The Purely Poultry Team Has Adopted Holacracy

Purely Poultry is all about fueling people’s passion for poultry and providing poultry fanciers and enthusiasts with everything they need to successfully raise their favorite birds.

But there is something more at the heart of this company. We want to be a company that is a good force in the world. We have a team of people who are satisfied and proud of the company they work for and who honestly want to be a part of the success of Purely Poultry.

Last year, as a team, we read The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni. The Advantage is all about creating a work environment with organizational health as the priority. From there, the team at Purely Poultry has decided to take this to another level. Now have integrated the ideals, philosophy, and structure of a new way of running an organization called Holacracy.

Holacracy really appealed to us and made a lot of sense. The clarity and fairness and respectfulness inherent in the Holacracy philosophy were truly what we were looking for. We already see the difference it can make.

So what is Holacracy? It is basically a new and different way of running an organization where power is removed from a management hierarchy. Instead, responsibilities and work are distributed according to clear roles, so work and tasks can be carried out autonomously by each team member without a boss figure micromanaging. A primary aspect of Holacracy is the creation of clear procedures and protocols for how work is divided up among the team. Team members have clear sets of responsibilities and clear expectations.

This concept is really different from conventional companies. In a regular company, each person gets a job description that is often not even accurate. The job description or title is more symbolic than reflective of actual day to day tasks. Managers play a role where authority is delegated loosely, and decisions are one-sided. Traditional companies are rarely re-organized, and when they are it is only instigated by the top managers. Office politics play a big role, slowing down production and convoluting purpose.

With Holacracy, company structure is very different, with different priorities. Team member roles are defined around work and tasks. These roles are always being updated, depending on what is needed at the time. The team members fill a variety of different roles. Managerial authority is not structured as a hierarchy, it is distributed according to the roles, work, and decisions are made by the group and team. A business practicing Holacracy also self-organizes regularly, both on a team or task basis and on a whole company basis. Rules and protocols are clear, visible, and the same for everyone including the CEO.

As we move into 2016 and our super-busy Spring Chicks time of the year, we look forward to seeing how Holacracy contributes to the Purely Poultry team culture.

If you want to explore the concept of Holacracy more, visit http://www.holacracy.org/how-it-works/