"KISS" is the golden rule!
A fundamental principle in communication.
Sometimes when I listen to an individual talking, I wonder what he or she is saying. Either they use too much jargon that is typical to their trade, or the structure of their sentences makes no sense to me.
I remember reading somewhere: “The one who can’t explain it, is at the same level as the one who doesn’t know it!”
To my way of thinking, the KISS principle is fundamental in communication, as it requires you to fully understand what you are talking about. You also need to be clear and structured in your communication. To me, structured means adapted to the person to whom you are talking.
Albert Einstein said: “If you can’t explain it to a six-year old child, you do not understand it yourself.”
Keep it simple, stupid or keep it simple and short (KISS) is a golden rule when you explain a process, policies, an action plan or anything which needs to be understood by another person.
One way to help with this is to use pictures and images. People understand better if they can visualise.
In general, in order to fully understand something, people need to relate to the subject. An effective way can be “story telling”. This is a modern tool to capture the audience’s attention.
Another way to make sure people have understood what you were talking about is to ask them to repeat what you said in their own words.
Do not be afraid to ask people if they understood what you were talking about. It is worse to ask nothing and to expect people to act on something they do not really understand.
Keep it simple and short/straightforward is not easy, as you have to translate your knowledge into a language and explanation that is clear and logical to the other person.
“Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication” – Leonardo da Vinci
Try to apply the KISS principle in your interaction with others and you will see that more people will enter into a conversation with you, your instructions will be followed more often and you will not need to provide multiple explanations.
Children, by the way, are a very good audience on which to practise the KISS principle.
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