Break the pyramidal hierarchy and establish an egalitarian model -
leading to a
bossless world
Get rid of managers, end the bureaucracy … The supposed benefits of holacracy are such that the new management system developed in 2001 by a start-up software company, Ternary Software, has since been emulated across the United States. The most symbolic case is Amazon subsidiary Zappos, an online retailer, which began a transition to Holacracy in 2013 by ditching manager roles and job titles in favour of “self-management”. Since then, the Darwinian strategy of Zappos has seemed to work. But what is it exactly, and how does it function?
The aim is to distribute authority and decision-making to all employees. Thus, there are no tradition management roles in holacracy. Job titles are replaced by “roles” that an individual acquires. The typical pyramidal hierarchy is replaced by a series of “circles” dedicated to specific functions like marketing and customer relations. "Lead links" in each circle maintain a level of control over their colleagues, but only through the management of their tasks. That way, each employee can define his or her own strategy.
Messy? Disorganised? It’s not what you think. In the complex procedure of holacracy, “[…] it’s not the fastest or the strongest who survive. It’s the ones most adaptive to change”, says Zappos CEO Tony Hseih. But is it too good to be true? The path to holacracy can be full of pitfalls. “Four to six months are needed to acquire new reflexes,” estimates one expert, Bernard-Marie Chiquet. Usually takes place without complications, though some employees don’t manage to move forward. The most unwilling to change? The ones who don’t like to take initiatives and prefer being guided.
In principle, all organisations, big or small, public or private, from industry to services, can adapt to holacracy. “Obviously, it remains easier for start-ups, because there are still no solidly ingrained habits,” explains Mr Chiquet.
Thanks to Zappos, holacracy has found itself in the spotlight. If this
experiment is successful, it could be a strong argument for both leaders
tired of bureaucracy and employees in search of professional autonomy.
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