Holacracy at Viisi - Constructive, rational, and solution-oriented
Holacracy at Viisi: Constructive, rational, and solution-oriented!
On Thursday morning at half past eight, I cycle through the sunny Vondelpark to Viisi's Safari, where I have registered to take a look at a Tactical meeting. Marc-Peter gives me an enthusiastic welcome, and we walk to the meeting room together. Upon entering the meeting room, I am immediately struck by the number of books on the shelf: "Everyone who starts here gets to take home a package of books." Titles such as "Good to Great," "Start with Why," and "Getting Things Done" are well represented.
No hassle
At nine o'clock sharp, six of us are standing in the meeting room and we start with the check-in. As a guest, I join in and tell everyone how I enjoyed running through Vondelpark this morning.
We continue with the checklist review. Here, recurring actions are discussed and it is literally checked whether something has been done or not. Not done? No blame, no explanation, it is what it is. This is followed by the metrics review, in which figures are reported. This information can later be found on the large dashboards that are visible to everyone at Viisi. At the same rapid pace at which the requested metrics are reported, we move on to the project updates. The projects are all transparent and are reviewed one by one. The project owner is asked: "Update or no update?" "No update." No recriminations, no explanations, it is what it is, on to the next project.
Twice now, there have been no accusations and no explanations, whereas at every other meeting I have attended so far, there has been discussion. There seems to be acceptance of the status quo.
Struggle
But now: the tension round. Here, I expect conflict and youngsters rolling around on the floor. The Visionaries express their tensions, summarizing them in two words, and the secretary captures the tensions on screen. No youngsters rolling around on the floor yet. The tensions are rationally identified and quickly addressed in a solution-oriented manner: "What do you need?" This is followed by a request for information, a request to take action, or even to start a project. The actions and projects are captured on screen on the spot and automatically forwarded to the person with the role to do something with them. "Did you get what you needed?" If so, we move on to the next tension.
No conflict, the tensions are rationally and constructively motivated. The structure that is offered helps with this. Everyone here knows that a tension can be raised during the tension round and that active input is provided to further bring a raised tension to a solution. Dealing with a tension and converting a tension into the desired next action/projects goes smoothly and quickly.
Critical learning and a breath of fresh air
We conclude with a closing session in which everyone checks out. What is striking is that the Visionaries are very critical of their own process steps. "We need to be more careful not to add a second tension to an existing tension while we are still dealing with the first tension." "We need to be careful not to pick up the tension of another circle ('team')." As an outsider, I hadn't noticed this, and it shows that here too, they are still looking closely at how to make their own processes even more efficient and effective. How wonderful, such a learning organization.
For me, it's crystal clear: the sharpness and speed with which issues are dealt with without any discussions is a huge relief. There's no room for egos and nonsense, just a big discussion between people that is constructive, rational, and solution-oriented.