self-organization case study blinkist & zalando technology
TRANSCRIPT
Beyond Holacracy2 Case Studies of Self-Organization
Tobias Leonhardt & Sebastian Klein
Agenda
Introduction: Holacracy
Case Study: Blinkist
Case Study: Zalando
Connect
1
2
3
4
Introduction: Self-organization
& Holacracy
Two books you should read:
GreenValue-driven, Relationships over OutcomesCommunity, Culture, FulfillmentEmpowerment, ParticipationStakeholder Perspective
OrangePredict & Control, Management by ObjectivesIndividualism, Performance, CompetitionProfit & Growth OrientationShareholder Perspective
RedCommand & Control Formal Top-Down HierarchiesRigorous processes Stability & Continuity as core values
Holacracy can seem quite complex
… which is why we made it lighter
Case Study:Blinkist
About me
So many books, so little time …
Blinkist – some facts• Founded July 2012 in Berlin by team of 4
• Today, 25 employees plus about 70 freelancers
• More than 300,000 users in >140 countries
• Target users: busy professionals (like you!)
• Funded by several VCs and business angels
What we wanted work to look like …
What we clearly didn’t want:
What we clearly didn’t want:
What happened next?
Exactly that!
After 2 years, we were facing …
1. An ineffective silo-structure
2. Massive leadership issues
3. Implicit expectations and politics
4. No shared sense of “we“
…
=> Everything we had run away from in the corporate world!
How we fixed it:
Blinkracy’s key elements:
1. Purpose first – on all levels
2. Distributed Authority and decentralized decision-making
3. Flexible Roles & Circles instead of job descriptions & departments
4. Differentiation of Governance and Tactical / GTD
5. Tensions as base for constant development
What happened to those problems?
Ineffective silo-structure
Implicit expectations and politics
Leadership issues
No shared sense of “we“
Overlapping Circles
Clear Roles
Governance process
Purpose orientation
And what happened next?
Our team loves it …Getting Things Done
Work is Fun
… but our investors love it, too!
Case study: Blinkist’s audio feature
Key take-aways
1. Read the books
2. Find your own light approach
3. Learn from each other
Case Study:Zalando
Tobias Leonhardt
Facilitating transformational change
Co-creating self-organizational frameworks
Pioneering Teal
google.com/+TobiasLeonhardtBerlin
xing.com/profile/Tobias_Leonhardt5
16 countries3 fulfillment centers16+ million active customers2.2+ billion € revenue 2014135+ million visits per month9.000+ employees
Motivatorscropping complexity
addapt to fast changing environments
live innovation every day
attract high skilled talents
use collective intelligence
How about you?
ZalandoTechnology
Principles
1. Just do it [consent decision making]
2. Be free to do it [role autonomy]
3. Everybody is a leader [distributed leadership]
History
personal organisational
Integral Theory
myself
weHolacracy®
Sociocracy
Agile & Lean
Practice
“Valley of Tears”
Kickoff Workshop
Purpose & Vision Distributed Leadership Framework
PURPOSEAUTONOMY
MASTERY
RADICAL AGILITY
Roles 1.0
OKRs
Roles 2.0
Workgroups
CH
AN
GE
CU
RV
ETEAM DEVELOPMENT
Facilitator Transparency
Governance Meeting
Operational Sync Meeting
Special Topic Meeting
Purpose
Autonomous Roles Tension
What?
How?Proposal
DISTRIBUTED LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORKfor Self-Organisation
FacilitatorTransparency Representative
KPI ManagerOKR ExpertDocu Expert
Team Work OrganizerTeam Ambassador
Acquisition ManagerBacklog ManagerPortfolio Manager
Communication ExpertOnboarding Support
Process Management CoachProcess Model Designer
Process Monitoring DesignerPMT Admin
ZMON AdminAnalyst
Project Coordinator Monitoring ContinuityProject Coordinator App Monitoring
Project Coordinator Monitoring SummaryProject Coordinator Modular MonitoringProject Coordinator Same Day Delivery
Roles of a Circle
A“Role” is an organizational construct with a descriptive name and one or more of the following:
● (a) a “Purpose”, which is a capacity, potential, or unrealizable goal that the Role will pursue or express on behalf of the Organization
● (c) one or more “Accountabilities”, which are ongoing activities of the Organization that the Role will enact.
Helper / Governance Meeting - Visualisation
Key take-aways
★ Holacracy® is not enough
★ Holacracy® is too much -
start with a subset
★ “Leads first” works best
★ Align your environment carefully
★ Stick to the framework
Needs
1. someone with 1st hand experience
2. a strategic investment
3. the will to make it
4. connect
ConnectPractice 1
Which reaction could you observe
within you after this talk? (2 min.)
i.e. surprise, scepticism, excitement, denial,
confusion, aha-effect, ...
Sharing
ConnectPractice 2
Which chances do you see in self-
organization? (3 min.)
Sharing
ConnectPractice 3
Which risks do you see in self-
organization? (3 min.)
Sharing
ConnectPractice 4
Imagine you would want to start
self-organization in you company!
What would you need first? (4 min.)
Let’s be in touch!
21th Century Organisationshttp://www.meetup.com/de/Self-Orga-Berlin/
CreditsMental Model, slide no. 5from https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterjgreen, https://vimeo.com/121517508 [watch this - it’s,a realy cool video]