Here are some Little Learning Lessons from The Square Wheels Project, some simple ideas to get you thinking about innovation, people and performance. Which ones jump out at you?

We begin with, “How might this image represent how things really work in most organizations?” From there, we jump to some of the key themes that can be discovered… Note that clicking on the image below will take you to a landing page where you can download the image and use it for free.

Download the FREE Square Wheels One image under Creative Commons license

Take a moment to reflect on the image and then check my list of possibilities for thinking about how things work.

Self-contained success in organizations looks like a wagon rolling on round wheels that once were square. These tiny lessons tie everyday leadership behavior back to the Square Wheels metaphor, the round wheels already in the wagon, and the choice to keep things rolling as-is or make improvements.​

Tiny Square Wheels Life Lessons

• Improvement starts when someone stops pushing and asks, “What are our Square Wheels?”​

• The view from the back of the wagon impacts the future of the whole wagon and the journey forward.

• People pushing and pulling in the mud experience a distinct opportunity for improvement (or not).

• Round wheels are ideas; engagement involves talking about them and innovation is getting them out of the wagon and on the axles.​

• Spectator Sheep rarely fix wagons.​ But they do see things differently.

• Silos keep each wagon team stuck with its own Square Wheels.​ There are wagons inside them not rolling smoothly, too.

• No one resists their own ideas, only other people’s wheels.​

• Conversations about an image feel safer than complaints about a boss.​

• The faster you push a Square Wheels wagon, the more thumps and bumps you feel.​

• Leaders who ask, “How does this represent how we really work?” get far  more and better answers than leaders who explain their perceived realities.

• Every wagon carries many more round wheels than it uses.​

• The best time to stop and swap wheels is before the hill gets steeper.​ Avoid the very steep ones!

• Blame looks at people; curiosity looks at wheels.​

• Engagement is everyone leaning in to lift together to put on a round wheel​.

• Psychological safety is knowing you can point at a Square Wheel without losing your place at the wagon.​

• Improvement is just visible dissatisfaction with Square Wheels plus visible hope for round ones.​

• Change begins when one person dares to ask, “Why are we hauling the solutions?”​

• Teams that regularly “park the wagon” for reflection roll farther faster over time.​

• The simplest tools often create the most powerful conversations about how to make the wagon roll better.​

For organizations with multiple stuck teams, book a short conversation to design an engagement and innovation program using Square Wheels across your organization, We can easily build some really great tools and courses and support systems,

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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 Simmulations, LLC
and images have been copyrighted since 1993,

© Simmulations, LLC 1993 – 2025

What I am about:

My Square Wheels blogs and website exist to equip leaders, trainers, and facilitators with practical process improvement tools along with effective organizational change tools. My purpose is to facilitate engagement and active involvement to help make work smoother and more human.

By blending change management facilitation with proven workshop facilitation techniques, team collaboration activities, and creative problem solving activities, my mission is to support organizations in designing employee engagement strategies that are both energizing and sustainable. Through accessible, sometimes free team building resources and virtual facilitation tools, my focus is on helping teams everywhere discover better ways to collaborate together, innovate continuously, and own their path to improvement.

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