What I’ve Learned About Holacracy After Working In Two Different Holacracy-Powered Organizations

I’ve been with HolacracyOne now for a few months. It started slow, but now I energize over twenty roles across four circles. Also, this isn’t my first rodeo when it comes to operating within the Holacracy framework.

In 2016 I lived in downtown Las Vegas and Zappos was in the middle of their controversial adoption of Holacracy. I wasn’t working at Zappos, though. I was starting a church. With the revitalization of the downtown Las Vegas community came a myriad of entrepreneurs and businesses. And within every community you will find a church of some sort.

As we were fundraising and team-building we met HolacracyOne partner, Olivier Compagne. He became a friend and a wonderful resource for Holacracy. I had heard about this innovative new way of working and began exploring on my own how it might work in a church. But Olivier helped me make it a reality. And with the help of another certified Holacracy Coach who joined the leadership team at the church, we were able to adopt Holacracy in a powerful way.

This was a church. A religious non-profit. The big question was how to operate using Holacracy but within the largely volunteer make-up of the workers. No one was paid. We had key partners who took on meaningful work. So, we took the work and the people and began to structure the organization using Holacracy and its accompanying software, GlassFrog.

It worked beautifully. Within months, volunteers were making important decisions which moved the church launch forward in meaningful ways. Volunteers were leading their roles. Not everything fell to the “pastor/founder” to decide.

It was nice. I was healthy, and while there were natural ebbs and flows of people and roles being added and subtracted, the organization seemed to just keep getting better. And our community at-large was reaping the benefits.

We had started from the ground up and we were creating and recreating the organization as we went. The “start-up” nature of the church was fun and everything and everyone was in a really wonderful flow.

As you may know, starting an organization using Holacracy is very different from entering a company already using Holacracy. And when I entered THE company, who not only used Holacracy but created it, there was some catching up to do.

Here’s what I learned…

• There was a lot of governance to review. So much already existed. I was now energizing roles that had been energized by a different human. There were existing accountabilities, domains, and policies. Oh the policies! Learning what currently existed as soon as I could was so important. GlassFrog made this so easy, because Holacracy made it so transparent!
• My roles were malleable to an extent. This actually took me some time. I consciously knew that my roles could be reformed and reframed through the governance process, but I didn’t own it right away. That was probably a good thing. I had to give myself time to feel the role and recognize my tensions. Once I did, I was able to approach governance with actual tensions and not anticipated ones.
• I held authority right away; even though it didn’t feel like it. I started with HolacracyOne holding mostly administrative type roles. I was answering customer service calls and doing small work to help others. This gave me a feeling of “inferiority” to some extent. But I was constantly reminded by partners to use my authority. “Oh yeah…duh!”
• Everything is essentially the same but different. I think this is one really practical yet impactful thing to remember. Holacracy does work the same in different organizations. The rules are the same. The processes are the same. The context is different. And while that takes getting used to; the essential nature of Holacracy hasn’t changed and that’s comforting.
• Purpose truly directs action if you let it. The purpose statement at our church and the purpose of HolacracyOne are fundamentally different. But each drives the decision-making process. I caught myself, even today, reviewing the HolacracyOne Purpose, and I look forward to exploring an update soon. Why? Because purpose matters. Personally. Organizationally. Purpose matters!

“Knowing your purpose satisfies a deep need that lives in everyone: the need for meaning, to have a positive impact, to have your presence and life felt by others.”

Tim Kelley, True Purpose

It doesn’t matter whether it’s Holacracy in a church or in a consulting firm or law office or school; it’s going to be the same, but different. Moving from one organization to another can be tough, even if their fundamental structure is the same.

Starting, brand new, at a Holacracy-powered organization can be tough as well. The key is understanding and owning your power. And if you’re with wonderful people like I’m with at HolacracyOne, they will patiently guide you and love you through your mistakes!