How to tap into "Group Brain" through visuals

The easiest way I know to get people on the same page and committed to the same thing is "shared visual documentation".

Let me show you what it is and give you six ideas for using it.

 

 

This is one picture that paints one THOUSAND words if you spend a lot of time in meetings (anyone?).

 

 
That could be the end of the newsletter this week but let me show you how to fix this - with "shared visual documentation" (visualising things as a team in meetings and beyond).

Everyone holds a picture in their head in a meeting. When they are not shared, assumptions fill the gaps.

You know the effect all too well. Two weeks down the line…

 

"Why are we focusing on that? I thought X was the priority."

"Why did they make that decision without checking with us?"

"Why is this so far off from what we discussed?"

 

And that get translated into relationship issues - suddenly we’re not on the same side any more.

 

This is really important stuff!

I want to talk to you about using tackling this by shared visual documentation and co-picturing in your meetings. We're not talking about using pretty pictures to break up all the talking.

Rather - the idea that development of shared, visualised artefacts can massively improve what you can achieve together as a team and create something I call “Group Brain”: the collective intelligence, alignment and momentum a team achieves when they have a shared representation of their goals, ideas, and plans.

To help create this article, I spoke to expert Visual Recorder, Caroline Chapple - you see her beautiful hand drawn illustrations, but she’s really a problem framing and hugely skilled communication consultant.

I'm going to share six ways Caroline and I use visual documentation (her through illustration, me with regular clicks and pens!). And then I'll share the research behind it, if you'd like to see it.

 

6 ways to use visual documentation to improve collaboration (especially meetings)

1. Simply get people to document meeting outcomes together, in the session.

I have to work really hard not to grab the pen / digital whiteboard and do this myself (and I don’t always succeed). But everyone needs a lifetime goal!
Grouping things into lists on a whiteboard, creating a Venn diagram, making a flow chart - whatever expresses the discussion in a somewhat visual way is going to make a big difference. You are essentially creating ‘visual minutes’ throughout the session.

2. At conferences and offsites - another obvious one

Use shared development of visuals to add energy and fun, capturing discussions in real time to engage participants.

Caroline Chapple explains: “When we’re receiving new information, most of us need tangible reinforcement to cement it into our brains. We already know that pictures do this faster and with more sticking power than words alone. Where they can really help is by simplifying and clarifying the messages so we can hold the headlines, while knowing we can search for the details later.”

 

3. Visualise during group problem solving

When working on complex challenges, visuals can break the problem into manageable components. For instance, in a service design session, a team could use journey mapping to visually represent a customer’s pain points and potential solutions.

The can also help bring together disparate teams and approaches by giving each visual 'real estate' and showing how they interact together.

This can be simple lines and shapes on a whiteboard - or something a visual recorder has worked on with you, live in the session. When Caroline and I talked, it was clear to me that though her skill is illustration, her real work is as the 'silent facilitator' in the room - the facilitator no one is having a power struggle with!

4. Surfacing and addressing difficult issues

When there’s an elephant in the room, visualising the issue can make it less daunting. It can bring it into the sunlight - which is a powerful disinfectant.

Imagine a team grappling with a persistent communication breakdown. Using a diagram to map out where messages are getting lost helps anchoring the discussion to specific processes rather than personal blame.

The visual provides a schema for understanding and addressing the root causes of the problem. And it publicly acknowledges different party's lived reality.

 

5. Innovation

Turning abstract ideas into tangible visuals really helps at that messy, unformed early stage.

In a brainstorming session, a simple sketch of a potential product feature can quickly clarify feasibility and generate further ideas.

The visual serves as an anchor for subsequent discussions, encouraging the team to build on each other's ideas.

Help people turn an intangible or highly technical idea into something others can grasp and build on or critique.

Caroline Chapple explains: “Visualising a new concept helps us to ground our understanding of how it could be played out in the real world.”

6. Organisational change (including mergers)

Developing shared visuals can help soften the ground for change and capture some big issues, helping build empathy.

You can also visually document the journey together to show the roadmap (past, present and future) and to create a shared picture of the success you want to achieve together.

For example, during a merger, leaders might present a visual roadmap that illustrates how the two organisations’ cultures and goals will integrate over time. Employees can interact with this roadmap, offering feedback and seeing their concerns addressed directly. This roadmap becomes an artefact of trust, demonstrating transparency and shared accountability. 


It can also be used in mergers to visualise how two different beasts are being integrated - and help to value each of their strengths and acknowledge that this is important and will take time.

Caroline shares her experience of how: “When we’re making an argument for something we want to change it helps to be able to show the whole story in one place. It allows the reader to scan and qualify - finding answers to their own questions. It can also convey emotional impact where it’s most needed.”

 

 

And finally, the science part. Here's a quick summary of the evidence behind Group Brain (my own non-technical term) 

Group Brain is what happens when a team shares, uses, and evolves a common visual—a shared picture that draws on everyone’s expertise and perspectives. You might find these points useful in understanding where visual documentation might help you most.

1. Visual documentation shifts teams from individual potentially conflicting pictures to one shared picture. Studies show that shared visual representations enhance team cognition and performance by up to 23% (Stempfle & Badke-Schaub, 2002).

2. It helps anchor key concepts visually, ensuring the team doesn’t drift off-topic and acting as a memory cue, making decisions and agreements easier to recall later.

3. Teams using visuals solve problems 27% faster because abstract ideas become tangible and actionable (Eppler & Platts, 2009).

4. Shared visuals reduce unspoken disagreements, helping move potential interpersonal conflict into constructive dialogue. This approach has been shown to improve trust by 18% (Academia.edu, 2021).

5. Visuals serve as tangible artefacts of collaboration. These artefacts document the group’s shared thinking, showing how ideas have evolved and encouraging ownership.

6. And they increase ownership. The IKEA effect suggests people place higher value on things they have contributed to creating. When teams co-create visuals, they feel more invested in the outcomes, leading to increased commitment and alignment (Norton et al., 2012) - in fact, Thomas Lahnthaler explains why as a facilitator, he never writes up workshops he delivers and instead always gets the group to document together.

 

I hope this is useful - I'm sure you know and use at least some of these already but Caroline Chapple and I would love to encourage you to create shared visual documentation together more in meetings - and also to understand exactly why it can be so helpful to do so.