Who presents next

It was one of those Tuesday afternoons where the agenda was clear but the energy was flat. We’d just wrapped up a project review, and the next step was for someone to walk through the new designs. I could see three people looking down at their notes, waiting for someone else to speak first.

The silence that asks a question

That kind of quiet isn't really quiet at all. It's full of unspoken calculations about seniority, workload, and who spoke last week. I used to jump in and just assign it, but that never felt right. It felt like I was playing favorites based on who I remembered in the moment.So I mentioned the wheel. I didn't frame it as a solution, just as something we could try. I said we could put our names on it and let it pick. There was a slight shift in the room, a few small nods. It wasn't excitement, more like a collective release of a small, shared tension.

When the wheel decides

The first time it landed on Sam, who usually holds back. He just nodded, shared his screen, and got into it. There was no fanfare, no awkward 'volunteering'. It was just his turn. The discussion that followed felt more balanced, less like a performance for me and more like a genuine handoff between peers.Now, it's just a thing we do. Before a client call or a stakeholder review, someone will ask if we need the wheel. The person it picks owns the next segment. My job shifted from deciding who speaks to just making sure the conversation after the presentation keeps moving.

A different kind of preparation

I've noticed people come a bit more prepared now, knowing it might be them.

The space it creates

It removed that tiny moment of managerial judgment from the equation.