Promoting Holacracy (or something like it) at Google

Image by Vectorportal.com, CC BY

I finally drummed up the courage to reach out to Tom Thomison. Tom co-founded HolacracyOne and encode.org.

In my Holacracy journey, I kept seeing Tom's fingerprints. But in recently connecting with encode.org, I decided that I should at least introduce myself. It just took a while to gather the courage to reach out.

I connected with him on LinkedIn and finally asked for a meeting in search of his advice.

We chatted about ways to best promote Holacracy (or other forms of organizational self-management) at Google.

The Case for Self-Management

I entered the conversation feeling stumped. Google prides itself on making decisions based on data. But I don't have much data to make a business case for self-management.

Sure, I can point to data about how self-management engages and empowers employees. Gallup's annual State of the Global Workplace paints a bleak picture. Self-management overcomes that.

I can personally attest to the intoxicating sense of personal ownership and pride that I felt. I was able lean in and leverage my strengths. I could live into my passions.

And I can theorize that moving authority to the edges of the organization makes it more nimble, more responsive to its complex environment. But I don't have data to show that.

Connecting to the Soul

So I asked Tom for advice. How can I make the case for Holacracy or some derivative thereof. How can I show that it's good for Google.

I was a little disappointed. Tom shared that, in his experience, what made Holacracy compelling was how it resonated with the values of the leader who held the authority. Only by capturing their heart and soul is their mind open to the conversation.

*sigh*

How do I act on that? I don't have access to Google leadership (yet). If I did, I doubt that I'd have access to their souls. Unless...

Stories

I need to tell stories that resonate with their souls. Then we can reason together over the business case.

Sure, I can tell my own story, but I'm just a single flicker of light in a constellation of tens of thousands of Googlers.

I need to collect stories, stories of empowerment, stories of effectiveness, of engagement, of impact.

(I like collecting and telling stories. For a couple of seasons, I did some writing for Three Sheets Northwest, a Seattle-area sailing website.)

That's my new strategy. I'll still play the current strategy: partnering with teams who want to grow, helping them evolve toward shared authority, but I don't see that as having the impact, the focus on self-management that I want.

I need to collect stories, stories from people who have practiced self-management, stories of success and failure, of victory and defeat.

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What's your story? Let's chat: bkh@briankhaney.com.

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