The wheel of management

Along my coaching journey I’ve come across a bunch of tools designed to help a coaching client to see their situation differently than they do naturally. There is immense power in altered perspective, and it’s one of the reasons that coaching works so well—most people naturally see things the way they see them, and that’s not always what is needed.

One such tool is called the “Wheel of Life” (pictured below). As I was playing with this tool myself, I wondered: why couldn’t this be used for work?

Well, I think it can, so I created my own version and I am going to share it with you here.

Pictured below is a version of the “Wheel of Life.” The concept is simple; the circle is divided into eight areas of life, and the concentric rings represent levels of satisfaction. You draw lines around the wheel to make your perceptions visible, and then we go from there.

The value that comes from the tool is derived from three key things:

1. Simply filling it in forces you to reflect on how satisfied you are in each area, and that by itself is valuable,

2. The result is visual, so the balance or imbalance among the areas is instantly apparent, and

3. Less directly, this information is useful to start a productive coaching conversation.

The Wheel of Management

“So,” I wondered, “what segments would a Wheel of (Engineering) Management be divided into?” Perhaps if you follow me and read this blog you know the answer already.

The natural areas of interest are those same six principles I outline in my Engineering Manager’s Charter, which you may want to go flip through as a refresher.

This is what I landed on (with random values filled in for illustration):

Again, the purpose here is primarily self-reflection, and to give you a more visual sense of what your balance looks like across the areas. Imagine that this is the wheel of a car. What would it feel like to ride in that car?

Making it interactive

When I have used the Wheel of Life in a coaching context, usually we print it out on paper and draw on it. That’s great for an in-person interactive session, or if the coachee has a printer handy at home.

I wanted more. I wanted to make a fully realized web version of the wheel that you could actually click on and see it change. So I did.

Go play with the Wheel of Management!

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas in the comments below.

Comments