Over the last couple of years I’ve had several people point me towards a new “breakthrough” “amazing” “truly integral” “third tier” approach to organisational design and management: Holacracy. The implication was you need to learn this; the nice side was that people aligned my interests with ‘breakthrough,’ ‘amazing,’ ‘truly integral’ and ‘third tier.’
Frankly, in the world of organisations and getting things done collectively, I’ll settle for anything ‘first tier’ that actually works! For those not familiar with ‘first tier’ whatever, don’t worry, the references in this piece stop here (or start here if you’re curious – but be warned it’s a deep rabbit hole;). I’m also quite wary of new ‘management methods’ as they populate like rabbits, and tend to be as useful as the proverbial lucky rabbits foot.
Holacracy is, as the name suggests, an organisational governance method that attempts to embody Holarchy. Hol what? Well, holoarchy is an extension of the philosophical observation of holons, a term coined by Arthur Koestler, and popularised most recently by Ken Wilber and his version of Integral Theory, the AQAL model. A Holon is anything that is both a part and a whole at the same time. A whole/part – a brief history of holons is here. The organisational approach is that there are natural (read ‘healthy’) collections of holons (the part aspect) that form functional wholes (teams, organisations etc). Just so we’re clear, Holacracy isn’t the first effort at this… just the most recent, and the one most often passing across my desk lately. It is also a misapplication, technically speaking, of how Ken Wilber would regard a holon… another messy little rabbit hole if ever I journeyed one;)
The other week I had a discussion with the executive staff and executive director of a community organisation in the USA. The community has thousands of loosely associated members worldwide, a 15+ year formation history, and real viability challenges in terms of ‘getting things done.’ Well, that’s not quite right, they’ve survived this long right? But from their point of view, they’re looking to take the next steps towards greater coherency in collective actions. Something most organisations can relate to…
In presenting an opportunity for a (pro-bono) strategic foresight project to them, the method of Holacracy again reared its’ head. Apparently it’s the flavour of the month, something everyone is aligned to and looking to implement as their next big step.
Well, in line with that, I’d like to offer some reflections as someone who has engaged in organisational establishment and transformation professionally for the past 10+ years. Let’s call them some not-so-subtle cautionary considerations. Not-so-subtle largely because I’m in a hurry, but also because I want the warnings to stand out clearly for them: they’ll risk being called half formed, biased and non-appreciative… but if they are, at least we’re talking about them.
So, what are my warnings? Well, let’s start with a fly-by critique. Holacracy could easily be described (negatively) as: Read More
