“Sensemaking is the process by which people interpret, understand & give meaning to complex, ambiguous or unexpected situations. Figuring out “What’s going on” & “What should we do next”.
Under Maria Scordialos’ wise guidance, colleagues from DG HR, JRC and EC Centre for Organisational Transformation explored what sensemaking means in times of complexity and uncertainty. It starts with listening to people’s stories on a shared topic. Then we look for patterns, map them, and discover patterns within patterns until insights begin to emerge, sometimes pointing to what we should do next. What stayed with me most is this: the stories must be told by the people at the heart of the issue, and explored together with them. Sensemaking is a collective process that draws on the group’s shared intelligence, the more diverse the group, the richer the insights. And one more thing: even an impromptu graphic recording like mine can help people make sense of conversations on complex topics.
On Friday 16 January 2026, I held the very first day dedicated to sketchnoting within the European institutions. The idea was simple: to celebrate sketchnoting with colleagues who had followed the StartSketch course, and with anyone curious about the practice.
For this first edition, Celia Pessaud kindly agreed straight away to organise it with me. We chose to keep things light and flexible. Colleagues could drop in at any time, without registration, and stay for as long (or as little) as they wanted. We offered a few simple and playful sketchnoting activities. We began with a warm-up to step away from daily work and reconnect with creativity. Then participants could choose what suited them: sketching their 2025 retrospective, their 2026 resolutions, their hopes and fears for 2026, a visual agenda, or contributing to a visual dictionary of EU jargon. We ended with a large mural where everyone could leave a trace: an avatar, a thought, or a quote.
The atmosphere was calm and relaxed, but also full of energy. Smiles quickly turned into quiet focus as people leaned over their paper and started sketching. Many told us they had barely practised sketchnoting since the course, but that the day gave them fresh motivation to start again. Others said that thinking visually helped them reflect differently, less linearly, and clarify their ideas. Several even suggested doing this every month.
So, what do I take away from this first EU Sketchnote Day?
First, it simply feels good for those who practise and for those who watch. It creates a different state of mind: more attention, better focus, stronger synthesis, and more creativity. And all this without needing to “know how to draw”.
I also realise that one day a year is not enough. The interest is clearly there. We will keep an annual celebration, but between those moments we could organise regular “Visual Fridays” to practise together around a theme or a concrete need. And we should keep building our shared visual dictionary.
Finally, what I treasure most is the reminder that I work with extraordinary colleagues. Starting with Célia, who supports all my visual ideas, and Catherine Focant, with whom I developed the introductory sketchnoting course.
If you’re not part of the EU bubble, you may not be aware that the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has asked Commissioner Piotr Serafin to lead a large-scale review of the Commission’s organisation and operations, together with an external benchmarking exercise. The aim is to ensure that Europe has a modern, efficient public administration capable of delivering on its political priorities and improving the daily lives of Europeans.
Since April 2025, I’ve had the privilege of supporting, from time to time, the internal team working on this initiative. I contribute with the tools and capacities I know best, especially participatory facilitation and visual thinking, during consultation and reflection sessions with staff.
Last Friday, all European Commission staff were invited to a meeting, held onsite for some and online for most, where the main actors openly discussed the process behind the initiative. Among other things, they explained that the review seeks inclusiveness and collaboration to help shape a more agile, effective, and attractive Commission for the future. My role in this major event was to visually capture the key points from the discussions. For the first time, I worked from an interpretation booth, alongside the French and German interpreters, where my task was to “interpret” the room’s conversation into visual language.
My graphic recording was widely shared internally afterwards as part of the follow-up communication. The feedback I received, both privately and publicly, has been very positive and truly encouraging: colleagues highlighted how valuable visual harvesting is for complex, high-stakes discussions, appreciated the clarity and completeness of the capture, and praised how the visual summary distilled 1h15 of exchanges into a single, accessible image.
I’m proud to see how my practice of visual thinking, which includes graphic facilitation, sketchnoting, and graphic harvesting, has evolved from a tiny niche within the Commission more than 20 years ago to something now requested and used at high-level events. One of my greatest satisfactions is having helped bring this innovation into the Commission, equipping colleagues to think not only with text but also with hand-drawn visuals (icons, arrows, containers, etc.) for richer, broader and more inclusive reflection. I’m grateful to all those who believed in this approach, who had the courage to try visual thinking, and to everyone today who is keen to learn it.
The European Commission needs more creativity and innovative thinking to meet the complex challenges of today’s world. Visual thinking is a skill to be relearned, not just a tool, and it can help achieve this. This is my personal conviction and it is entirely my own opinion.
On 12 November 2025, I had the opportunity to visually capture the discussions as a graphic recorder during the first away day for staff of SG REFORM, a Directorate-General of the European Commission.
While we often discuss transformation and innovation theoretically or empirically, SG REFORM lives it.
Their teams emerged from the merger of two departments (DGs) during the COVID crisis, rapidly developing innovative solutions like the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), which is now deployed to tackle almost every crisis the EU has faced since.
At SG REFORM, they are trailblazers exploring uncharted territories, blending traditional and modern work methods to tackle complex issues collaboratively in a matrix structure. In these challenging times, including workload and political pressures, their management trusts the dynamism and expertise of their remarkably young team.
I am proud to be a colleague, in a way close to these people who are shaping the future of the EU with resilience, expertise, and creativity. I didn’t know them well before, but my role as graphic recorder for their internal event gave me an added perspective and allowed me to forge an emotional connection. It helped me focus on the individuals, the teams, and their overall work context. That’s not necessarily what I conveyed visually, but that’s the impression I got.
Last week, during the Evidence-Informed Policy-Making (EIPM) community meeting in Brussels, I had the chance to do what I love: bringing ideas to life through graphic recording. But this time was special. I was joined by five colleagues I had recently trained in sketchnoting with Célia Pessaud.
For them, it was their first live recording experience. They stepped forward with curiosity, courage and trust, and they did beautifully. Seeing them in action filled me with joy and pride. It reminded me that leadership is not about doing things alone, but about creating the conditions for others to grow and shine. Célia and I wanted to share not just the techniques of visual thinking, but also the confidence to use them. And that’s exactly what happened.
I deeply believe that visual thinking belongs to everyone as a tool for reflection, communication and collective sense-making. To the five visual thinkers who joined me that day: thank you. You made the invisible visible and you made me proud.
If you are a member of the European institutions and also want to learn the basics of sketchnoting, search for “StartSketch” on EU Learn, our training platform.
At nearly every event I attend – whether as a participant or a visual notetaker – artificial intelligence is front and centre. People are exploring, debating, and sometimes worrying about how AI is transforming jobs, processes, and mindsets.
This was certainly true at the recent gathering of HR professionals from the European institutions. Speakers and participants shared how AI is revolutionising their roles, procedures, and ways of working. What resonated with me most? Hearing that in the face of this technological upheaval, HR professionals are choosing to double down on the “H” in HR – the human element that makes us truly unique.
On a more personal note, I’m grateful to be considered part of this HR community, even if I’m not officially an HR officer. Over the years, I’ve worked closely with HR colleagues across the institutions, from supporting internal communication efforts in the past, to more recently helping them develop their community of practice, and capturing their events through graphic recording, which they seem to particularly enjoy.
This community, which has now officially opened up to all HR professionals across the institutions, is one I often cite as a powerful example of what it takes to build and grow a successful community of practice.
A heartfelt thank you to those who work tirelessly to keep this community alive – and who trust me to visually capture its key milestones.
Here is my graphic recording from the 3rd meeting of the ECI network, the European Citizens’ Initiative. For a full day, European partners working to promote and communicate this unique tool of participatory democracy gathered at the invitation of the Secretariat-General of the European Commission. Their goal? To explore how they could better collaborate so that more EU citizens are aware of and make use of the initiative. From my external perspective, one key takeaway stood out: to truly reach citizens, we must meet them where they are, with stronger, more effective communication. This means better campaigns, clearer tools, and more resources. Partners also expressed the need for financial support from the EU and called for a simplification of the administrative procedure, so that reaching the goal of one million signatures becomes more realistic. Incentives, encouragement, and active support from the Commission would help initiators stay motivated throughout the process.
And you, have you heard of this unique European tool for participatory democracy?
I would like to thank Barbara Walentynowicz and Adriana Mungiu for trusting me for the second consecutive year with the graphic recording; and thank Mira Bangel and Marina Lynch with whom the facilitation of the event is so natural and efficient.
