When a Visual Learner’s Strengths Meet Knowledge Mobilization
How do you learn best? If someone asked me this question, I would immediately say that I am a visual learner. I can remember exactly which page a diagram was on and where it sat on the page after reading. My brain naturally gravitates toward visuals rather than long stretches of text. By definition, a visual learner understands and remembers information best through charts, graphics, and images, and that has always been true for me.
Creative Visuals as a Tool for Mobilizing Knowledge
Throughout my career, I have been a communicator of science and research. In the midst of everyday work, one of the things I have always enjoyed most is putting my creativity into use. For example, I genuinely have fun creating infographics and flyers in , and I appreciate the full process of refining content through feedback until the final product comes to fruition.
As a Knowledge Mobilization (KM) Specialist at 51猎奇入口KM Hub for the , I support nine pan-Canadian research teams, each working in agri-food genomics. I co-lead AG-ACt's marketing and communications efforts to help amplify the amazing work of our research portfolio. Combining how I learn the best with what I enjoy doing led to a mini project called the .
Traditional visual abstracts often mirror the structure of a journal publication by breaking content into background, methods, results, and conclusions. Inspired by visual abstracts, I wanted to create something that served a similar purpose but was even more accessible using plain language.
My goal was to make publication findings easier for lay audiences to understand. To keep the content digestible and intuitive, I built a simple Canva template aligned with AG鈥慉Ct branding that includes:
- Title and subtitle
- Three to four key highlights from the paper (covering context, problem, findings, and/or solution)
- Project logo
- Citation with DOI link
Amplifying the Research Roundup Series
Alongside each visual summary, I drafted a concise blog to help amplify the content across our website, newsletter, and LinkedIn. Each blog begins with a short introduction to the research team and their project. It then highlights keywords pulled directly from the publication, presents the visual summary, repeats the research highlights in bullet form, and ends with a brief editorial reflection to give readers something to think about.
Once finalized, the blog is cross posted across AG鈥慉Ct鈥檚 digital channels to drive traffic and encourage people to explore the work further. Creating both the visual summary and the accompanying blog requires thoughtful planning, especially when taking care to summarize the publication without over- or under-stating the message and choosing icons that best represent each highlight.
This is why I intentionally kept the rest of the workflow simple and straightforward: internal team review and edits, followed by PI or author feedback and approval, and then publication across channels. This streamlined process allowed me to develop and release the series consistently without losing momentum.
Embracing Personal Strengths in KM
Half a year into my role at 51猎奇入口KM Hub, I had the pleasure of joining an APSA Workshop on 鈥淒iscovering Your Strengths.鈥� The session was led by (Founder, Elephant Conversations) and focused on assessment. The assessment is designed to help individuals identify what they naturally do best and turn those talents into strengths. It organizes 34 unique themes across four talent domains. Overall, the workshop reminded me that every person carries their own strengths to embrace both personally and professionally.
One of my top five talent themes, as discovered by the assessment, was 鈥楳aximizer鈥� from the 鈥業nfluencer鈥� domain. Gallup describes Maximizers as people who take something strong and turn it into something superb by nurturing it, refining it, and stretching it toward excellence. They use the analogy of polishing a pearl until it shines. When I look back at the work I enjoy most, I can see how this fits. I have always liked sprinkling a bit of artistic creativity into my KM work, like developing visual summaries.
Intentionally bringing what comes naturally into our work often makes the process feel both meaningful and enjoyable.
If you are reading this, being a knowledge mobilizer is likely a special strength that we share. So, my question for you is: How can you leverage your KM strengths to stay motivated, passionate, and impactful?