Some key points about Square Wheels® One

• A Leader is pulling a rope in front and the team is pushing from the back.
• The wagon body can represent the organization.
• The Square Wheels are the things that work, but not always smoothly.
• The Round Wheels, already inside the wagon, represent the ideas that could make the wagon or organization operate more smoothly.
• Teamwork and a shared vision are necessary for motivation.
• Communication is difficult and visions are critical!
• Perspective is important; everyone needs to "step back from the wagon" on occasion.
• Implementation is the key to improvement.

Show the illustration and ask for reactions. People project their beliefs onto the illustration and see many different things. Some focus on themes such as trust and communications. Others focus on motivation and frustration. Some see that the Round Wheels in the wagon represent better ways of doing the same job. And some see people simply missing the idea that things could be done in another way by making different choices and implementing process improvements!

The key is to generate people's involvement and discovery, rather than simply telling them what to do differently. The goal is to foster creativity and ownership.

Most interesting is that we have collected more than 300 different thoughts and beliefs about the cartoon! Some people focus on mechanics, some on the interaction of the people, some on the irony that they are carrying the solutions and many on the simple fact that they are working harder and inefficiently.

This simple Square Wheels One illustration is a flexible tool that, by itself, can be used as a unique 10 to 30 minute icebreaker. It quickly engages people and can be combined with other illustrations in the series for a half, full day or longer program that leads a group on a journey of creativity, quality, teamwork and communications with a goal of generating active involvement and participation. Many possibilities for use are possible. (See the available products, below.)

Presented interactively, using humor and creativity, the facilitation and illustrations allow for easy communications, giving participants a chance to "step back from the wagon" and gain important perspective based on reactions and ideas stemming from the cartoons and from their colleagues.

Using Square Wheels is the simplest and most powerful way we know of to involve and engage people in process improvement and implementing change. And confirmation of this has been consistently received from users since 1993, when we started selling small sets of illustrations as facilitation tools.