Adaptive Organizations: Part I

Organizing by Circles 

We don’t have departments or managers, but rather Circles. At the highest level, all circles are contained by the Vision Circle (VC), which has its own leadership council of Lead Link, Governor, Facilitator and Secretary, as well as the Lead Links of all the other Circles. There are also a few high-level strategic roles which only exist at the VC level.

Within the Vision Circle lies the Operations Circle, Technical Circle, and the Hustle Circle (Sales & Marketing). Every circle will have at minimum, its own Lead Link (LL) and Secretary, but also eventually a Facilitator and Governor. What role(s) Westies hold determines which Circle(s) they are a member of.

Roles, Not People 

We think less in terms of individual people with titles and seniority, and more in terms of fluid and interchangeable roles with their own accountabilities. 

You may be hired as an engineer or sales person, but you will also have the chance to wear many other hats! It might sound intimidating or scary, but it’s actually a lot of fun and a great way to learn valuable new skill-sets. This very much aligns with the MistyWest core value of being lifelong learners. 

When a Lead Link of a circle assigns a role, it gets added to Glassfrog (the Holacracy management tool) and accountabilities for that role are all clearly spelled out. If a role is not filled, it becomes the accountability of the Lead Link of that Circle to either energize the role, delegate the work or find someone to fill it. Changes to accountabilities of a role are conducted by the Governor of that Circle.

Navigating by Tensions

At MistyWest, we encourage roles to raise tensions as they experience them. This means facing a potential conflict instead of letting it fester or ignoring it (which I think we’ve all probably experienced in toxic corporate cultures). We generally do this by raising the tension directly to the role with the accountability to address that tension.

For example, if you were experiencing a tension with the way communal snacks are purchased, you would search Glassfrog to see who owns the accountability of Kitchen Organization, and raise the tension to that role (either via Asana or directly in person).

When we raise tensions or questions regarding work we are not speaking from person-to-person, but rather role-to-role. You must clearly identify what role you are speaking from, and to what role (not what person) that tension or question is being raised to. If you’re not raising it to the correct role (or not from the correct role) you may be challenged to rethink your approach.

When raising tensions, it’s also important to clearly articulate what the tension is and avoid providing solutions or directives (unless they are requested by the role holder). At the end of the day, conflict does not have to be a negative thing and is actually a way to learn and grow (provided you have productive channels via which to communicate and resolve it).