Holacracy: A New Operating System for Business

Brian Robertson, a former entrepreneur who is now involved with HolacracyOne, is the originator of this book, “Holacracy.” It is a method of corporate governance that goes against the hierarchical system we already know. It starts from the premise that the person at the top is often the most removed from the problems faced at the bottom. Additionally, in a company, it’s not just your boss who relies on you, but also other people like your colleagues and clients, hence the relevance of another organizational model.

To do this, Holacracy proposes a profound change, that of assigning roles rather than people to a task. For this purpose, it introduces the concept of circles, where the company is broken down into several circles, for example, marketing. These circles, based on the needs of the company, can be broken down into sub-circles and so on. Within each circle, the concept of roles is found. For example, in our marketing example, roles like social media, advertising campaigns, etc., can be found. In each circle, there is also the concept of linkages; for example, marketing may consult the “website maintenance” role to avoid launching an advertising campaign during maintenance. There are no departments in the traditional sense, but rather a cloud of circles. The roles within the circles can evolve through governance meetings.

“Holacracy does not try to improve the person, make them more compassionate, or expand their awareness. And it does not ask them to create a particular culture or behave with others in a certain way. But it is precisely because it does not try to change people or culture that it allows personal and cultural development to occur more naturally.”

The Holacracy approach is contrary to the agile principle like scrum. In this approach, sprints are set with fixed durations, typically two, three, or four weeks. With Holacracy, it’s different; there are actions but no deadlines. The principle is that nothing can be predicted in advance, priorities can evolve, and what was initially planned to be done first may be done second because in the meantime, a more important element has arisen.

The Holacracy process emphasizes data over opinions. This is especially true in the case of circle meetings. The way meetings work is highly structured, and the author’s presentation of it can be dictatorial. In fact, the author emphasizes these rules; they must not be violated. It’s like in a team sport; you must respect the rules for the match to proceed properly. The functioning of meetings is quite similar whether in operational or governance meetings. The process proposed by the author aims to quickly resolve issues and, if possible, at their source, thanks in part to this principle of roles. Consensus is not sought at any point. According to the author, consensus does not address every tension.

That is to say, the reaction round during meetings is used to gather all viewpoints and not opinions on others’ viewpoints. And it’s up to the person who initiated the topic to decide among the different viewpoints of circle members.