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?” because it…

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. So, when faced with a question…

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…

Holacracy Practitioner’s Guide — a) “Trust me.” In the conventional paradigm, when you ask someone for a projection on something they’re working on, it can easily be interpreted as a challenge to their competence. Remember, there is often an unconscious assumption that a request for transparency is somehow incompatible with trust (see #7, Projections allow us…

If you’ve read Part 1 of Understanding Projections, then you know projections are one of the most powerful, but least intuitive, constructs in Holacracy practice. Hopefully, that article made them a little easier to understand. The point of this article is to show you how to demonstrate that understanding. 1. Take responsibility for asking, tracking, and following up on the outcomes you care about.

Holacracy Practitioner’s Guide — On the surface, the way Holacracy deals with projections and deadlines may seem counter-intuitive, or at times, just crazy. For example, if I look you in the face and promise you I’ll finish a particular project by Friday, you absolutely should NOT believe me. If your reaction is, “Huh?!” then…