KISS Your Complicated Communications Good-bye! (2024)

Have your communications ever “KISSed” someone? If they did, they’d know it. The KISS principle, “Keep it Simple Stupid”, is a design principle first developed by the Navy in 1960 as a philosophy that most systems work best if they are kept simple rather than made complicated.This same principle should be applied when it comes to developing your communications.

Corporate communications most times feel like you need a corporate language dictionary and an acronym guide to decipher the message being conveyed. Leaders in communications are smart, but they don't need to reaffirm this by dragging out their speech and using terms that leave you confused, annoyed, and wondering what the hell they are trying to say to you.

Communications play such a vital role in all companies no matter what size they are. It’s how management and employees have a relationship with each other marching toward the same strategic goals. It’s how executives inform investors, the media, and the general public about important organizational developments but what is the point if you don’t have people reading them?

So, what's the purpose of communication anyway?

If we go for a traditional definition, it's a two-way process of reaching mutual understanding. It's a key function in any organization and none can operate without it. Be it communication between employees, departments with key business partners, and especially with customers. It plays a role in your company culture, in sales and marketing, and even in product development because your product should match an actual need and unless you have a product-market fit, the likelihood of it becoming a success is highly diminished.

So, how do you KISS your communications?

You should be able to explain your goal, their goal, and the whys within a few sentences. When I am communicating with someone, I always try to find the most simplistic form to convey my message. It doesn't mean I think they are stupid and incapable of comprehending what I am saying, it means I want them to fully grasp what and why I am saying it.

• Find Your Weekend Voice – “It’s not what you say, but how you say it.” Focus on the tone of your communication. You want to communicate straight to the reader’s face and not over their heads. How do you speak to your friends or family when you are not at work? Do you use corporate jargon and acronyms? Of course not. Use that voice in your head and use it to craft your messages.
• Be Direct – Have a clear message that doesn’t get lost. An informed audience is an engaged audience. You don’t overload people with more information than they can handle. Give them the bad news as well as the good, delivered straight-up, without sugar-coating, and with proper explanatory context. These things alone will go a long way to building trust and your audience giving you their support.
• Be Consistent - Align messages delivered with one voice, the same voice every time!
• Be Informative - Provide perspective as well as convey facts, giving audiences insight, orientation, and understanding of the broader context, the reasons behind decisions.
• Be Audience-appropriate -Use the right language for the intended audience; using simple, plainspoken language free of jargon and overly technical terms translates well especially when you have a global audience.

If you “Keep it Simple Stupid”, to speak, or write, like a person, not a bureaucrat or a paid mouthpiece, then you will have an audience that not only respects you…they will trust you.