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Chris Cowan, EdD., MDiv.
Chris Cowan, EdD., MDiv.

1K Followers

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4 days ago

How to Appropriately Blame People (Including Ourselves)

Did the person make a reasonable judgment, in good faith, given the information they had? — When something bad happens, we look for someone to blame. Regardless of whether we succeed or not, it’s an understandable impulse. The problem with blaming, that is attributing responsibility or accountability to someone’s choices or behavior, is that we tend to do it poorly. We spill our water at a…

3 min read

How to Appropriately Blame People (Including Ourselves)
How to Appropriately Blame People (Including Ourselves)

3 min read


Aug 3

You’re Right, He’s a Jerk — Now Why Do You Care?

How to Accept Complaining and also Challenge It — When someone complains, I’m generally very sympathetic. But I also don’t want to lead someone astray by enabling an unhealthy victim story. Blaming someone else for not meeting a need of yours is confusing responsibility to and responsibility for. So, while I want to listen and be supportive, I don’t…

2 min read

2 min read


Jul 31

Why the Wronger You Are, the Righter You Feel

How Your Limiting Beliefs Actually Make Sense (and what to do about it) — Human beings are smart. Though there may be arguable exceptions to that claim, it seems generally true that our intelligence comes from (or is expressed through) our amazing capacity to learn. A baby bites its bottle, then bites its own finger, and notices the difference. We can say then that…

4 min read

Why the Wronger You Are, the Righter You Feel
Why the Wronger You Are, the Righter You Feel

4 min read


Jul 10

Introducing a Holacracy® Glossary

Holacracy Practitioner’s Guide — Learning Holacracy isn’t just like learning a new language, it actually is learning a new language. And for the most part, the new words you need to know, like “Accountability,” and, “Domain” are defined in the Holacracy constitution. However, the constitution doesn’t provide a complete list. So, I wrote an updated set of definitions for practitioners that I think has four advantages:

Holacracy

1 min read

Introducing a Holacracy® Glossary
Introducing a Holacracy® Glossary
Holacracy

1 min read


May 17

Please Don’t “Collaborate!”

We love to collaborate, but what does “collaborate” mean? My business partner, Olivier Compagne, says it this way… If we really want a role to “collaborate” with another role, then it’s much clearer to specify the nature of that collaboration. Do we want the role to “consider suggestions” from another role? Or, “integrate objections”? Or, even “integrate input”? Or, do we really mean “Execute… as directed” by another role? Some options are better than others depending on the context, but regardless of which one we choose, Holacracy pushes us to make a conscious decision about it.

1 min read

Please Don’t “Collaborate!”
Please Don’t “Collaborate!”

1 min read


Apr 10

Going West: How Our Intentions Get in Their Own Way

In order to achieve any result, you must be willing to accept its opposite. For example, if you want to get to California from the east coast of the United States, you must go west. But if you’re completely, obsessively, unbendingly attached to the strategy of “going west,” you’ll never reach your destination. Why? Because inevitably you’re going to run into a river, a mountain, or a dead end. When that happens, you’ll have to adapt. You’ll need to go south or north, or maybe even east. “East? Travel east!? But that’s literally the opposite of what I need to do!!!”

1 min read

Going West: How Our Intentions Get in Their Own Way
Going West: How Our Intentions Get in Their Own Way

1 min read


Apr 3

Why We Should Increasingly Value Being Explicit

Do we need to clarify something obvious? Probably not. If it’s obvious, then it’s obvious. The very definition of the word “obvious” precludes the question. Yet, some argue that clarity is helpful for its own sake. “Even if something seems obvious,” they might say, “it may be worth exploring further.”…

2 min read

Why We Should Increasingly Value Being Explicit
Why We Should Increasingly Value Being Explicit

2 min read


Published in

HolacracyOne Blog

·Nov 16, 2022

Understanding Relational Agreements

Holacracy® Practitioner’s Guide — Introduced in Holacracy Constitution v5, rules about “relational agreements” were added as a complement to governance. This made some things more clear, but also introduced some complexity. But before I say too much about them, I need to introduce a presupposition that I’ll also emphasize several times through the article…

Holacracy

14 min read

Understanding Relational Agreements
Understanding Relational Agreements
Holacracy

14 min read


Nov 6, 2022

Persuasion is More Powerful than Force

Holacracy® Practitioner’s Guide — Strictly speaking, “Holacracy” is just a set of rules without any explicit principles, but of course philosophical principles impact which rules are included and how they are defined. Here’s one you should know… Persuasion is more powerful than force. It’s hard to make someone do something they don’t want to…

2 min read

Persuasion is More Powerful than Force
Persuasion is More Powerful than Force

2 min read


Published in

HolacracyOne Blog

·Aug 22, 2022

Rules that Can Be Modified in Holacracy v5.0

Holacracy Practitioner’s Guide — You need to know that while all of the rules in the Holacracy Constitution are important, they are not equally so. Thankfully, the differences are more clear in Constitution version 5.0 because it specifies which rules can be replaced with a policy. Note: See the “Notes” section at the end…

Holacracy Guide

4 min read

Rules that Can Be Modified in Holacracy v5.0
Rules that Can Be Modified in Holacracy v5.0
Holacracy Guide

4 min read

Chris Cowan, EdD., MDiv.

Chris Cowan, EdD., MDiv.

1K Followers

I write about self-management, leadership, and Holacracy®

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