Effective Communication Checklist

Effective communication is the best foundation of longterm and healthy relationships goals out there. Imagine a long distance husband and wife that has no constant communication–there is a big possibility that either one or both would be having unhealthy thoughts towards the other like one has a third party. Imagine a family with children that have already flown across the different parts of the world and that they do not anymore contact or visit their parents–the parents would definitely have no idea with what’s going on with their children’s lives despite that they totally deserve to know.

Simply put, the absence of an effective and constant communication as simple as this: miscommunication.

Miscommunication has ruined a lot of relationships out there. Friendships, familial, and romantic relationship’s main cause of breaking is that one or most of the time both parties have not been able to express what they want to express to the other party. Miscommunication can also be lethal and terribly dangerous to the point that it can already lead up to situations that are a matter of life and death. For example in the field of medicine, one single misunderstanding of the doctor’s instruction on the nurse in dealing with a patient in a critical conditional can lead to drastic and unfortunate results. Another example is the airline business. One misunderstood statement examples from the pilot to the main tower can lead to a worst case scenario such as a plane crash that might have a great number of casualties.

With all the possible things that could happen when as a result of miscommunication, there is a need to have a system in order to maintain and have a guideline on what how to effectively communicate in order to avoid any form of casualty; be it major or minor. Having an effective communication that dwells in every relationship and workplace would help in creating an environment that is conducive to learning as well as a foundation of trust.

At a glance, communication may seem to be easy but it can be sometimes difficult to maintain especially if both parties are not open for open communication and are not too proud to hear the other and different sides of the story. But to have a smooth sailing path towards effective communication, you can follow this checklist example that has seven points. Each point is often dubbed as the 7 C’s of Communication. The 7 C’s of Communication is what you should keep in mind when you really would want to aim for an effective and lasting communication.

Here is the checklist samples on how to achieve an effective communication in your relationship with other people and at your workplace:

1. Clear

Being clear in the way you communicate would reduce the possibility of having your messages misunderstood by the receiver. Clarity makes comprehension easier and it addresses your purpose of communicating with people a lot more easier to understand. The indications that your message is clear when the person you are communicating with would not think that there is a different meaning with the words you say, they would not be making assumptions on the meaning of your message, and that it does not take time for them to understand your message immediately.

2. Concise

Save yourself and the people you’re talking to some time and just be concise, and directly say what you mean to say. A concise message is void or falls short of verbose terms, filler words, and redundancy. Remember that less means more. The less unnecessary words you say, the more the person has understood your message.

3. Concrete

Concreteness means that your message is definite or specific. One indication that your message is not concrete is when the person you are communicating with finds you message too vague and that the words you say are too general to be understood. One way of having your message in a concrete manner is that you would be using fact and figures that are specific that the receiver of your communication would not any more ask any further questions about what you just said. Being concrete would improve your credibility especially if you are a veteran in giving out informative speeches. When a message is concrete, it creates a picture inside the minds of the receivers of communication. Another tip to make your message concrete is by using active verbs instead of passive and use analogies when you would compare one thing from the other. For example, when you are a news reporter and that you would deliver your news story, it is a rule in journalism to use active verbs so that the listeners or your news viewers would immediately understand your news story.

4. Correct

Imagine saying or writing a statement that has a lot of grammatical errors and that the essence of the contents of your statement is not accurate, and that are not based on facts– it’s unnerving, right? Correctness deals with the spelling, punctuation, grammar, and style. When all of these elements are correct, your message will be cohesive and understandable to your readers.

5. Considerate

This 5th C, considerate, puts out the element of feeling. There are four forms of communication. These are writing, speaking, reading, and listening. Now, no matter how good you are at writing, speaking, reading, and listening but if you do not feel the words you say write, speak, read, and listening, your abilities are good as pointless. When you communicate, you always have to be considerate of the feelings of the receiver of your message. You can always be frank with a person without having to damage his her feelings that would result to him or her losing his or her confidence in his or her self. There is always a way to express your opinions without being disrespectful of the opinions of other people. Imagine a person who would not be considerate of your feelings when they would talk to you– isn’t it disheartening? Now imagine that you are the one who is not considerate of other’s feelings when you would be communicating with them– would you want to dishearten a person? Sure, the world is not void of its negative aspects but you can always something negative without having to deliver it in an equally negative way.

6. Complete

If your message is complete, your expected response from the receiver of your message would actually happen. One obvious indication that your message is complete is when it would answer the 5 w’s– who, what, where, when, and why– and the 1 H that is the how. In short, if your message is complete of all the necessary information you want to relay, the receiver of your message would not any more ask further questions and that it would call your receiver to action.

7. Courteous

A courteous communication does not only mean that you have said the necessary and the famous “magic words ‘please’ and ‘thank you note‘ but a courteous communication would strengthen the relationship between you as the sender of the message and the receiver of your message which could be a family member, friend, or workmate. If your communication is courteous, you could even make friends and make current friendships stronger. A courteous message is tactful, thoughtful, and that it is void of any words or even nonverbal communication that would make the receiver of the message feel irritated and hurt.

A small change in the way people would communicate could do wonders. Effective communication makes this world a much better place to live in since it would induce peace and harmony among all the creatures dwelling in the earth. Communication does not have to be difficult. As long as you would have an open mind and heart in receiving new ideas and that you would follow the checklist of the 7 C’s to achieve an effective communication, you would not have many problems in achieving effective communication in your personal relationships with people and even in your workplace.