Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Melissa Rosenthal Photo credit: Chuttersnap

Every time I turn around I read or hear another perspective on why holacracy is the future of work. Turning our backs on the limitations of traditional roles and hierarchies — who wouldn’t want that, right? Anyone who has ever felt cramped by the limitations of old school rules and structures is likely bursting to embrace the new autonomous way.

Creating self-managing, self-sustaining systems of work seems like a great idea doesn’t it?. Giving people freedom to be creative and solve problems makes sense for both the individual and the customers they serve. You’ll hear no argument from me about putting decision making as close as possible to the customer.

But here’s the thing….

not every individual, function or even organisation is ready for the level of autonomy that comes with holacracy.

Last year I spent some time working with an organisation that had made the decision to transition from traditional management structures to autonomous work groups. Overnight each individual became responsible for their own deliverables and their own development.

Watching the transition unfold it became clear that there are some critical conditions for holacracy to succeed.

From what I saw holacracy works best when you have…

Strategic Focus — when you’re crystal clear about the customer problem you’re trying to solve . So whether you’re a developer, a product manager or a customer service rep, you know exactly where to point your effort.
Experience — when there is enough experience within the team (and each individual) so that everyone (the team included) can trust in the collective judgement and capability to get the job done and done well.
EQ — the ability to recognise what you know — and what you don’t. The willingness to ask for help when you need it — and (linking with the point above) the experience to know who to ask.
Intrinsic confidence — people who are willing and able to make decisions. Let’s face it, some people are permission seekers. They want endorsement from others before they make a decision or act. In a holacracy these people become paralysed by the idea that they can and should decide without the endorsement of people in power.
Collective Perspective — a mindset that is focused on the organisation and the team rather than the individual. There’s a very fine line between an highly effective autonomous expert and a rogue. During a visit to Silicon Valley a few years ago I interviewed HR executives from a range of organisations about the challenges of finding and retaining tech talent. One of the most common themes was the “tech guru gone rogue” — those experts who, when placed on a pedestal, begin to pursue their own agenda at the expense of the organisation. Finding team members who can bind the autonomous team around a collective purpose (rather than the pursuit of a personal agenda) is critical.

So, is holacracy a whole lot of BS? No I don’t think so. Like any new approach it must be carefully and thoughtfully designed to be fit for purpose. It’s no set and forget solution. Like any innovation it’s about experimenting over time to get the best possible outcome.

Is holacracy just a whole lot of BS? was originally published in Prototyping: From UX to Front End on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Is holacracy just a whole lot of BS?

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