Using Cartoons to Optimize Communication
Surely you can’t be serious
I Am Serious… And Don’t Call Me Shirley.
If you saw the movie Airplane, released in 1980, you remember these lines. You probably can even recall the scene, the characters and even the expression on Leslie Nielsen’s character’s face–even after more than 38 years.
You remember because this line was unexpected and grabbed your attention, you also remember because the line presented a puzzle that required your brain to engage to resolve “surely” versus “Shirley”.
If you did not see the movie, then you should add it to your list.
The features of this line illustrate the benefits of using cartoons to optimize digital transformation communications.
But, use cartoons? Aren’t they just for kids?
Cartoons: Not Just For Kids
You may be skeptical of using something that is widely viewed as a kid’s media to drive something as serious as transforming an enterprise.
And, for most cartoons, I could agree. But a well-designed transformation cartoon is created to effectively communicate a transformation vision, principle, trend or challenge—not to amuse kids.
In fact, originally the word cartoon had nothing to do with kids. According to Merriam-Webster, the first definition for the word cartoon is: “A preparatory design, drawing, or painting (as for a fresco).”
So, for example, Leonardo da Vinci would have drawn a cartoon to prepare for painting his fresco masterpiece, The Last Supper. No kids media there.
Beyond the Leonardo da Vinci name-dropping, let’s consider cartoons as preparatory sketches for business transformation. That sounds good to me.
We know that effective communication is critical to any successful transformation. And yet, there is never enough good communication.
So, let’s explore why you should include cartoons in your digital transformation communication’s mix.
Overview: Why Use Cartoons to Optimize Digital Transformation Communication
In this article, I will give three reasons why cartoons are a communications experiment you should try:
Cartoons grab attention
Cartoons engage thinking
Cartoons spark memory
I will also summarize how these three features will help employees apply your transformation principles in their day-to-day work.
And finally, we will conduct a quick experiment of our own to test my hypothesis.
But first, let’s grab some attention.
Cartoons Grab Attention
Unexpected
In business communications, employees see lots of text, with some diagrams, charts, and perhaps an infographic or two. Often communications will include stock photos of sharp looking business people, panoramic views, sporting events, and the occasional animal.
For employees, a 50-slide deck is like mental torture.
Their brains have learned to take evasive action and slip into a protective social media cocoon. Traditional communication is what employees expect, and they have well-developed defenses.
Into this business-as-usual flow, a cartoon appears. It is unexpected and grabs the employees’ attention. They snap out of their protective browsing, and their brains collectively ask: “What is this?”
But to preserve this feature, we need to be careful.
Do Not Overdo It
Of course, if there is a cartoon in every communication, then their attention-grabbing powers will be diminished. They will become the new norm.
And, although I would like every business communication effort to use one of my licensed cartoons and I also think that a cartoon-packed communication would still be much more effective and certainly more interesting than most traditional business communications, I cannot recommend it.
Instead, cartoons need to be sprinkled into communications to illustrate core transformation principles, driving visions, essential challenges, desired behaviors, and critical customer experiences.
So you have used a cartoon to grab your employees’ collective attention. Now, what are you going to do with it?
How about engaging their minds?
Cartoons Engage Thinking
A Puzzle That Must Be Solved
A well-structured cartoon presents a puzzle to your viewers. It combines situations and characters that are rarely seen together creating an incongruity.
A cartoon like this will engage your employees’ thought process. A ballerina, a cheetah, and an anchor are not normally, perhaps never, seen all together on one stage. Your employees’ brains will recognize the unique nature of this scene and ask: “Why is this?”
Their intellect will then automatically and involuntarily, kick into high gear and go to work trying to make sense of what they are seeing.
In this case, the cartoon’s caption line helps them resolve the puzzle—"our new digital transformation leadership team.” The “ballerina, cheetah and anchor cartoon” illustrates the need for agile, fast and stable business leadership in a digitally transformed business world.
Why does the brain need to resolve visual puzzles? I am not a neurologist, but my best guess is that, If our field of vision includes something that is out of place or unexcepted, then, the brain recognizes that either there is an opportunity (to eat) or a danger (to be eaten). Automatically solving visual puzzles is probably linked to some successful survival gene evolution.
With a cartoon, you can use this genetic trait to help your employees understand the concept you are trying to communicate.
An Alternative Approach
Of course, you could present a text slide or a written blog with the words “Digital Leadership needs to be agile, fast and stable.” (yawn). But, I bet that this cartoon would be much more effective and efficient. We will test my hypothesis later in this article.
The unexpected nature of a cartoon has grabbed your employees’ attention and resolving the puzzle has engaged their minds. What’s next?
How about getting some electrical activity going? Let’s start sparking some memories.
Cartoons Spark Memory
The sparking memory benefit is partially a result of a cartoon’s attention-grabbing and thought-engaging attributes. The rest of this memory benefit results from the visual nature of cartoons.
First, you have broken your employees free from their social media meditation by presenting something unique, and so you grabbed their attention. They are now clear and present with you and your transformation cartoon and the concept it represents.
Next, you have leveraged their primordial genes to solve a puzzle.
Finally, you have added an image-link to which their brain can attach and work its memory-storing magic.
This one-two-three punch combination is very efficient and effective at getting the brain’s electrical and chemical juices flowing to lay down new memory tracks — their brains’ will command.
Remember This…
Again, I am not a neurologist, but I have watched enough NOVA episodes to think that I am not far off the mark. And anyway, even neurologists do not fully understand how memory works.
But wait, there is more…
These Memories Will Help to Recall, Retell and Reapply
When the presenter steps away from the podium or the employee finishes reading the blog is when the real purpose of communications begins. Successful transformation communication sets the stage to change employee actions, attitudes, and behaviors.
To change, employees must first remember. And, a cartoon will help them:
Recall the idea
Retell the story
Reapply the transformation concept
The benefits of including cartoons in your communications mix are that employees will be able to apply the transformation principles in their daily work.
What will they talk about in the coffee room?
How will they act in their next team meeting?
How will they make decisions for their projects?
How will they deliver the next customer experience
…
And, compounding changes in daily actions is what ultimately drives a business transformation. Simple as that.
So now, let's test my cartoon hypothesis.
Try It For Yourself: A Digital Transformation Communications Experiment
We know that taking risks and trying experiments are fundamental for any successful transformation. So let’s walk the talk. Here is a risk-free experiment you can complete in less than 10 seconds. (and if only they were all this simple…)
Which of the following two slides is better at getting your attention, engaging your thinking and sparking your memory so you can recall, retell and reapply?
Digital Leadership must be agile, fast, and stable.
Your conclusion?
My conclusion-and I may be “a bit” biased, but I hope you agree that the “ballerina, cheetah and anchor on stage” wins hands down. No contest.
The oh-so-ordinary line of text that says “agile, fast and stable” (Yawn again) loses—and adding a stock photo of some sharp looking business people does not change the outcome of our little experiment.
Plus, the cartoon will help you tell a story about leadership – you could explore and discuss the meaning of these three leadership attributes and what they mean for your organization. How would these three characters interact and make decisions? Plain text and stock photos do not contribute to great storytelling.
Let’s wrap up.
Summary: A Cartoon Can Help During And After The Communication
In this article, I have presented the benefits of using cartoons to improve digital transformation communications.
First, a cartoon can help during the communications
Grabbing attention
Engaging thinking
Sparking memory
Next, a cartoon can help inform attitudes, behaviors, and actions envisioned in the transformation by giving employees a tool to:
Recall
Retell
Reapply
As a final bonus, a cartoon may even prompt an employee’s smile. And smiles can be very powerful.
Not bad for kids’ stuff, eh?
Surely, you should give cartoons a try
My sincere apologies to all the Shirley’s out there. I am sure that most of you have heard this movie line way too many times.