criteria of effective communication

1. CRITERIA OF EFFECTIVE
COMMUNICATION
G.V.DEEKSHIT
TVM2013/-37

2. INTRODUCTION:
Communication is an art and craft and it is a
matter of practice.
Constant and continuous communication practice
leads to more and more perfection.
It goes on improving through trial and error
method and gets a professional touch after a
prolonged effort.
First of all, words are extremely important
ingredient in effective communication.
Words are like flowers in a garland or like bricks in
a house . So, the selection, organization and
presentation of words are very significant.

3. For that there is no magic before us except the
occasional magic of ‘word power’.
That is to say that one should know lots of
idioms, phrases, proverbs, quotations ,
couplets etc. for appealing communication.
But, proper use of words, idioms, phrases,
proverbs, quotations, couplets etc. are even
more important than merely knowing them.
Secondly, for communication to be effective,
the 7 C’s of communication are extremely
important.i.e.

5.  Clarity
 Conciseness
 Continuity
 Correctness
 Commonness
 Credibility
 Completeness
 i]CLARITY : There should be conceptual and
linguistic clarity in our communication.
 For bringing about clarity, first of all, we should
ourselves understand the subject or theme
thoroughly.

6. “If we don’t understand something we can’t
simplify it. Moreover, the language should be
plain and simple and should be easily
understandable.
ii]Conciseness: Small is beautiful.So we should use
short words, short sentences, short paragraph
and the whole communication should be briefly,
shortly and concisely expressed.
But, it should not kill the gist or essence of the
communication. Moreover, it should care for
other aspects also like credibility, commonness
and completeness.

7. Thus, the communication should not be too long
or lengthy that it becomes dull and dismal and it
should not be too short or small that the
personality or identity of communication is lost.
iii]CONTINUITY: It means flow of communication
It indicates maintaining a link between first
sentence and second sentence, between second
sentence and third sentence, between one
paragraph and other paragraph.
Even if there is a break in the paragraph, there is
continuity assuming the fact that only the
direction of the idea is changing.
Maintaining continuity is not a child’s play. A lot
of practice is required.

8.  So, we should not use very long and peculiarly
unpopular or old-fashioned words which fail to
arrest our audience throughout the
communication.
So, being a professional, we should always look
up the dictionary and enrich our word power as
explained in the beginning.
iv] CORRECTNESS: It is equally important while
communicating.
 If our communication carries some wrong
information or is full of factual errors, then our
whole love labour will lost if our interpretation is
minute and analysis meticulous.

9.  For example, the king says leave him, don’t hang
him. Now let us play a little with commas. Just
put one comma after don’t and see the
remarkable difference.
Now the sentence says “ the king says leave him
don’t, hang him. Thus by inserting just one comma
after the don’t, the meaning of the sentence is
totally reversed.
V] COMMONNESS: It is the core of any
communication .
That is to say that communication will not take
place without commonness.
In fact, the word communication has been derived
from the latin word “communis” which means
commonness of understanding.

11. Thus communication will takes place only when
the frame of reference of both the source and
reciever is common.
So, while communicating, we must read the pulse
of the audience.
We must try to know the demographic and
psychographic profile of our audience.
Before any communication, we must raise the
question, “for whom we are communicating?”,
“what is our target audience? “what is the
interest, inclination , attitude, aptitude, mind-set
mentality of our audience?” In fact, knowledge of
the audience is more important than the
knowledge of the subject.

12. vi] CREDIBILITY: It is inevitable in any
communication.If we write thosands of excellent
articles, then our next article automatically
carries high level of credibility.
 That means the name is established and it is the
name that sells.
 Sources raise the credibility.On the other hand,
picture also adds to the credibility.Similarly
examples raise the credibility. Data,
chart,diagram,visualization etc. raise the
credibility of the message.
 Moreover,quotations, proverbs, couplets and
references raise the credibility. Credibility is also
dependent on clarity, conciseness, continuity,
correctness, etc.

13. vii] COMPLETENESS: An incomplete message
does not ring like a bell, even it is a 30 page
message.
o A complete message appeals to the mind and
heart even if it is a 60 seconds advertisement.
1. Completeness means covering almost all the
probable aspects of the issues undertaken for
analysis.

14. Thirdly, it is the body language,which is an integral part of effective
communication.
 Suppose we have to deliver a lecture, or a speech, then our physical
appearance, our dress, our hairstyle, and our body adjustment are very
important.
 Other than above elementary points, there are some golden rules for
effective communication These rules are following:
i] IF DOUBT CUT IT OUT: If we find anything doubtful in our written or oral
communication, then we must cut it out.
ii] DON’T BE I-SPECIALIST: Some of the speakers or the writers have got into
the undesirable habit of always using “I like” , “I think”, “I mean” , “I know”
etc. This style should be avoided in any communication as far as
possible.Let us not speak or write,I think.Since it is your speech, it is well
known to everybody that is your thought.
iii] BE A VORACIOUS RECIEVER [READER/LISTENER]: We must read a lot while
writing.We must listen a lot to good speeches before speaking.
Writing or speaking comes automatically.

15. iii] Think originally: many writers have a tendency
to think in their mother tongue and then translate
it into english or hindi.This leads to ascattered or
fractured or broken kind of speech.
iv] Check,cross-check and multicheck: While
communicating some inevitable points and issues
we are not very sure about the accuracy,
factuality and authenticity of that
communication, then we must check,cross-check
and multi-check it before bringing it into big
groups or masses.
Thus, these were some of the striking features
and golden rules for effective communication.

16. Effective Communicators
DO’s
• Reflects on what, where, when,
and how to
communicate .
• Adjusts communication style to
the developmental needs of
mentee.
• Respects the confidentiality of
the mentor-mentee relationship.
• Self-discloses one’s own
professional challenges.
• Models effective helping
relationship skills.
DON’t s
• Do not make the
conversation
autobiographical. It is not
about you!
• Do not ask for details that
are not needed to help.
• Do not give the solution –
try to get the person to find
their own solution.