What if we told you that there are companies that do not have bosses? It is hard to believe, since managerial positions are the main positions in companies because they are necessary to control personnel and ensure good production or that the tasks assigned to your employees are carried out successfully. However, today several companies are adopting a new way of managing their operations.
This style of running a business is called a holocracy . Find out what this new philosophy is about and if its implementation in companies can be productive.
What is the holocracy?
A former manager of Zappos , a clothing and footwear retail company, changed jobs after the company made the decision to eliminate managerial positions. Zappos has spent almost a full year operating under the holocracy, which is a unique self-management system: Employees are not supervised by a boss and must solve problems that present themselves, thereby promoting internal growth.
Retail CEO Tony Hsieh said employees could either function on self-management or look for other jobs. This measure initially created tension and confusion, however it also helped to identify the true believers, that is, the employees who helped the company get ahead and who were truly committed.
One of the employees, Danielle Kelly, went through this transition. For her it was something totally new and revolutionary. The transition was difficult and frustrating at times, however in the end his vision completely changed how companies and workers should function.
Kelly and his team had to spend weeks figuring out how to restructure their jobs, learning from the hierarchy and protocols of the holocracy.
Can the holocracy work?
Workers may feel at first that they are part of an experiment that leads nowhere, however, this self-management system can pay off.
Companies that decide to implement the holocracy have to go through a difficult and painful process. The transition involves several obstacles, one of the most important is time, since they need to adapt to new routines and structuring.
Although the period was stressful for everyone, Kelly found a new opportunity to use the holocracy and create something new, such as the main link of the Kit Teal circle , which is dedicated to creating self-management tools, which allows employees see all unfilled roles in a particular circle, a feature that was especially helpful after hundreds of employees decided to leave their jobs.
Kelly came to the conclusion that she would not leave her job to be in a normal company, since this method based on the holocracy, taught her to empower herself and understand the importance of her own work.
Reference
- Richard Feloni, A former Zappos manager explains how her job changed afer the company got rid bosses. For Businessinsider [Revised February 2016]
