Holacracy® can be described as an ‘operating system’ for organizations. An alternative for the traditional hierarchy. It supports purpose-driven organizations with structured and efficient meetings, clarity on roles and how decisions are made and how power is distributed. With Holacracy anyone from anywhere in the organization can rapidly process any tension into positive change. It’s an agile approach to organizational governance and development.
3. When it comes to
organization, it often
seems like there’s
really only ...
6. Introducing Holacracy
A set of design principles & practices for
organizing around purpose
1. Agile & adaptive
2. Distributed authority
3. Disciplined & data-driven
14. The promise of Holacracy
Processing any tension, sensed by
anyone anywhere in the organization,
into increasing clarity and evolution
toward purpose, rapidly, reliably, and
continuously.
17. Let’s try it: simulation setup
Welcome to “The Better Way Company”
which provides training & coaching for the “Better Way”
method
The company has just adopted Holacracy…
… and there are lots of tensions to process …
19. Governance meeting structure
• Check-in
• Building the agenda
• Processing agenda items
– Item 1
– Item 2
– Etc.
• Check-out
One tension at a time, by
one person at a time
20. Workable in 5 steps (or 6)
1. Proposal*
2. Clarifying questions
3. Reaction round
4. Amendments or clarifications*
5. Objection round
6. Integration of valid objections (if any)
* Only the owner of the tension speaks here
21. Objection or no objection?
• We’re going to try it, unless...
1. ... You have data...
2. ... that it creates a new tension...
3. ... for one of your roles!
23. Implementing Holacracy
Adopt the Holacracy Constitution
Define the initial structure
Initiate regular tactical and governance
meetings
Train internal Facilitators
Offer additional training & coaching as needed
24. The Holacracy Constitution
“This Constitution documents the
core rules, structure, and
processes of the Holacracy
‘operating system’ for governing
and managing an organization. It
provides a critical foundation for an
organization wishing to use
Holacracy, by anchoring the shift of
power required in concrete and
documented ‘rules of the game’,
which everyone involved can
reference and rely upon.”
25. Holacracy in contrast
Traditional management
Centralized
Managers x
Design
Predict and control
Tension = problem
Holacracy
Distributed
Self-management
Evolution
Experiment and adapt
Tension = fuel
This is often what we think of when we think about ‘organization’ – Holacracy is pretty much the opposite of this
When it comes to organization, it often seems like there’s really only one way: a management hierarchy. You can tweak it and hack it and polish it all you want, but the basic principles still apply (division between management and execution or thinking and doing, span of control, concentration of power, etc.)
And it’s pretty old, too!
It’s based on the assumption that people are not very intelligent and cannot be trusted, so you have to tell them what to do and check whether they did it right or not.
Springest recently won an award for being the best employer in the category of small, innovative companies, with special mention of how they use Holacracy to self-organize and bring out the best in people
Rules of the game, anchored in the constitution (which itself evolves)