Seven Communication Principles To compose effective message you need to apply certain specific communication principles.

They tie closely with the basic concepts of the communication process and are important for both written and oral communications. Called the seven Cs, they are: completeness, conciseness, consideration, concreteness, clarity, courtesy, and correctness. Completeness Your business message is "complete" when it contains all facts the reader or listener needs for the reaction you desire. Remember that communicators differ in their mental filters; they are influenced by their backgrounds, viewpoints, needs, attitudes, status, and emotions. Completeness is necessary for several reasons. First, complete messages are more likely to bring the desired results without the expense of additional messages. Second, they can do a better job of building goodwill. Third, they can help avert costly lawsuits that may result if important information is missing. As you strive for completeness, keep the following guidelines in mind: Answer all questions asked. Give something extra, when desirable. Check for the five W's and any other essentials. Conciseness A concise message saves time and expense for both sender and receiver. Conciseness is saying what you have to say in the fewest possible words without sacrificing the other C qualities. Conciseness contributes to emphasis. By eliminating unnecessary words, you help make important ideas stand out. To achieve conciseness try to observe the following suggestions: Eliminate wordy expressions. Include only relevant statements. Avoid unnecessary repetition. Consideration Consideration means that you prepare every message with the recipient in mind and try to put yourself in his or her place. Try to visualize your readers (or listeners)with their desires, problems, circumstances, emotions, and probable reactions to your request. Then handle the matter from their point of view. This thoughtful consideration is also called "you-attitude," empathy, the human touch, and understanding of human nature. (It does not mean, however, that you should overlook the needs of your organization.) In a broad but true sense, consideration underlies the other six C's of good business communication. You adapt your language and message content to your receiver's needs when you make your message complete, concise, concrete, clear, courteous, and correct.

However, in four specific ways you can indicate you are considerate: Focus on "you" instead of "I" and "we." Show reader benefit or interest in reader. Emphasize positive, pleasant facts. Apply integrity and ethic. Concreteness Communicating concretely means being specific, definite, and vivid rather than vague and general. The following guidelines should help you compose concrete, convincing messages: Use specific facts and figures. Put action in your verbs. Choose vivid, image-building words. Clarity Clarity means getting your message across so the receiver will understand what you are trying to convey. You want that person to interpret your words with the same meaning you have in mind. Accomplishing that goal is difficult because, as you know, individual experiences are never identical, and words have different meanings to different persons. Here are some specific ways to help make your messages clear: 1. Choose short, familiar, conversational words. 2. Construct effective sentences and paragraphs. 3. Achieve appropriate readability (and listenability). 4. Include examples, illustrations, and other visual aids, when desirable. Courtesy Courteous messages help to strengthen present business friendships, as well as make new friends. Courtesy stems from sincere you-attitude. It is not merely politeness with mechanical insertions of "please's" and "thank-you's." To be courteous, considerate communicators should follow these suggestions regarding tone of the communications. Be sincerely tactful, thoughtful, and appreciative. Omit expressions that irritate, hurt, or belittle. Grant and apologize good-naturedly. Correctness The correctness principle comprises more than proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling. A message may be perfect grammatically and mechanically but still insult or lose a customer and fail to achieve its purpose. The term correctness, as applied to a business message, means the writer should: Use the right level of language

 Include only accurate facts, words, and figures Maintain acceptable writing mechanics Choose nondiscriminatory expressions Apply all other pertinent C qualities 8 Steps to Higher Performance The following eight steps will help you and your employees interact in ways that make you work more efficiently and effectively. These steps will help you help your employees feel more motivated on the job and build the connection between their own interests and the interests of the organization. Step 1. Help Your Employees Stretch Take your employees above and beyond the status quo of just doing the same job the same way. Make their work challenging, and help them to see the big pictureand their part in it! Most people want to be better and more capable. But they may resist if they feel that higher expectations are being imposed on them. Make sure your employees know that you're simply trying to help them stretch and grow. You can do this by helping them set individual performance goals that exceed the existing requirements of their jobs. Further, if you explain how their work adds value to the organization and how what they do affects the work of others, they can figure out ways to improve. Step 2. Set Clear Standards What are the standards of performance for a particular job? Identify them and be specific about the outcomes that characterize outstanding performance and the outcomes that indicate unacceptable performance. Many people found it humorous when a legislator some years ago admitted that he couldn't define pornography, but claimed to be able to recognize it. How could he control something that he couldn't define? But that's the challenge you face as a manager: to improve performance, you've got to be able to define it. Again, invite discussion on this matter and listen carefully to what the employee has to say. Encourage each employee to establish his or her own parameters for measuring performance based on what he or she considers to be realistic. 3. Define the Scope of Responsibility for Employees Make sure everyone understands who is responsible for each job activity. When employees know their roles in relationship to those of others, this reduces confusion and gives them a better sense of how they might work with their fellow employees to meet their individual objectives. Step 4. Help Your Employees Buy into Higher Performance Standards Most employees want to have a role in raising their own performance expectations. The more

input an employee can provide about the job he or she is expected to perform, the more likely the employee is to buy into the new standards. Step 5. Document What You and Your Employees Agree On Develop a written list of performance standards for meeting and for exceeding the expectations you've agreed upon with your employees. Remember: you want your employees to continue to stretch, yet you must be sure they can attain those goals. Be specific about what it's going to take to reach the standards, In each area of job activities. Then, document those expectations. Give a copy of this document to each employee and keep one for yourself. Step 6. Decide on a Course of Action Once you've set standards, review the specific tasks of each person's job. Identify and discuss the areas in which each employee is skilled and qualified. Plan a course of delegation based on each employee's experience and competence. Thenand this is very importantlet each employee know that once he or she has started the project and gained more insight into the intricacies of the job, you're willing to revise these expectations as necessary. You'll still keep the goals challenging, but you'll make sure they're also realistic. By doing this, you provide a safe environment so that each-employee can be open and honest with you about successes and struggles along the way. In other words, you're sending out a big message that says, "It's OK to be human!" Step 7. Observe and Follow Up Take time to observe how things are going along the way. Don't wait until the end of the project to check in with your employees. Depending on each person's expertise and the complexity of the task being performed, follow up and observe the job being performed while it's in progress. Step 8. Be Clear about Rewards Let employees know what to expect if they meet or exceed the standards you've developed. Be clear up front about potential rewards. Let employees know what's in it for them. And plan for them to succeed. Sure, it may be less expensive for the organization if employees fall slightly short of your expectations, because you can save on rewards. But the smart manager knows that successeven if it entails certain expenses at firstbreeds success. 8 Qualities of Success Person 1. Desire The motivation to succeed comes from the burning desire to achieve a purpose. Napoleon Hill

wrote, "Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve." A burning desire is the starting point of all accomplishment. Just like a small fire cannot give much heat, a weak desire cannot produce great results. 2. Commitment Integrity and wisdom are the two pillars on which to build and keep commitments. This point is best illustrated by the manager who told one of his staff members, "Integrity is keeping your commitment even if you lose money and wisdom is not to make such foolish commitments." 3. Responsibility People with character accept responsibilities. They make decisions and determine their own destiny in life. Accepting responsibilities involves taking risks and being accountable which is sometimes uncomfortable. Most people would rather slay in their comfort zone and live passive lives without accepting responsibilities. They drill through life waiting for things to happen rather than making them happen. Accepting responsibilities involves taking calculated, not foolish, risks. It means evaluating all the pros and cons, then taking the most appropriate decision or action. Responsible people don't think that the world owes them a living. 4. Hard work Success is not something that you run into by accident. It takes a lot of preparation and character. Everyone likes to win but how many are willing to put in the effort and lime to prepare to win? It takes sacrifice and self-discipline. There is no substitute for hard work. One cannot develop a capacity to do anything without hard work, just as a person cannot learn how to spell by sitting on a dictionary. Professionals make things look easy because they have mastered the fundamentals of whatever they do. 5. Character Character is the sum total of a person's values, beliefs and personality. It is reflected in our behavior, in our actions. It needs to be preserved more than the richest jewel in the world. To be a winner takes character. George Washington said, "I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most valuable of all titles, the character of an honest man." It is not the polls or public opinions but the character of the leader that determines the course of history. There is no twilight zone in integrity. The road to success has many pitfalls. It takes a lot of character and effort not to fall into them. It also takes character not to be disheartened by critics. 6. Positive believing What is the difference between positive thinking and positive believing? What if you could actually listen to your thoughts? Are they positive or negative? How are you programming your mind, for success or failure? How you think has a profound effect on your performance. Positive believing is a lot more than positive thinking. It is having a reason to believe that positive thinking will work. Positive believing is an attitude of confidence that comes with preparation. Having a positive attitude without making the effort is nothing more than having a

wishful dream. The following illustrates positive believing. 7. The Power of persistence The journey to being your best is not easy. It is full of setbacks. Winners have the ability to overcome .mil bounce back with even greater resolve.Persistence means commitment and determination. There is pleasure in endurance. Commitment and persistence is a decision. Athletes put in years of practice for a few seconds or minutes of performance. Persistence is a decision. It is a commitment to finish what you start. When we are exhausted, quitting, looks good. But winners endure. Ask a winning athlete. He endures pain and finishes what he started. Lots of failures have begun well but have not concluded anything. Persistence comes from purpose. Life without purpose is drifting. A person who has no purpose will never persevere and will never be fulfilled. 8. Pride of performance In today's world, pride in performance has fallen by the wayside because it requires effort and hard work. However, nothing happens unless it is made to happen. When one is discouraged, it is easy to look for shortcuts. However these should be avoided no matter how great the temptation. Pride comes from within, which is what gives the winning edge. Pride of performance does not represent ego. It represents pleasure with humility. The quality of the work and the quality and the worker are inseparable. Half-hearted effort does not produce half results; it produces no results. Excellence comes when the performer takes pride in doing his best. Every job is a self-portrait of the person who does it, regardless of what the job is, whether washing cars, sweeping the floor or painting a house. Dealing with Different Personalities There are four major archetype of personalities: dominance, influence, steadiness, and conscientiousness style. Dominance Style People of the Dominance Style like to control their environment by overcoming opposition to accomplish desired results. They enjoy moving people around in their favor. They are direct, forceful, impatient, and opinionated. They enjoy being in charge, making decisions, solving problems, and getting things done. They tend to thrive on power, prestige, and authority, and they can be extremely demanding. They also fear being taken advantage of by losing control of a situation. When people of this style are negatively motivated, they can become defiant. They don't like being told what to do, and win lose challenges can be dangerous. They would quickly become bored with a routine that was basically the same from day to day, particularly if it didn't allow

them to make decisions that would hinder their desire to be in control. For example, giving them work that involves dealing with lots of detail would be tedious and demotivating for High D's. To create the right motivational environment for such people: - Be clear, direct, and to the point when you interact. - Avoid being too personal or talking too much about non-work items. - Let them know what you expect of them. If you must direct them, provide choices that give them the opportunity to make decisions to satisfy their need to be "in control. - Accept their need for variety and change. When possible, provide new challenges, as well as opportunities to direct the efforts of others. - The High D person is motivated by personal control through direct communication. Compliment them for results they achieve. - They are "bottom line" oriented. Ask them about their career plans and timetables for achieving success. Show how they can get results by helping you get results. Influence Style People with this style try to shape the environment by influencing or persuading others to see things their way. They really enjoy being involved with people and getting recognition for their accomplishments. They fear rejection or loss of social approval. They may have a dislike for handling complex details or working as "lone rangers". They prefer to deal with people rather than things. This highly social individual loves opportunities to verbalize thoughts, feelings, and ideas. So provide opportunities for them to do this when possible. When it's deserved, praise their work enthusiastically and publicly. When you negatively motivate people of this style, they can be indiscriminately impulsive. When this happens, they may speak first and think later with little regard for what they say and who might hear it. This can be in the form of complaining to no one in particular while hanging around the coffee pot. Because they want to be liked, being silent or tight-lipped with them will make them afraid you're rejecting them. Such people run well with new ideas. Take advantage of the strong communication skills that this style possesses by allowing them to be the liaison with other departments when there's a companywide initiative that suits their talents. They can also be among your best promoters for new ideas or for creating excitement for company social functions such as holiday parties. Because of their desire to be involved with other people and in different projects simultaneously, this style could benefit by receiving time and priority support from you as their coach. You'll need to communicate more with people of this style, and it'll often involve social

interaction. To that end: - Give them lots of your time. - Compliment them. - Ask about things going on in their lives outside of work. - Let them share with you their goals at work and elsewhere. - Link your objectives to their dreams and goals. Steadiness Style The Steadiness behavioral type focuses on cooperating with others to carry out the task. These people are very much team players and cooperative group workers. They take pride in being reliable and trustworthy employees. They tend to be patient, loyal, and resistant to sudden changes in their environment. They respond positively to group achievement recognition, sincere appreciation and predictable situations. When they get negatively motivated ? which is often caused by sudden, unplanned changes that they see as high risk ? they can become stubborn or stern, moods usually expressed in the form of passive resistance. This type of behavioral style responds very well to an atmosphere of cooperation rather than competition. Show sincere appreciation when it's earned. Communicate in an indirect, casual style. Recognize and praise contributions to the team. Schedule regular performance reviews. To create a positive climate for people using the Steadiness Style: - Acknowledge that their efforts help others. - Provide opportunities for them to cooperate with others on the team to achieve desired results. - Provide specific direction and offer assurances when necessary. - When implementing change, be sure to lay out a systematic, step-by-step procedure and draw out their concerns and worries about the situation. They need to feel secure. - Assure them that you've thought things through before initiating changes. Give them a plan to deal with problems when they occur. Conscientiousness Style This style emphasizes working conscientiously within existing circumstances to ensure quality and accuracy. People of this behavioral style appreciate opportunities for thorough, careful planning. They are critical thinkers who are sticklers for detail, They prefer to spend time analyzing a situation and, like the steadiness style, are slow to accept sudden changes. They like following procedures and standards- preferably their own. When they are negatively motivated they may become cynical or overly critical. They will normally respond well to logical, well-thought-out, planned options. Be realistic and avoid exaggeration in discussion with them. They respond favorably to exact descriptions and

performance objectives, scheduled performance appraisals, and specific feedback on their performance. Your conversations with them will take longer because they'll probably have several questions. They'll also want to verify the quality and reliability of information you give them. Even when given all the facts, they are inclined to analyze an issue and decide for themselves. Compliment them for the quality work they do, as well as he logical approach they take to doing it. One of their greatest fears is criticism of their work or efforts, provide them with: - Opportunities to demonstrate their expertise. - Plenty of details. - Enough time to prepare for meetings properly?especially if they have an item on the agenda to present. - Situations where their systematic approach will contribute to long-term success. Developing Active Listening Skills The ability to be an effective listener is too often taken for granted. We confuse hearing with listening. Hearing is merely picking up sound vibrations. Listening is making sense of what we hear. Listening requires paying attention, interpreting, and remembering sound stimuli. Active Versus Passive Listening Effective listening is active rather than passive. In passive listening, you're like a tape recorder. You absorb the information given. If the speaker provides you with a clear message and makes his or her delivery interesting enough to keep your attention, you'll probably get most of what the speaker is trying to communicate. But active listening requires you to "get inside" the speaker's head so you can understand the communication from his or her point of view. As you'll see, active listening is hard work. You have to concentrate, and you have to want to fully understand what a speaker is saying. Students who use active listening techniques for an entire fifty-minute lecture are as tired as their instructor when the lecture is over because they've put as much energy into listening as the instructor puts into speaking. There are four essential requirements for active listening: (1) intensity, (2) empathy, (3) acceptance, and (4) a willingness to take responsibility for completeness. The active listener concentrates intensely on what the speaker is saying and tunes out the thousands of miscellaneous thoughts (about money, sex, vacations, parties, friends, getting the car fixed, and the like) that create distractions. What do active listeners do with their idle brain time? They summarize and integrate what's been said! They put each new bit of information into the context of what's preceded it. Empathy requires you to put yourself in the speaker's shoes. You try to understand what the

speaker wants to communicate rather than what you want to understand. Notice that empathy demands both knowledge of the speaker and flexibility on your part. You need to suspend your own thoughts and feelings and adjust what you see and feel to your speaker's world. In that way you increase the likelihood that you'll interpret the message in the way the speaker intended. An active listener demonstrates acceptance. He or she listens objectively without judging content. This is no easy task. It's natural to be distracted by the content of what a speaker says, especially when we disagree with it. When we hear something we disagree with, we begin formulating our mental arguments to counter what is being said. Of course, in doing this we miss the rest of the message. The challenge for the active listener is to absorb what's being said and to withhold judgment o content until the speaker is finished. The final ingredient of active listening is taking responsibility for completeness. That is, the listener does whatever is necessary to get the full intended meaning from the speaker's communication. Two widely used active listening techniques to achieve this end are listening for feelings as well as for content and asking questions to ensure understanding. Developing Effective Active Listening Skills From a review of literature on active listening, we can identify eight specific behaviors that effective active listeners demonstrate. As you review these behaviors, as yourself whether these behaviors describe your listening practices. If you're not cu recently using these techniques, there's no better time than right now to begin developing them. Make Eye Contact. How do you feel when somebody doesn't look at you when you're speaking? If you're like most people, you're likely to interpret this as aloofness or disinterest. It's ironic that while "you listen with your ears, people judge whether you are listening by looking at your eyes." Making eye contact with the speaker focuses your attention, reduces the likelihood that you'll become distracted, an encourages the speaker. Exhibit Affirmative Nods and Appropriate Facial Expressions. The effective listener shows interest in what's being said. How? Through nonverbal signals. Affirmative nods and appropriate facial expressions that signal interest in what's being said, when added to eye contact, convey to the speaker that you're really listening. Avoid Distracting Actions or Gestures. The other side of showing interest avoiding actions that suggest that your mind is somewhere else. When listening don't look at your watch, shuffle papers, play with your pencil, or engage in similar distractions. They make the speaker feel that you're bored or uninterested. Further more, they indicate that you aren't fully attentive and might be missing part of the message that the speaker wants to convey. Ask Questions. The critical listener analyzes what he or she hears and asks quests. This behavior provides clarification, ensures understanding, and assures the speaker that you're listening. Paraphrase. Paraphrasing means restating in your own words what the speaker has said. The

effective listener uses phrases as "What I hear you saying is ..." or "Do you mean . . . ?" Why rephrase what's already been said? There are two reasons. First, it's an excellent control device to check on whether you're listening carefully. You can't paraphrase accurately if your mind is wandering or if you're thinking about what you're going to say next. Second, it's a control for accuracy. By rephrasing in your own words what the speaker has said and feeding it back to the speaker, you verify the accuracy of your understanding. Avoid Interrupting the Speaker. Let the speaker complete his or her thoughts before you try to respond. Don't try to second-guess where the speaker's thoughts are going. When the speaker is finished, you'll know it. Don't Overtalk. Most of us would rather speak our own ideas than listen to what someone else says. Too many of us listen only because it's the price we have to pay to get people to let us talk. While talking might be more fun and silence might be uncomfortable, you can't talk and listen at the same time. The good listener recognizes this fact and doesn't overtalk. Make Smooth Transitions Between the Roles of Speaker and Listener. As a student sitting in a classroom, you probably find it relatively easy to get into an effective listening frame of mind. Why? Because communication is essentially one-way; the instructor talks and you listen. But the instructor-student dyad is atypical. In most work situations, you're continually shifting back and forth between the roles of speaker and listener. The effective listener makes transitions smoothly from speaker to listener and back to speaker. From a listening perspective, this means concentrating on what a speaker has to say and practicing not thinking about what you're going to say as soon as you get a chance. Managing Conflict The ability to manage conflict is undoubtedly one of the most important interpersonal skills a manager needs. Over the years, three differing views have evolved regarding conflict in organizations. One view argues that conflict must be avoided, that it indicates a malfunctioning within the organization. We call this the traditional view of conflict. A second view, the human relations view of conflict, argues that conflict is a natural and inevitable outcome in any organization and that it need not be negative, but rather, has the potential to be a positive force in contributing to an organization's performance. The third and most recent perspective proposes not only that conflict can be a positive force in an organization, but also that some conflict is absolutely necessary for an organization to perform effectively. We label this third approach the interactionist view of conflict. Developing Effective Conflict Resolution Skills If conflict is dysfunctional, what can a manager do? In this article, we'll review conflict resolution skills. Essentially, you need to understand the situation that has created the conflict, and to be aware of your options.

Evaluate the Conflict Players. If you choose to manage a conflict situation, it's important that you take the time to get to know the players. Who's involved in the conflict? What interests does each party represent? What are each player's values, personality, feelings, and resources? Your chances of success in managing a conflict will be greatly enhanced if you can view the conflict situation through the eyes of the conflicting parties. Assess the Source of the Conflict. Conflicts don't just magically appear out of thin air. They have causes. Because your approach to resolving a conflict is likely to be determined largely by its causes, you need to determine the source of the conflict. Research indicates that while conflicts have varying causes, they can generally be separated into three categories: communication differences, structural differences, and personal differences. Communication differences are disagreements arising from semantic difficulties, misunderstandings, and noise in the communication channels. People are often quick to assume that most conflicts are caused by lack of communication, but, as one author has noted, there's usually plenty of communication going on in most conflicts. Organizations are horizontally and vertically differentiated. This structural differentiation creates problems of integration. The frequent result is conflicts. Individuals disagree over goals, decision alternatives, performance criteria, and resource allocations. These conflicts aren't due to poor communication or personal differences. Rather, they're rooted in the structure of the organization itself. The third conflict source is personal differences. Conflicts can evolve out of individual idiosyncrasies and personal value systems. The chemistry between some people makes it hard for them to work together. Factors such as background, education, experience, and training mold each individual into a unique personality with a particular set of values. The result is people who may be perceived by others as abrasive, untrustworthy, or strange. These personal differences can create conflict. Know Your Options. What resolution tools or techniques can a manager call on to reduce conflict when it's too high? Managers essentially can draw upon five conflict resolution options: avoidance, accommodation, forcing, compromise, and collaboration. Each has particular strengths and weaknesses, and no one option is ideal for every situation. You should consider each one a "tool" in your conflict management "tool chest." Although you might be better at using some tools than others, the skilled manager knows what each tool can do and when each is likely to be most effective. Avoidance As we noted earlier, not every conflict requires an assertive action. Sometimes avoidance?just withdrawing from or suppressing the conflict?is the best solution. When is avoidance a desirable strategy? It's most appropriate when the conflict is trivial, when emotions are running high and time is needed for the conflicting parties to cool down, or when the potential disruption from a more assertive action outweighs the benefits of resolution.

Accommodation The goal of accommodation is to maintain harmonious relationships by placing another's needs and concerns above your own. You might, for example, yield to another person's position on an issue. This option is most viable when the issue under dispute isn't that important to you or when you want to "build up credits" for later issues. Forcing In forcing, you attempt to satisfy your own needs at the expense of the other party. In organizations, this is most often illustrated by a manager using his or her formal authority to resolve a dispute. Forcing works well when you need a quick resolution on important issues where unpopular actions must be taken, and when commitment by others to your solution isn't crucial. Compromise A compromise requires each party to give up something of value. Typically this is the approach taken by management and labor in negotiating a new labor contract. Compromise can be an optimum strategy when conflicting parties are about equal in power, when it's desirable to achieve a temporary solution to a complex issue, or when time pressures demand an expedient solution. Collaboration Finally, collaboration is the ultimate win-win solution. All parties to the conflict seek to satisfy their interests. It's typically characterized by open and honest discussion among the parties, active listening to understand differences, and careful deliberation over a full range of alternatives to find a solution that's advantageous to all. When is collaboration the best conflict option? When time pressures are minimal, when all parties seriously want a win-win solution, and when the issue is too important to be compromised.