How would Gallup use Square Wheels® to help implement engagement and improve collaboration? I asked Perplexity and the answers were quite straightforward.

First, let’s focus on survey results from the Gallup 2025 data on workplace engagement to share the challenges we face:

1 – What percentage of employees worldwide are “actively disengaged” at work according to Gallup’s 2025 report?

• In 2025, Gallup reports that 17% of employees globally are “actively disengaged.”
• This group not only lacks motivation but often undermines workplace progress.
• The actively disengaged segment has grown by 2 percentage points since last year, highlighting a rising challenge for organizations worldwide.

Gallup’s approach to closing engagement and collaboration gaps aligns closely with the principles behind using the Square Wheels® images as communications tools, making them a powerful tool for improvement strategies. Here’s how I think Gallup would likely integrate my Square Wheels into an organizational improvement strategy:

So many possibilities to ask for ideas to better involve and engager workplace collaboration.

1. Use Visual Metaphors to Spark Dialogue and Engagement

• Gallup emphasizes the need for open communication and employee involvement in identifying barriers to engagement and collaboration.

• Square Wheels® images effectively serve as a safe, visual metaphor for discussing inefficiencies (“Square Wheels”) and asking for ideas about implementing untapped opportunities (“round wheels”) in a non-threatening, creative, interactive way.

• Facilitators or managers present the image and invite workers to share what they see, quickly surfacing issues and ideas from all levels of the organization. One shows and simply asks.

2. Facilitate Collaborative Problem-Solving Workshops

• Gallup recommends collaborative workshops where employees are “empowered* to diagnose problems and co-create solutions. My belief is that one cannot empower someone else, that they make the choice to be involved based on their thinking and feelings. 

• Square Wheels sessions are designed as interactive workshops: participants identify the “square wheels” in their own workplace, brainstorm “round wheel” solutions, and prioritize ideas through group discussion and voting. We ask and they tell.

• This facilitated process builds trust, psychological safety, and a sense of ownership—core Gallup engagement drivers.

• • Note – my belief is that one cannot empower another because empowerment is a choice. What one can do is help that un-empowered individual to make different choices and to remove roadblocks to them choosing to be empowered — I term this DIS-un-empowerment. It IS a different viewpoint. I talk about its sister, dis-un-engagement here.

3. DIS-Un-Empower Managers and Teams to Lead Change

• Gallup’s research shows that managers are pivotal to engagement and only 30% feel engaged. Square Wheels workshops can be led by managers, helping them practice inclusive leadership and active listening and giving them a hands-on stake in the implementation of changes. Their feeling of active ownership is critically important. 

• Teams select “implementation champions” to drive action, aligning with Gallup’s call for distributed leadership and accountability. And because they were involved, they and their peers will feel more ownership.

Consider: “Nobody ever washes a rental car,”
so active ownership is very important.

4. Create a Culture of Continuous Improvement

• Gallup stresses the importance of ongoing feedback and regular process reviews.

• Square Wheels images can be revisited periodically to assess progress, identify new challenges, and celebrate successes, reinforcing a culture of continuous improvement and innovation.

5. Link to Engagement Metrics and Follow-Up

• Gallup advocates for measuring engagement and acting on feedback. After Square Wheels^® sessions, organizations can track engagement scores and monitor the impact of implemented changes, closing the loop between dialogue and measurable outcomes.

Summary:
Gallup would integrate Square Wheels images as a practical, engaging tool to open up conversations about workplace challenges, foster collaborative problem-solving, empower managers and teams, and sustain a culture of continuous improvement—all proven levers for boosting engagement and collaboration.

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For the FUN of It!

Dr. Scott Simmerman is a designer of team building games and organization improvement tools.
Managing Partner of Performance Management Company since 1984, he is an experienced presenter and consultant who is trying to retire!! He now lives in Cuenca, Ecuador.

You can reach Scott at scott@squarewheels.com
Learn more about Scott at his LinkedIn site.

Square Wheels® are a registered trademark of Performance Management
and cartoons have been copyrighted since 1993,

© Performance Management Company, 1993 – 2025
Square Wheels images and The Search for The Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine are the best tools in the world for teambuilding and building collaboration in an organization.

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