Wheel of Work

When to use:

• The Wheel of Work is a technique that works when there is a need to look at the level of satisfaction in the most important areas of the Mentee's work. By using the visual form of this exercise, the Mentee can easily see what is really important at a given moment.

Props:

• A4 sheet of paper
• Colored markers/highlighters
• Virtual board, in case of remote work (e.g. Miro, Mural)

Instructions:

Stage 1

Prepare an A4 sheet of paper with a previously drawn circle, divided into 8 parts.

You can download the template here.

Stage 2

Ask the Mentee to think about what the most important elements of his or her work are.

These could be:

• tasks planning
• tasks delegation
• tasks execution
• job satisfaction
• professional development, learning
• salary from work
• career / career development
• meetings at work
• effective working time
• work engagement

Importantly, the above areas are just inspiration and if a given area is not important to the Mentee, do not deal with it. And if an area important to the Mentee is not on the list, feel free to add it. This is the Mentee's work circle, so the Mentee has full decision-making power over which elements will be included in it.

After choosing 8 elements, write them down on the work circle.

Stage 3

Assuming the center of the circle to be 0% and its outer border to be 100%, ask the Mentee to mark the percentage level of his or her satisfaction with each of the eight listed

The resulting image is a reflection of the situation here and now, as it is, not as the Mentee would like it to be.

Stage 4

In the next step, ask the Mentee to think about what the Mentee would like each of these areas to look like.

Here, the following questions that you can ask may come in handy:

• What do you see?
• What is most important to you?
• Do any parts of the circle influence each other?
• In which areas would you like to increase your level of satisfaction?
• What can you do to achieve the expected level of satisfaction?
• In which area are you already at the level you expect?
• Is there any area that exceeds your expected state of satisfaction?
• Which area do you want to address first so that the image of the entire circle improves in your opinion?

Note that you can't have 100% in each element. It will be impossible and unrealistic to do.

Stage 5

Encourage the Mentee to decide what they will work on and which area you want to focus on first.

Ask the Mentee to write down:

• 3 actions that will be performed first to improve the selected area.
• 3 actions that will lead the Mentee to improve the selected area.

Stage 6

Summarize this exercise together and end with the most important reflections for you.

Own work based on: “Coaching Questions: A Coach's Guide to Powerful Asking Skills” Tony Stoltzfus, own practice.