Holacracy
Organization and Governance
The governance model of OMALAB is based on [Holacracy][holacracy]. The operational model is a hybrid system built on Holacracy's tactical methodology, David Allen's Getting Things Done, and using our own rules and agreements to make this come together in Asana. This section will provide you with all the information you need to navigate these systems.
Ultimately however it is the purpose of the Holacracy Coach and the GTD Coach roles to support everyone at OMALAB to get the most out of this system and to have it run smoothly.
There is a cost to learning these tools and methodologies but you should expect them to eventually and ultimately disappear into the background and become of great support to your work at OMALAB and beyond. If this does not become the case eventually it is up to you to reach out for support.
Governance
We run our business on the Holacracy Constitution with an important policy that allows for circles to opt in and out of self-governance.
This policy: Policy: Localized Governance
Each circle shall delegate its governance authority to the role of @Governor.
The @Governor of each circle shall have exclusive authority of passing governance in their circle.
For a circle to evolve to distributed governance. The @Governor, @Lead Link of the circle, and @Holacracy Engagement Lead need to all agree.
For a circle to turn back towards localized governance, the @Lead Link of the circle and @Holacracy Engagement Lead need to agree.
Role: Governor Purpose: This circle's structure evolved through governance in order to optimally express its purpose Domain: This circle’s governance Accountabilities:
Meeting with circle members in order to process their governance tensions
Acting as Secretary when enacting governance outside of a meeting
Creating and passing governance proposals for this circle
Holacracy is a new way of running an organization that removes power from a management hierarchy and distributes it across clear roles, which can then be executed autonomously. The work is actually more structured than in a conventional company, just differently so. With Holacracy, there is a clear set of rules and processes for how a team breaks up its work, and defines its roles with clear accountabilities and expectations.
Getting Started with Holacracy
Watch our Operating Model Videos
You can also read this general summary
Learn the different Definitions Terms and Definitions
Learn about Holacratic Meetings
Learn about the Holacracy Specific Roles
Learn how we're using Asana by learning the Holacracy-Asana-Key
When you're ready learn more about the Finer Points of Holacratic Practice
Check out the Holacracy Book and Reinventing Organizations Note - Again, because we are not running distributed governance, please ignore the sections that are about Governance Meetings or Governance meetings processes in the Holacracy Book
Why this system?
We're using this hybrid for many reasons, here are some of the main ones:
Meetings can run in circles, where we speak passionately “about” topics but don't actually get to actionable outcomes.
Those who are heard in meetings are those who spoke the loudest and/or quickest. And quieter, slower thinkers are not heard from nearly as much.
Partners feel disempowered by the power structure.
Partners don’t feel enough autonomy, and needed to check in with a very large number of people to “cover their butt” and make sure its ok to do what they want to do.
Ideas and movement are bottle-necked by the managers, because most change and action have to go through them.
Work is overwhelming, and stress builds quickly as problems become more complicated
Our minds spend a lot of RAM on keeping up with our work and don't have enough space for creativity or our own personal well-being
What is Holacracy?
Holacracy is a social technology, an organizational design or operating system for companies.
This is a great FAQ by the founder to help answer some deeper questions.
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