If you ever want to explain the rules of something to someone in a way that will make them stick, you absolutely cannot just start with the rules themselves.
The first thing you need to do is give the context. Then you can provide the goal. And only then can you start working through the rules.
I’ve seen middle-school principals welcome a whole new crop of fifth-graders by just listing rules, and even the kids that would actually care can’t even process what’s happening. If you start a conversation with “Whenever you’re moving between classes, you always need to take the right-most hallway,” you will get absolutely zero retention when you’re done.
Start with the context: “Welcome everyone! This school can get pretty crowded, especially when the bell rings and we’re changing classes. It’s easy to get lost and even easier for everyone to get in everyone else’s way. We don’t want it to turn into Black Friday at Wal-Mart in here, so we’re going to talk a bit about safe movement.”
Then give the goal: “We want to make sure, when the bell rings, that everyone can get where they need to go. That means sometimes you may have to do things that seem strange from the perspective of just going from Point A to Point B by yourself, but it’s designed to make sure we all get where we’re going safely and also keep things from becoming a huge mess. We have a few rules and if you follow them, everyone will be able to move around these halls.”
Now, you can start listing rules. You’ve explained why they exist and what they’re meant to do. You’ve gotten some buy-in and given people time to form a mental “box” in which to put those rules; something to connect them to.
Now they’ll stick.
Context – Goal – Rules. Follow that order and explaining things, especially to a large group of people, will be miraculously easier.
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