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Holacracy, anyone?

I first saw the word Holacracy at the Integral Theory Conference: an entire workshop about "A New Operating System for Evolution-Powered Organizations" and I couldn't go because it was in the same time slot as Dylan Newcomb's Integral Embodiment, and I couldn't pass up a chance to experience integral not just from the neck up (i.e. the head).

Lucky me, Bay Area Integral is implementing Holacracy for its organizational structure, which means that I, as a volunteer, get to participate in learning all about it.

Having only participated in two Holacracy meetings thus far (a tactical meeting and a governance meeting—yes, Holacracy meetings are super-structured with explicitly defined purposes and outputs), I don't have much to say other than that I am intrigued and willing to give it a chance.

What I can say so far:

1. I've never been in a meeting that went so much like clockwork. Part of that was the strong facilitation that kept us on track and in line with the meeting structures every single step of the way. "Ok that sounds more like a governance issue, so if you would bring that up at the governance meeting in an hour, we can move on for now."
2. The organizational structure seems fairly flat, with roles assigned according to ability and easy to morph and adapt. Everyone got an equal say in building the agenda for each meeting and on every agenda item covered.
3. Holacracy promises a lot. Beyond such poetic goals as "liberating the soul" of your organization, it aims toward everything from the holy grail of getting egos out of the way to make your organization self-organizing through fractal structure.
4. Reading a Holacracy blog article, The Irony of Empowerment, sold me on giving it a chance. The article is brilliant. If the idea that self-empowerment is the only kind of empowerment there is doesn't make crystalline sense, please read it!

More on this topic as it unfolds in my experience. Holacracy's highly structured nature will no doubt be off-putting to some, but if it delivers even halfway on its promises then as far as I'm concerned such folks can go find some other group on which to impose their need for freedom!

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