Find the Next Steps: Using the KISS Principle to Achieve Continuous Improvement

Are your processes falling short of your goals? Figure out why with four simple questions!

This post was first published on my Medium blog—follow me there for the most up-to-date entries!

In my efforts toward constant improvement, one of the most powerful tools I’ve found is the KISS principle. With nothing but four insightful questions, I can find the next steps to augment my strengths and strengthen my weaknesses. I’ve helped my clients to do it for themselves each week, and in this short post, I can help you too.

Surely you’ve heard yourself say, “Well, if I’d known then what I know now…” Or maybe it is, “Oh, if I had it to do over again, I’d…” Or perhaps you’ve said, “Yep, that was a big lesson learned.” Whether you realize it or not, you’re starting to use the KISS principle.

What is the KISS principle?

I heard about the KISS principle from my coach, Michael Hyatt, and quickly discovered that it wasn’t what I thought it was. It wasn’t the popular “keep it simple, stupid.” It was something entirely different. It’s keep, improve, start, stop.

The KISS principle is the genius of Phillip B. Daniels, a psychology professor who taught at Brigham Young University from 1962 to 1979. It’s a simple framework, but not at all simplistic. After learning of its existence, I started wondering: How can this help me? Would it be just another neat trick in my toolbox, or would it actually help me find the next steps and move me to a higher level of functioning?

I cannot locate any published work from Professor Daniels that specifically spells out the specifics of the KISS. So here is my interpretation of the principles.

Keep

What will I keep doing? If it’s an activity or tactic that’s working well, it should be recognized and continued. (Recognition might even open the door to giving ourselves a reward!)

We’re all doing something worthwhile, even if we have to make an effort to count our wins. We’re all growing as individuals, or growing our families, or growing our businesses. So what is it we’re doing that’s helping us to achieve our goals?

To identify what to keep, start by reviewing your goal or your projects. What contributed to your goal achievement? Specifically,

What method, technique, or habit best contributed to your outcome?
What parts of the experience moved you forward, adding to your sense of capability and confidence?

If all that feels like more than you want to grapple with, ask yourself one simple question about the process of your successful outcome:

What gave me joy?

Improve

What kinda-sorta more or less worked, but could benefit from modifications? What needs to be substantially adjusted, or maybe just fine-tuned or tweaked a little as we find the next steps?

Let’s say I’ve just completed a project. I might consider setting up the tasks in a different order, or scheduling them to be completed on a faster or slower schedule. Or, I might want to change the assignee, the date we offered a free webinar or launched a paid course, or some other detail of the decision that would improve efficiency, financial return, or job satisfaction. These are good examples of how, in general, something may have “worked” but need to be improved.

Let’s say it’s a decision I’ve made. It wasn’t a bad decision. On the whole, it was a good decision. But there were some lumpy-bumpy moments along the way. I had information available to me, but I didn’t look at it. Or, I used the information, but I waited too long to take my first action step.

Maybe it’s a problem I tried to solve. And, indeed, I solved it. But I solved it using more time, money, or energy than necessary, and I realized in retrospect that I could have taken an easier or more direct approach. Maybe I didn’t correctly define the problem in the first place.

Stop

What just plain didn’t work? Or it worked, but I was so miserable in making it happen that it just wasn’t worth the blood and sweat and tears (and probably, money) I spent to make it happen?

Maybe it just was a bad decision. By that I might mean it bombed so badly this first time that I just can’t bring myself to try it again. Or maybe the decision didn’t completely bomb the first time, but after multiple attempts and improvements, it just never moved the dial for the company. Okay, I gave it a fair chance, but no, I’m not making that mistake again.

Maybe it’s something that’s sucking time, money, or energy, but isn’t helping to achieve our vision for a better life (or a better business, or a better relationship). Similarly, it could be something that’s only marginally effective, or something that should be replaced by something that’s better.

Start

What have I never tried? Maybe I just never thought of it before. Or maybe I thought of it, but I was lacking the money, the technology or the time — or any other resource — that I now have. And hey! I just want to give it a try.

What’s something I haven’t tried (or perhaps tried for only a short period of time)? Or perhaps I identify gaps in our performance and realize that a new activity or habit or tactic could fill that gap.

When should I use KISS?

I use the KISS principle every time I’m trying to find the next steps for my business, my personal life, or anything else that matters to me. Since the onset of Covid, I’ve used the KISS principle on a regular basis: daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly. I like to write at least a little bit of the KISS, or in some instances, maybe a lot.

Daily: As I tackle my work shutdown routine each weekday, I do a mini-KISS. I write at least one “win” in the designated space of my Full Focus Planner. (I do that in more depth in my Full Focus Journal as I do my evening routine.) It takes only a few seconds to write that win. Then, I write down one component of the KISS that stands out in my mind about why that was a win. Very often, it’s the “improve” component — and you know I’m big on getting 1% better every day!

Weekly: At the end of each work week, I identify five wins. (They may be personal or professional.) This sets me up for my weekly review; from there, I can use the KISS to help me to make progress in growing myself or growing my business in the upcoming week. I help my clients in my small group to do this each week, too.

Monthly, Quarterly: I admit, I don’t do much of a KISS at the end of the month, unless it was a heavy-duty month. But I complete a thorough KISS at the end of each quarter. I do my own privately, but I also conduct a quarterly planning session where I ask participants to KISS their quarter.

Yearly: This is a big effort. I review my annual goals and ask the higher-level questions about what to keep, improve, start, or stop.

Other times: Sometimes, an event sparks my need for a KISS. For example, yesterday, I had an important meeting with a client and his team. In the evening, I sat down and did a KISS. Here’s another example. Each time my team completes a major project or a major marketing campaign, the team and I do a KISS. (Yes, it’s important to KISS as a team if it was a team effort.)

Why should I use KISS?

The KISS process helps us to analyze the activities of our day (or week, or special campaign, or anything else) with four simple questions.

At the most foundational level, the KISS is almost always about

ordering, building, organizing a project, program, or event (structure),
decision-making (process),
problem-solving (process), and/or
goal-achievement (outcome).

KISS is about feedback — it’s a way to get us to provide feedback to ourselves. Dr. Maxwell Maltz likens human success to a torpedo. When it’s fired, it’s aimed at the target, but it naturally goes off course a bit — to get it back on target, we need to receive and use feedback.

KISS helps us to know what our next steps are in goal achievement, which is especially important when you’re focused on achieving high leverage goals. It can help us recognize the strengths and weaknesses of what we’ve already done and find the next steps.

“KISS” your way to constant improvement

I think of KISS as the ultimate way to:

do more of what’s working,
improve what I’m doing,
stop doing what’s not working (just asking myself about “stop” helps me to recognize what’s not working), and
push myself to realize that there are efforts I could explore that might work.

It can be difficult to make sense of everything that swirls around the activities, interactions, projects, and experiences of my business. Looking at it through the structured lens of KISS helps me to make sense of it and find my next steps. When I work with a team on a KISS, my follow-up question is always: So what are our next steps for this?

Doing a KISS takes some reflection and introspection. But trust me, it’s worth it. Otherwise, you just keep doing what you’ve been doing, and that’s not effective in helping you to grow yourself or grow your business. Aiming your torpedo once isn’t enough — use the KISS principle to get the feedback you need to keep you on course.

Interested in continuous improvement and growing your business? Join me every week in my Friday Accountability Group!