A practical guide to understanding Holacracy’s core rules — with clarity, context, and real-world insight from its creator.
Published on Aug 8, 2025
Every organization needs a way to define how things work—who does what, how decisions get made, and how change happens.
In Holacracy, all of that is captured in one place: the Holacracy Constitution. It’s the backbone of the framework, setting out the rules to define roles, decision-making, and governance across the organization.
Now, for the first time, there’s a course that takes you through it article by article — Decoding the Constitution, led by Holacracy creator Brian Robertson.
Most organizations rely on one of two models: culture-based management, where people align through shared values and informal norms, or structure-based management, where processes and policies spell everything out.
Both approaches can work—up to a point. But both have serious limits when it comes to evolving an organization over time.
When culture is the only glue, change becomes fragile. Tensions surface, but without a clear way to address them structurally. You end up needing influence, persuasion, or consensus just to fix something that isn’t working.
As Brian Robertson puts it in Decoding the Constitution:
“Culture can harden just like a rigid process—it’s just less visible.”
At the other end, rigid structures can feel stale or bureaucratic. Rules are created to solve yesterday’s problems and never revisited. Eventually, the written structure no longer reflects how the work actually happens—if it ever did.
The core challenge of organizing is creating clarity and consistency—without getting stuck.
That’s where constitutional management comes in. Instead of trying to perfect the structure up front or relying on invisible norms, constitutional management offers a clear meta-structure—a defined process for how an organization creates, maintains, and adjusts its own rules.
“It doesn’t just define how things work. It defines how to change how things work.”
Brian Robertson, Decoding the Constitution
Holacracy implements this through a formal Constitution that empowers every team to define Roles, make decisions, and evolve their structure. With built-in mechanisms like the governance process, anyone can propose changes and help improve how the organization works.
It’s not a top-down design or a static manual. It’s a living process.
“You’re not choosing structure over people—you’re choosing a structure in service of people.”
Brian Robertson, Decoding the Constitution
In Decoding the Constitution, Holacracy creator Brian Robertson breaks down the Constitution article by article for the first time—in plain, accessible language.
Most Holacracy courses focus on how to use the framework—how to run meetings, take on roles, or process tensions. This one takes you under the hood.
It unpacks the why behind the rules: the foundational logic, the structural choices, and the principles that hold the whole system together.
So if you’re someone who wants to understand the inner mechanics of Holacracy—not just how to use it, but how it all fits together—this course is for you.
Whether you’re new or experienced, it will sharpen your understanding and help you apply the rules with more clarity and nuance.
Included in the course:
Decoding the Constitution is available to all Practitioner Access members of the Self-Management Accelerator.
Already a member? Start the course now →
Not yet? Explore the course page and get access:
Decoding the ConstitutionTo learn more about self-management, join a community of pioneers and check out our e-courses → Self-Management Accelerator
Original developers of Holacracy. On a journey to evolve humanity's relationship to power.
Licensed Holacracy Provider since 2007
Definitions of key terms used in Holacracy practice.
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How to make things change at work with Holacracy.
Why you need to encourage objections.