How does it work?
A lot of people think that Holacracy is a process of no hierarchy, whereas, in my opinion is that Holacracy is hierarchy on drugs. Holacracy puts a lot of belief into democratic procedures, having consensual discussions that lead to decisions and given importance to everyone’s view.
The difference is that the entire hierarchy is decided in a democratic manner. Basically, it’s a hierarchy of circles. Each circle is run by a defined democratic procedure. This procedure will differ from organization to organization. Each higher circle tells its lower circles what are the exact expectations are from it, and what the purpose was for that particular circle to be created. The higher circle does have the power to change the lower circle, it can change the purpose, the people or even abolish the entire circle altogether.
Now, I did mention above that there are no managers in a Holacracy. However, that isn’t completely correct. While there is no title of Manager, but there are clearly defined roles and whoever is fulfilling that role is for all practicality the manager for that period.
A lot of people have misunderstood Holacracy and believe that it would lead to complete chaos and confusion as there would be no hierarchy and no managers. However, if you read the Holacracy constitution, you will see that is not that case. Holacracy in its own way is extremely complicated and pushes a level of hierarchy than in certain ways seems counter-productive.
The basic process getting a holacracy in place are as follows:
I. Roles
a. Defining a role: A role in simple terms, is an entity that has clear tasks and accountabilities, and a clearly demarked area of control
b. Responsibilities of Role Filling:
i.The person (or partner) who fulfills a role, must take on the onus to identify gaps between what exists in the current stage, and what it can actually be
ii.A partner must break down the role into a clear project, ie the final desired outcome and the next actions, ie the concrete actionable that has to be executed.
iii.A partner must ensure that the right projects and next actions get the relevant time and focus from himself/herself and the available resources
c. Authority over Domains: A partner has the authority to control how other roles can impact their own domain.
d. Authority to Act: A partner can take any action to fulfill their roles accountability as long as it doesn’t impact other roles without their corresponding partners knowledge and approval. role, unless prohibited by a particular policy.
II. Circle Structure
a. A circle is a role that is broken down into further sub roles allowing multiple people to work together and get the overall purpose of that role completed
b. A circle can delegate its entire domain to a specific role but in this case, the role cannot give away control or spend resources with the approval of the circle
c. Anyone filling a role in a circle is defined as a core member of that circle. Each circle must also have a lead link who is also chosen through the governance policies. The lead link controls all domains in a circle which “have not yet” been allocated to a role.
d. If a role is fulfilled by multiple people, the circle can decide to not include all the members of that role for meetings and they would be represented by Rep Link who acts as a member of the core circle.
III. Role Assignment
a. The lead link can assign any partner of the organization to a specific role, unless prohibited by a particular policy
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FMS Scholastic Council