Harvard Business Review Guides Ultimate Boxed Set (16 Books)

Turn Words into Diagrams

Diagrams are great tools for illustrating relationships. They clarify concepts so an audience can see at a glance how parts of a whole work together. For example, if your organization is merging with two others, you can use a diagram of three overlapping circles to signify redundancies between departments. Or if you want to encourage your team members to innovate iteratively, try using a flow diagram that loops back on itself in several places to illustrate the process of working out kinks in a prototype.

When you’re creating your presentation visuals, try turning some of your words into diagrams that reinforce your speech. It’s easy to translate words into diagrams when you have a visual taxonomy at your disposal—and ...