Simple vs hard

It occurred to me that I mention often that something is hard. Cultural change at Barclays is hard. Forming a new habit can be hard - whether it's eating healthily, standing up at your desk or going to the gym.
But that's not to say that these things are not simple.
Simple is not the opposite of hard. But many people I have met seem to act as if it is.
Simple is the opposite of complex.
Hard is the opposite of easy.
Some of the things most worth striving for are simple. And they are also hard.
In business, complexity can kill. In one major Retail organisation I worked with, there was a major focus on simple. There were projects to simplify in-store processes, like shelf-ready packaging. There were Simpler Office projects, some of which I led. We had seminars on simple communication delivered by David Yelland, ex of the Sun. 
The CEO at the time recognised the importance of "Simple" in the context of a multi-site (>1,000 locations in the UK alone), large employer (>200,000 people) business...and conversely knew that complexity had to be actively worked on to be driven out of the business. His mantra was: Do or write something, then simplify it, then simplify again. When you've simplified it 10 times, then it is probably as Simple as you can get. Of course most people don't put the effort in...one or two rounds of simplification happen at most. And I'm sure the CEO knew that he would not get 10 rounds...however the act of asking for 10 meant that he would get 2 or 3 more often.
Conversely, I could give examples of where complexity ruins a fundamentally good idea. The most obvious one for me is the leisure business looking to introduce a new incentive scheme. A complex formula including an over-performance element was developed, scenarios run based on the last quarter's performance, everything checked and rolled out. One region manager looked pleased but kept quiet. At the end of the quarter when the bonuses were calculated, his bonus was larger than all the other (10) region managers put together. A critical element had been missed, because the formula was too complex.


There are a number of questions to ask to determine if your idea or writing is simple enough:

• would my grandmother understand this? 
• What about my 10-year old son? 
• Can I explain it to someone in the 30 seconds it takes to go up in an elevator?

The method I prefer is to simply try it out on colleagues or direct reports first. Get their input, ideas and feedback. Then do it again with others. Once you have done a few rounds, seriously challenging yourself at each go around, then go back to your original confidant again. There's nothing better than feedback that says: Aah, now I get it...much simpler than last time.

And if you do that, you will find more success in selling your ideas. Consider the runner-up in The Apprentice 2012, Nick. He failed to present what was a simple idea in a simple way, and you could argue that he lost because of it. OK, Lord Sugar may still not have gone for it as it wasn't in his realm of things he likes to do, but I suggest that a simple delivery would have massively increased Nick's chances. Lord Sugar - along with other business leaders and financiers - don't like ideas they can't get immediately. If they have to ask basic questions, then you haven't explained it right. Ricky (the winner) pitched a safe, one could say boring, idea, but in a clear and simple way, winning him the day.

How can a Simpler approach help you in your business?

PS One word of warning. Over-simplification also exists...but it's much rarer, and a subject for a future post.