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!!!”

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.”…

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® 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…

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® Coach’s Guide — Version 5.0 of the Holacracy Constitution gives you the option to adopt the ruleset on an article-by-article basis. This modular approach allows for flexibility in adoption, but makes it a little harder to provide concise answers to questions like, “What does a Circle Lead do in Holacracy v5.0?” …

Holacracy Practitioner’s Guide — In every moment, we prioritize. Sometimes we do it consciously. Sometimes not. But in either case, we pay attention to some things at the expense of others. When it comes to making choices about what to prioritize at work, Holacracy’s rules provide some guidance. For example, when faced with a…

OK, calling these hacks is a bit deceptive because they don’t break any rules, but they kinda feel like hacks. Note: As Holacracy constitution version 5.0 rolls out, I’ll combine terms like “Lead Link/Circle Lead” to cover related concepts regardless of the version you’re using. 1. Outsource your work. Just because you fill a…

Holacracy Practitioner’s Guide — In Holacracy, purpose means “a capacity, potential, or goal that the Role will pursue or express on behalf of the Organization (§ 1.1a).” And here are some examples… • “Amazing products that work every time.” • “Worry about basic systems, so no one else has to.” • “Guard the books…