HolaCRAZY: Adventures in building a kick ass self-governing company (and why Holacracy isn’t enough)

Top-down management is the classic operating structure in most businesses. CEOs, presidents, and directors determine strategies that guide companies, and while this traditional platform works well for many businesses and many locations, it’s not the only method.

A year and a half ago our company set aside our previous (traditional) management structure and adopted something less conventional — Holacracy. We lasted six months before admitting defeat (although, it was more of a hiccup). We paused, reviewed our situation, and started over. And in this past year, we’ve grown like we haven’t before — bringing on both new clients and new employees. We consider all of this part of the Holacracy experience.

Brought into the spotlight by Zappos, Holacracy is a form of self-governance and an organizational structure which removes power from a management hierarchy and distributes it across clear roles, which can then be executed autonomously and without micromanagement. Ideally, Holacracy reduces roadblocks and encourages action.

Our experience with Holacracy hasn’t been perfect but it’s been real and we’ve loved it (mostly). The process and results have taught us a lot about each other and how reducing constraints and increasing transparency can vastly improve productivity. We want to share this story so other companies gain exposure to — and learn the process of implementing — something like Holacracy.

In this session we address:

• What Holacracy is
• Why we implemented it
• How we made the transition
• How we’ve made it our own
• What we’ve  gained with Holacracy

Attendees of this session will come away with an understanding of what Holacracy is, how it works, and how to implement it (if that’s an interest). There is no prior knowledge necessary to attend this session, it will speak to anyone who has worked in a company before with a classic or self-governing organization structure.