Using the Spiral model to map out fitness for work

The Spiral model, on the one hand shows the link between sources of help, positive emotions, energy and commitment to a job. On the other hand, the model shows the link between stressors (things that cause people stress), vulnerability factors (for example, is someone a perfectionist), negative emotions, loss of energy and disinterest in their work.

On the y- axis you can see whether your employee feels committed to their work or not. On the x-axis you see the emotions, which may be positive and provide energy, or negative and destroy energy. As manager, you start by placing each employee in one of four quadrants:

1. Is this employee enthusiastic?
2. Is this employee loyal?
3. Is this employee suffering from burnout?
4. Does this employee really want to leave the employer?

The spiral is the interaction between the personal and work-related sources of help. This spiral can move in a positive or negative direction. You can use this to figure out what are the sources of energy (positive) and what are the energy vultures (negative).

Using the spiral model you can figure out what makes an employee feel less committed to their job, what someone needs in order to increase their energy and how someone can experience more positive emotions.

Asking questions is a good way of doing this. In the illustration below you can see examples of the type of questions you can ask, depending on the quadrant in which you placed the employee. For example, you might ask an employee who is low in energy:

• Do you feel prevented from working in the way you want to?
• What do you do, outside of work, in order to relax?
• How do you feel about the atmosphere within your team? Do you feel at home in this organisation?
• What do you like and what do you not about your job?

Sustainable fitness for work means looking at the long term, so you can help those employees who enjoy their work to keep it that way. You could ask them things like:

• What exactly is it about your work that makes it so interesting for you?
• Is it the work content, or is it the colleagues or the managers you are working with right now?
• What can I do to make the work more challenging for you?
• What things do want to learn or develop further in the near future?

The basis for this kind of conversation is of course an atmosphere of safety and trust. An employee needs to feel that they are able to talk about less positive aspects without any negative consequences.