Holacracy: there's gonna be a whole lot a pain right?

A recurring thread in my musings around implementing Holacracy is that it’s going to be damn painful for some folks; particularly for those transitioning to Holacracy from a traditional organisational model.

A key feature of Holacracy is that it enables (read forces) clear separation of roles from the people who fill them. In his book ‘Holacracy: The Revolutionary Management System that Abolishes Hierarchy’, Brian Robertson refers to this as “separating roles from souls”.

You are not what you do. The great majority of people, I’d hasten to bet, have wedded their identities quite firmly to their occupational behaviours.

And, I’d wager that most people when asked the question ‘Who are you?’ would respond with their profession with responses like ‘I’m a fireman’ or ‘I’m a business analyst’.

You’ll see it with actors - particularly those on a long running series - when interviewed. Some refer to ‘I’ when actually they should be referring to the character's name. They’ve linked the behaviour of acting out a character to their own identity.

People that have done this and then lose their job or retire can often become depressed. They lose their identity when they no longer do (or get recognised) for the thing they use to do.

Try it yourself. I know if I try to answer the question without using references to what I do it kind of leaves me feeling a little bit of a void.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not laying blame for people wiring their brains wrong - I think it’s a pretty common case in our current state of evolution. We’re all at it until we become sufficiently self-aware.

And it’s going to be tough if people don’t have some useful thinking strategies to hand.

Which leads me to NLP and the useful tools and models for managing your own thinking that it provides.

One tool in particular is the ‘Logical Levels’ model by Robert Dilts. It defines 6 layers of self.

• Spirit (or purpose): A collective space, greater than ourselves. What we are here for. What we are a shared part of.
• Identity: Who are we. We all have a sense of identity nestled in there somewhere. 
• Values and Beliefs: What we hold to be true. What we value. These are key influences on what motivates (and demotivates) us. 
• Capabilities: Our skills. What we know how to do. 
• Behaviour: What are we doing. The acting of using our skills in our environment. 
• Environment: Where we are. Where we do the things we do. 

I’ve experienced a whole host of techniques built around this model and I can see many of them coming to the fore as we build the new mindsets needed for organisational models like Holacracy.

That said, if you insist in linking your identity to your profession, I guess you could unhinge the job title or role and refer to yourself as an ‘energiser of roles’. Maybe. Try that at the next BBQ, see how it goes.