communicated in the way you want them to be. Feedback is a crucial aspect of communications because it helps you evaluate and respond to how your audience receives your communication.

Feedback is at the heart of effective communication because it enables testing and analyzing the effectiveness of your messages. Giving and receiving feedback is a critical part of good communication. It’s important to check your understanding of your audience and how well your messages are resonating.

Bringing It All Together

It’s always the simple things that are complex. Communication is one of those things: it’s sharing and conveying information. It sounds so easy, but it’s difficult to implement.

The game of telephone reminds you how quickly a message can be changed into something completely different and how quickly communication can become ineffective. By following these seven elements of effective communication, you can avoid the game of telephone where your messages get changed, diluted, and misunderstood.

On a professional and personal level, we need to be mindful of how we communicate and monitor what is being said about us, so we can correct it before misinformation spreads.

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