One Thread at a Time
The agile discipline of Holacracy meetings
You’ll hear that meetings in Holacracy® follow a rigid structure. It’s true, and there is a purpose to it: speed.
I’m not jazzed when I hit a red light on the road, but I understand that red lights actually improve the overall traffic flow. Similarly, the rules in Holacracy allow more speed overall, even though they get in your way at times.
A key feature of Holacracy meetings that illustrates this point is the focus on processing one issue at a time. Let’s see what it concretely means.
The Conventional Meeting
How it usually goes: Someone (often the manager) puts a *big issue* on the table for the team to discuss. Like all *big issues*, it has many underlying causes and ramifications. Everybody participates with their related-but-often-not-quite-on-topic issue. The result, some might say, looks like a ball of yarn.
And it makes sense: “issues” are multi-faceted, often complex, and people have various opinions about things. In a free-for-all meeting, what else do we expect?
