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The Power of Process Improvement
Square Wheels One and the question, "How might you use this image to generate a more enabled workplace?"

Feb 19, 2026 | Active Involvement, Change Facilitation, Disruptive Engagement, employee engagement, employee motivation, empowerment, enablement, Engagement, experiential learning, Facilitation, improve organizational performance, manager as motivator, Managing and leading change, Metaphors for business improvement, people and performance, Supervisors as facilitators, workplace performance improvement

In this blog, my goal is to focus on the power of process improvement and the significant benefits of facilitation to improve workplace performance.

Partnering with process improvement platforms to integrate engagement tools like Square Wheels can dramatically increase the real-world impact of their methodologies on organizational change. When the mechanical side of improvement meets the emotional and engagement side, adoption sticks, resistance drops, and performance gains last longer.

Why process tools alone are not enough

Most Lean, Six Sigma, and process-improvement systems excel at mapping waste, defining new workflows, and establishing metrics, but they often struggle with human adoption. Research on change initiatives shows that without focused attention on communication, ownership, and emotional buy‑in, even technically sound improvements stall or quietly erode over time. Most change initiatives (estimated at 70%) actually fail, generally around issues of commitment in my opinion.
  • Organizations that align change management with process improvement report higher adoption, better productivity, and more sustained results.
  • Employee engagement and enablement is now recognized as a critical success factor in Lean Six Sigma and other continuous improvement programs.

The power of visual metaphors and “serious play”

Visual metaphors and simple cartoons give people a shared picture of “how work really works,” which makes abstract change concepts more concrete and discussable. Studies on visual learning and metaphor-based exercises show that such images increase engagement, deepen understanding, and embed new ideas in “body memory” far more effectively than text or talk alone.
  • Visuals can improve learning and retention dramatically, with a significant portion of learners responding better to images than to text-only explanations.
  • Metaphor-based diagrams foster “serious playfulness,” lowering defensiveness and encouraging risk‑taking, fresh insights, and honest conversation about problems and solutions.

How Square Wheels® complements process improvement systems

Square Wheels-style images operate as a simple, memorable language for friction, misalignment, and opportunity in work processes. This directly reinforces what process-improvement platforms try to accomplish, but through the lens of involvement and ownership rather than data and charts alone.
Let’s look at Square Wheels One:
The freely available Square Wheels One image with a Creative Commons BY-ND license
  • The wagon, wheels, and people around it turn issues like waste, rework, and resistance into a shared story that teams can quickly recognize and discuss.
  • Because the images are deliberately rough and non-technical, they invite contribution from frontline employees who might otherwise sit silent in a traditional Lean or Six Sigma session.
When these metaphors are embedded into a discussion about existing systems or processes, or used to open diagnostic workshops, frame project charters, or debrief improvement events, they help people connect process maps and KPIs to their daily lived experience at work.

Business benefits for providers who integrate engagement tools

For organizations that sell process improvement systems, partnering to embed engagement tools like Square Wheels is not just “nice to have”; it is a strategic differentiator. It allows them to claim a more complete solution: one that addresses both the technical and people sides of change in a coherent impactful way.
  • Higher adoption and ROI: Stronger engagement and shared understanding increase use of the tools, reduce “initiative fatigue,” and help clients realize measurable benefits faster.
  • Stickier IP and brand recognition: A distinctive, reusable visual metaphor makes their methodology more memorable and easier for clients to teach internally, even after the consultants or trainers are gone.
  • Better client outcomes and testimonials: When employees feel involved and heard during process change, satisfaction, retention, and performance tend to rise—fueling case studies and referrals for the provider.

A partnership model that scales

The most powerful partnerships between process-improvement providers and engagement tool creators are those where visuals and metaphors are woven through the entire change journey, not used as a one-off icebreaker.
  • At the front end, Square Wheels-style images can be used in discovery workshops to surface issues and build a shared case for change.
  • During design and implementation, they can frame discussions around “current Square Wheels” and “rounder wheels,” linking process maps and experiments to visible realities in the workplace.
  • Post‑implementation, they become a simple language for continuous continuous improvement, helping teams keep talking about friction, ideas, and opportunities long after the initial project is complete.

 

After all,

“The Round Wheels of Today will become
the Square Wheels of Tomorrow.”
When process-improvement systems plug in engagement tools that make people think, laugh, and talk honestly about how work gets done, they stop being just methods and become catalysts for real culture change. That is where Square Wheels and similar visual, metaphor-based frameworks can transform a solid process toolkit into a truly enabling system for organizational improvement.
You simply ask yourself:
Square Wheels One and the question, "How might you use this image to generate a more enabled workplace?"

Get the main illustration free for your use – Click on this image

…and you will get the idea!

 —

For the FUN of It!

Dr. Scott Simmerman, designer of The Search for The Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine teambuilding game.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 – 2026

What I’m About:

My Square Wheels blog and website exist to help leaders, trainers, and facilitators make work smoother, more engaging, and more human. I focus on practical tools for process improvement, organizational change, and workplace collaboration that spark insight and deliver measurable results.

And I am convinced, after 30+ years of using Square Wheels®, that it is the best facilitation toolset in the world. One can use it to involve and engage people in designing workplace improvements and building engagement and collaboration. It is a unique metaphorical approach to performance improvement and we can easily license your organization to use these images and approaches.

By blending proven facilitation methods, creative problem-solving, and engaging team activities, my mission is to support organizations in building energized, sustainable cultures of involvement and innovation.

Through accessible — and often free — resources and virtual facilitation tools, I aim to help teams everywhere collaborate more effectively, innovate continuously, and take ownership of their improvement journey.

#SquareWheels  #InnovationAtWork  #TeamEngagement  #FacilitationTools  #WorkplaceImprovement  #EmployeeEngagement  #CreativeProblemSolving  #OrganizationalDevelopment  #LeadershipTools #collaboration #leadership #motivation #communications #enablement #leadership #CreativeCommons #enablingperformance #teamwork #processimprovement #basicfacilitation

Dr. Scott Simmerman

Dr. Scott Simmerman is a designer of the amazing Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine team building game and the Square Wheels facilitation and engagement tools. Managing Partner of Performance Management Company since 1984, he is an experienced global presenter. -- You can reach Scott at scott@squarewheels.com and a detailed profile is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottsimmerman/ -- Scott is the original designer of The Search for The Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine teambuilding game and the Square Wheels® images for organizational development.

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enabling performance improvement | improving process improvement | visual learning tools

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