When it comes to leading your team effectively, communication is everything. How else will you move together from where you are now to where you need to be? While diversity in the workplace can reap countless benefits, one factor you’ll need to navigate is the potential language barriers that could emerge between you and your colleagues. In this post, we’ll talk about how you can use visuals to transcend language barriers!
It’s simply not enough to hope that your staff understands their goals; it’s your job to guarantee that everyone stays on track. This new post on our Day Translations blog will discuss how to transcend these barriers using visual aids and a few tried-and-true techniques.
We’ll start with some general concepts and then get into specifics.
A Note on Information Processing
The jury is still out on precisely how each individual learns best. What is well established, however, is that most groups of people are likely to contain a broad variety of different “learning styles.” It’s essential to keep this in mind when communicating with your team.
Could you include a handout with simple diagrams to supplement your presentation? Could you record yourself in a video to include in an important email? Is there a specific image that could help to hammer your point home?
Managing a diverse team means learning to communicate diversely! Try to include as many “ways into” your information as possible.
A Note on Cognitive Overload
Not to contradict ourselves before we’re even out of the gate, but cognitive overload is a genuine concern that can grind your productivity to a halt. It’s not about inundating your team with pictures and pie charts; it’s about striking a balance between variety and excess.
Holistic yet efficient is a good ethos to aim for.
Get to Grips with Graphics before Trying to Use Visuals to Transcend Language Barriers
When learning to communicate visually, it’s critical that you make the best possible use of each graphic you employ. In essence, your goal should be to:
- Identify precisely what you’re trying to communicate.
- Formulate written and visual elements that get your message across.
- Combine these elements synergistically.
Every graph, image, and arrow you include should augment your message rather than distract from it. If you use the above concept as a guiding principle, you should be well on your way to success.
Graphic Facilitation
Graphic facilitation is a form of minute taking that can help boost your team’s retention of information during a meeting. As one person holds a group meeting, your graphic facilitator will take notes of what everyone is contributing.
The notes are highly visual in nature and are designed to help your staff keep track of the conversation without getting bogged down or distracted. Hiring or retraining a staff member who can graphically facilitate meetings could be the communication catalyst you’ve been looking for.
Graphs that Lend Clarity, Not Confusion
Graphs are perhaps the most common way to visualize your critical data. We’re not here to tell you that this is a bad idea, but it is worth being selective about what you include.
The more you add to your pie chart designs and other media, the less likely it is that any of the information you’re trying to communicate will get through.
Over time, aim to develop a consistent design language for the visual aids you employ. Could you use one specific color for time-sensitive information, one for general data, and another for projections?
Consistency and clarity count for more than you might expect. Check out this helpful guide from the folks at Canva if you’re interested in creating graphs that are simple yet effective:
How to Create Graphs and Charts in Canva | New feature
Use Visuals to Transcend Language Barriers with Relevant Images
If you’re presenting information to your team – or even writing to them in an email – it’s worth considering which images may help or hinder you. While you should also find verified email addresses for outreach (before sending your outreach emails, ensure the addresses are valid by checking them with email validations in javascript) and take security measures, visuals are a great addition to your overall success.
Think in as much detail as possible about what’s likely to help your specific team. Every staff pool is different; it’s your job to learn how to get through to your company loud and clear.
Diagrams highlighting the specific buttons a staff member should press, clear images of office areas, and illustrations that employ numbers and arrows are just some examples of how you can get through to your employees.
Reflect on your own company’s circumstances and craft images that fit your approach. Don’t forget that there are many AI image-generation tools that can help you generate gorgeous images in seconds nowadays.
Finally, remember to use clear and high-quality images. Artifacts can mess up images and make your presentation look messy!
When Presenting, Follow These Simple Rules
Digital presentations are perhaps the most common tool used by managers to communicate visually with their staff. Most leaders are familiar with how to add a graph or two, but many fail to realize just how important it is to get your presentations right.
A poorly constructed presentation can actually add more confusion than clarity.
The guidelines we explore below are based on this fantastic paper from Kristen M. Naegle. They cover both the visual and textual elements of your slides.
Keep in mind that even guidelines that aren’t specifically about your graphics can still help to make your visual elements all the brighter.
One Idea Per Slide
This might seem extreme, but it can reap serious results. Try to boil each slide down to one guiding point as much as possible. This can help you to stay focused on creating presentations that convey your messages efficiently.
If you find that you’re often struggling to cut out elements from your slides, you might need to reconsider your messaging.
How can your visual elements further drive home each point that your slides make?
Don’t Linger on Any One Slide
If all of your slides take about two minutes to present apart from one mega slide, you probably haven’t distributed your points effectively across the entire presentation.
Remember the “one point per slide” rule above. Why is it taking so long to get through that one particular slide? Would your audience be better served if you split it into multiple new slides that effectively communicate your ideas?
Could you say it better with an image? A diagram? Try to keep the pace of your presentation steady and smooth.
Your Headings Matter
Get straight to the point with the headings you’re using. If you’re sticking to the “one point per slide” rule, this should make it much more straightforward what you should be saying here. Avoid verbose language and opt for headings with a punch.
Consider the examples below:
Example one:
Understanding Rising Overheads by Considering the 21% Increase in Inventory Costs, 11% Increase in Staff Wages, and 15% Increase in Energy Bills.
VS
Example two:
Costs are Rising.
Imagine example two accompanied by a clear graph that shows the relevant cost increases. Which heading do you think would work best?
Avoid Text-Only Slides
If overcoming language barriers is a priority for you as a leader, text-only slides are best avoided. As with the examples we gave above, consider how you can get your point across visually. This may prove challenging at first. Over time, however, you’ll get a good feel for which approaches work best for your team.
Avoid Cognitive Overload
We covered cognitive overload at the top of this article. In essence, it’s about providing your staff with information that they’ll actually be able to process. If you inundate them with too much, and too soon, they’re far less likely to remember anything at all.
Constantly Improve Your Slides
Your approach to presentations should be an iterative process. Notice that something didn’t work? Remove it. Did something connect brilliantly? See how you can implement it throughout each slide. The more presentations you do, the better you’ll become at them!
Get Smart About Your Images if You Want to Use Visuals to Transcend Language Barriers
When communicating visually, it’s essential to keep things as clear and precise as possible. The most effective logos in the world are those that don’t rely too heavily on text. Even those that do have text use an iconic font that can be utilized in multiple languages! You can even use a font generator for that.
We explore a few suggestions below for how you can make sure you’re on the right track. They’re not hard-and-fast rules, but they can be helpful guidelines.
Reiterate
This principle can be especially useful in email correspondence and company memos. Once you’ve outlined your message in writing, think about how your visual elements can reiterate what you’ve already said.
If members of your team have only partly understood what you’ve written, these reiterative images can help to “fill in the gaps.”
Clarify
Look through what you’ve written and identify any areas that could be ambiguous or unclear. How can your images cut through this confusion?
An arrow pointing to the relevant part of your company’s software? A circle highlighting which button staff members could press? The choice is yours – use your common sense here.
Represent
Some examples of visual representation might include a diagram of your building’s fire escape route or a picture of a staff member wearing appropriate office attire with a green tick next to it. It’s all about saying what you want to say without using any words at all.
Clarify Without Coddling
This one can take some trial and error, but it’s essential that your team doesn’t feel patronized by your efforts.
Remember that a language barrier isn’t an indication of someone’s intelligence. Mutual respect should be a guiding principle here.
Using Visuals to Transcend Language Barriers – Conclusion
We hope you’ve found the suggestions above helpful. For best results, getting to know your team is critical. Learn how to meet them at their level with respect and understanding. This will make the techniques above all the more compelling!
Author Bio
Shabbir Noor is a photographer, blogger, and language learning enthusiast at OneYearWithFilmOnly.com. When he doesn’t have a camera glued to his face, you can find him memorizing some vocabulary!