Self Managing stories and resources
Browse Loomio posts about Self Managing, collaborative decision-making, and how groups work together.
From traditional recruiter to self-managing organisation
A 60-year-old recruiting company threw out the org chart, gave every employee the same authority as the CEO, and scaled it to 450 people across three countries.
- Self-management scaled to 450 staff
- Decisions proposed, debated, documented centrally
- Equal voice regardless of seniority
- Transparent record of team decisions
Building blockchain without bosses
Twenty-eight developers spun out of the Ethereum Foundation with no hierarchy, no executives, and a rule that every decision must have everyone's consent.
- Consent-based distributed decisions
- Legally binding governance decisions
- Every voice heard across time zones
- Official record of decision rationale
Consent-based decisions at an Argentine consultancy
What happens when 80 developers collectively set everyone's salary — and a single objection can block any decision?
- Transparent team salary-setting
- Searchable decision history and reasoning
- Routine decisions resolved asynchronously
- Equal say through consent process
How a self-managed team makes decisions
As the team grew past 20, the old way of deciding things stopped working.
- Consent-based distributed decisions
- Full transparency through documentation
- Templates for recurring processes
- Async strategic and financial alignment
A recruitment company's self-management operating system
450 staff, three countries, no positional authority — how does a self-managing company actually make decisions at that scale?
- Self-management scaled to 450 staff
- Decisions across countries and time zones
- Daily distributed decisions at scale
- Transparent record of team decisions
How a 120-person co-op sets strategy by assembly
120 open-source developers, fully remote, competing for talent against Silicon Valley — and nothing happens without going through a general assembly.
- General Assembly for 120+ members
- Focused threads save meeting time
- Transparent remote cooperative decisions
- Strategic decision archive with context
An architecture co-op builds its own governance
A cooperative of architects who design sustainable buildings needed their own governance to be just as thoughtfully constructed.
- Quick approvals outside meetings
- Subgroups focused on relevant projects
- Remote governance document drafting
- Organized proposals, decisions, procedures
A software co-op where designers and developers earn the same
At this Argentine software cooperative, a designer at step six earns exactly what a developer at step six earns — and every four months the whole team…
- Fair salary scale for all
- Transparent communication at scale
- Equal partner input on decisions
- Discussions leading to clear outcomes
Self-organization in practice at Raise
We are fortunate to support many incredible organizations – each with their own particular management styles – and it’s not uncommon for us to adopt…
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How a 450-person company tore up its hierarchy
Six people read a book about reinventing organizations — and then convinced a 60-year-old company to tear up its hierarchy.
- All decisions proposed, debated, documented
- Tools aligned with self-organization
- Every employee voice heard equally
- Company-wide consent-based decisions
A benefit corporation puts salary transparency to a vote
When a software company put salary transparency to an anonymous vote, the CEO had reservations — but the team was unanimous, and it exposed a pay gap they…
- Month-long decisions now take weeks
- Safe voicing of all opinions
- Stakeholders in the design process
- Remote discussions reaching clear outcomes
Video: Full circle leadership with Alanna Irving
The Full Circle model works on two levels: a way understand and visualise diverse kinds of leadership, and a way to map the steps of innovation and…
View event →Taking Holacracy governance to the next level
Organisations that adopt Holacracy often find it’s a big upgrade to their decision-making processes. But implementing Governance meetings is only the…
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A co-living hotel run by its guests
A co-living hotel in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury uses collaborative decision-making to run a dynamic community of residents, guests, and neighbors.
- Community decisions without meetings
- Living archive of every decision
- Surfaced tensions, aligned incentives
- Online discussion improves offline collaboration
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