Sketchnoting looks childish – can it really be used professionally?

This is the third article in my series of short pieces on common questions I receive when talking about Sketchnoting.

Sketchnotes are those hand drawn visuals which make use of a mix of words and simple pictures and graphics to convey ideas. They can be used to capture and share notes at conferences and meetings, to summarise detailed information or for planning and reflection. I have been Sketchnoting now for nearly 10 years and when I am Sketchnoting at an event people are always curious about what on earth I am doing and come to chat to me about it.  I have had many fascinating conversations with people about Sketchnoting, how it can be used and what the benefits are of using it. Most people are full of admiration, encouragement and want to have a go, but occasionally I come across someone who expresses their concern that Sketchnoting wouldn’t be seen as ‘professional’ in their organisation.

I am always intrigued by this – is it that their organisation really wouldn’t see a tool such as Sketchnoting as professional and if so, what does this say about the organisational culture? Or is it that Sketchnoting with its use of drawing and images and often colour doesn’t fit with that individuals’ perception of what it means to be a professional?  Does the playful nature of Sketchnoting sometimes seem too ‘childish’ to be compatible with professional work?

Superficially, Sketchnoting seems to be all about creating eye-catching and fun visuals, but for me the benefit of using Sketchnoting goes far beyond their immediate attractiveness. What is key to the value of Sketchnoting is the impact that using a well-designed visual has on the ease of understanding complex information and then in making this information memorable. Both of these qualities of visuals were identified by Allan Paivio, who wrote about how much more ‘computational efficient’ a visual is at making understandable complex information compared to written or spoken information. With a well-designed graphic you can take in the whole information at once, whereas you often have to read and re-read a written passage to connect up the information – this is known as ‘The Visual Argument’ (see image below).

The combination of words and visual also have the advantage of making use of dual coding, in that each of these is separately coded in the brain, but linked together, so that the memory is richer and easier to recall.
As professionals we need to be able to make sense of increasing amounts of information, weigh this up and apply it to our work rapidly. I think that any tool which can aid us to communicate complex information more efficiently and effectively and which also makes information and ideas easier to remember is worth a place in a professional toolkit. Sketchnoting does this, and more, so why not make use of it?

Rachel Burnham

4 October 2024

I help individuals and organisations to use visuals to think, learn and work more effectively, particularly though using Sketchnoting and drawing.

 

'I don't have time to Sketchnote!'

Rachel Burnham writes: 'I don’t have time to Sketchnote!’ - is one of the comments I get when I am encouraging people to make use of Sketchnoting.

If you haven’t come across the term ‘Sketchnoting’ before – it was coined by Mike Rohde and is the name for those graphics, which are often colourful and hand-drawn, that combine both words and pictures to share information and ideas.

I have been Sketchnoting for the past 8 years or so, initially to make notes for myself at conferences and presentations, but gradually I have realised what a flexible and effective ‘learning and thinking tool’ Sketchnoting is.

Yes, Sketchnoting often seems to take more time than conventional written-only note-taking – however, if you never refer back to those written notes and find it difficult to recall what you have written, then it is worthwhile investing in the time to develop your Sketchnoting skills.  Both myself and the very many people I have worked with have found that Sketchnotes are far more memorable and the active process of creating them means that you find the information easier to recall. I think this is because Sketchnoting, with its use of both words and simple pictures makes use of dual-coding. Dual-coding has been well-researched in many cognitive psychology studies and is well established as a practice in which the combination of visuals and words help to form rich memories, thus aiding recall and learning (listen to ‘The Learning Scientists Podcast’ episode 12 for a good introduction to dual-coding).

The length of time it takes to create a Sketchnote can vary tremendously depending upon how familiar you are with the material and also with Sketchnoting, plus what the purpose is of the Sketchnote. When Sketchnoting for yourself, you can create effective Sketchnotes in 30 to 60 minutes – as an experienced Sketchnoter I frequently Sketchnote live sessions in 30 to 45 minutes.

Secondly, the very fact that creating a Sketchnote is a relatively slow process is a strength.  As you draw, embellish and colour in elements of a Sketchnote, you relax and can find yourself thinking more deeply and also differently about the topic you are capturing.  By seeking out relevant images to illustrate points and using metaphors for this, you gain a different way of looking at the subject and may find yourself with fresh insights. By taking your time to consider the topic, you become able to reflect on it - I think this makes Sketchnoting (and drawing more widely) a useful tool for aiding reflection and contributing to learning in this way.

If you are interested in how Sketchnoting can help you, your team or your organisation learn, think or work more effectively I would be happy to discuss this with you.

Rachel Burnham

24 July 2024

I help individuals and organisations to use visuals to think, learn and work more effectively, particularly though using Sketchnoting and drawing.

8 Sketchnotes from the CIPD Festival of Work 12 & 13 June 2024

Rachel writes: I was at the CIPD's hashta#FestivalOfWork last week at Excel in London. And what a wonderful event it was - lots of people, lots of conversations - a vibrant and lively atmosphere. This event is now a free event and all the better for it. The new venue worked a treat for the larger number of participants- the exhibition and sessions were busy, but I never felt crowded. A great range of topics were on the agenda in the multiple stages - business transformation, learning & development, wellbeing, equalities, internal communications, ethics and so on. My only quibble is that most of the sessions were only 30 minutes in length - I would love to see some longer sessions, in addition to the keynotes, where topics are explored in greater depth.

I Sketchnoted 8 sessions over the course of the two days - here they are:

AI and Ethics

The first session I took part in was on the subject of 'The Ethical Implications of AI and Automation and was presented by James Proctor and Louise Johnston of Phase 3 - a Manchester based company. This was one of a number of sessions exploring different aspects of the use of AI in organisations and the changes that we are facing in our working lives.

This session brought out both some of the benefits, but also some key ethical issues to consider in using AI such as risks of bias, issues of transparency and trust, data privacy and concerns about job losses. James and Louise emphasised the value of people and AI working together - the copilot model. I particularly liked the phrase 'human in the loop' which is about designing in that it is always a person that makes the decisions, when using AI applications.

Fireside chat with Stacey Dooley 

One of the keynote session's was an informal chat with documentary maker Stacey Dooley who talked about allyship, gender equality, building relationships and mental health.

AI for L&D

Nelson Sivalingam was speaking about how AI can be used by L&D professionals. A quick survey of participants revealed that we felt AI was already having a big impact in our personal lives, but only a few of those L&D present felt it was having an impact so far on our organisational worklife. Nelson challenged us to raise our game with how we envisaged using AI in our L&D work, from the nearest small hill to a higher peak (not yet even in view) and to move our thinking beyond content creation and automation to a more strategic series of applications to focus on skills.

Have organisations already achieved equality in the workplace?

This was the challenging title of a challenging session led by Lutfur R. Ali.

Lutfur began by considering the future of Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion in the context of the backlash against EDI, what some of the reasons for this vocal backlash are and what the reality of EDI is in organisations. He encouraged us to work on 'developing a shared understanding' but also to simplify the language we use to ensure that it is understandable and accessible for managers throughout our organisations and doesn't act as a barrier to action for them. He challenged us to focus on 'Equality of outcome and impact' and recognise that organisational culture - particularly aspects such as wellbeing & psychological trust are vital and equality is not just about 'representational diversity'.

The Skills Agenda

This hashtag#Sketchnote picks out key points from the panel session 'Navigating the Future: The Skills Agenda and Why does it Matter?', which was chaired by @CIPD's Lizzie Crowley. The panel included: Claire Tunley, from the Financial Services Skills Commission; Liz Williams MBE from FutureDotNow; Tom Ravenscroft, Skills Builder Partnership; and Sonia Pawson, from West Yorkshire Fire Service.

I was particularly struck by the statistic shared by Liz Williams MBE that only 4 in 10 people are planning to upskill their digital skills this year. This seems astounding and shocking in equal measure, giving how fast things are developing in the field of technology. She cautioned us in developing our organisation's digital skills to focus more on where we are now and guided us to the framework for 20 key digital skills which can be accessed on the FutureDotNow website. This was a key takeaway from the event for me.

Green Skills and your workforce

This panel session explored the concept of jobs and skills to support sustainability and included consideration of a wider range of skills linked to the whole ESG (environmental, social and governance) agenda. My favourite advice from the session was about 'layering in new skills' rather than using the language of reskilling - and it gave me the perfect opportunity to draw a piece of layer cake!

Keynote with Dex Hunter-Torricke from Google Deep Mind

The afternoon keynote on the 2nd day of the CIPD Festival of Work last week, was from Dex Hunter-Torricke from Google Deep Mind. This session was a wide ranging walk through some of the challenges we are likely to be facing from the disruption caused by the adoption of AI in 'the intelligence revolution. He shared with us some of the scenarios about how AI could be used in very diverse fields and way the ripples from these changes may impact us socially. He talked about the need to be both BOLD and also RESPONSIBLE and the need for Renaissance leaders. We were challenged to disrupt ourselves and think simultaneously in terms of 6 months ahead and 10 years ahead.

Behaviour and Learning Change

In this session, Amy Brann, shared insights on the brain, learning and behaviour change. She discussed how our brains continue to develop and asked us 'What have you been myelinating recently?' A key point from this session for me, was to focus on reinforcing required new behaviours, when attempting to change behaviours.

Rachel Burnham

17 June 2024

I help individuals and organisations to use visuals to think, learn and work more effectively, particularly though using Sketchnoting and drawing.