Posted January 25, 2012 - 11:32pm by Brian Robertson
Despite the implicit nature of our expectations, we often apply them to others as if they were clearly the right thing, and sometimes even wield them over others as a weapon – especially when we’re frustrated. That is, until we’re the target of someone else’s implicit expectations, and then we cry foul – “that wasn’t clear to me!” Perhaps we declare the expectations unreasonable, or kick ourselves for not doing better. And ultimately, what else can we do? We must expect things of each other to work together effectively.More
Posted September 14, 2011 - 6:59pm by Brian Robertson
I often receive requests or invitations via e-mail, which are sent to me as an individual but are really about the work of HolacracyOne as an organization. Often the sender is interested in Holacracy™ and is generously reaching out to me in some way to support or connect with the work. This creates a fascinating challenge; while my own enthusiasm often leaves me wanting to respond individually, Holacracy™ expressly pushes against that kind of fusion of human and organization.More
Posted August 5, 2011 - 10:50pm by Brian Robertson
One of the exciting things to me about working in HolacracyOne (the organization behind Holacracy™) is that we eat our own dog food, as the idiom goes – we use Holacracy™ to organize the company. Last year we took a major step forward in this regard – we adopted the Holacracy™ Constitution in our legal bylaws, and built a novel legal structure for the organization around that foundation.More
Posted June 10, 2011 - 8:21pm by Brian Robertson
Typically, power and authority in an organization formally rest with the guy at the top – the CEO, managing director, or whatever label is used. Theoretically power is delegated from there, however this process is often extremely fuzzy. More often, most people in the organization have little clarity about who has what authority to make which decisions, at least for many topics.More
Posted May 2, 2011 - 7:16pm by Brian Robertson
When you agree to take an action, do you also give others a commitment of when you’ll do it by (the so-called “what-by-when”)? As much as this practice is generally recommended in today’s business world, allow me to offer a contrary view: This practice has big downsides, and obscures a better way that comes from an altogether different paradigm.More
Posted March 16, 2011 - 10:26pm by Brian Robertson
In today’s post-conventional world, there’s often a value placed on integration – on finding some way to integrate any perspectives, desires, or requests that show up. Few of our readers need explanation of the value in this capacity to integrate. Yet every value is just one side of a polarity, so where is the place for saying “no” – clearly, confidently, and autocratically?More
Posted December 10, 2010 - 1:00pm by Brian Robertson
Do any of these symptoms show up in your organization?
• Lots of meetings with lots of discussion to reach consensus on things
• E-mails fly around with lots of people cc’d, often for unclear reasons
• People check-in with everyone before making decisions, and expect others will too
• People have lots of ideas about what “we” should do… but “we” doesn’t do itMore
Posted October 28, 2010 - 8:29pm by Brian Robertson
Awhile back I had the privilege of attending a play written by one of my favorite organizational authors, Barry Oshry. It was a brilliant play about organization and empowerment, and one of the lines really struck me and stuck with me. The line was delivered by a character who worked for an empowering leader, right after that leader had been fired for his unconventional ways. As the character lamented the loss of such an amazing, empowering boss, he asked a pleading question of his coworkers: “Who will empower us now?”.More
Posted August 30, 2010 - 6:01pm by Brian Robertson
Have you ever worked in or with an organization, and felt some tension about the way things were done? Perhaps you saw an opportunity for improvement, or an endemic challenge that needed attention – in the organization’s actions, policies, processes, strategy, or structure? It’s hard to imagine someone who hasn’t. In organizational life we often sense potential futures that are different from present reality, and would be a step forward in some way. But then what? What can you do with these “tensions” you sense?More
Posted August 6, 2010 - 6:43pm by Brian Robertson
Humans have a wonderful tendency to make distinctions where underlying reality has no such boundaries. Some of these distinctions prove useful for a time and become unquestioned givens – new definitions or categories that we believe are reflective of a fixed reality, rather than temporary constructs of human meaning-making. Eventually though, all distinctions outlive their usefulness – and when that happens, evolution’s challenge is to draw new boundaries to collapse and integrate what we previously thought of as fixed opposites. One such distinction I see as no longer useful is the divide between for-profit and non-profit organizations.More
