This unit introduces key features of the Circle Lead role in 3 parts:
PART 1: explains the basics of the Circle Lead role, and how it looks once all articles of the Holacracy Constitution have been adopted:
- how Circle Leads are not 'in charge'
- holding the Purpose & Accountabilities of their Circle
- assigning roles
- covering unfilled roles
- defining priorities
PART 2: shows the additional authorities that Circle Leads have when only the first article of the Holacracy Constitution is adopted, and until the rest of the articles are adopted.
PART 3: signposts to a more in-depth look at the Circle Lead role in a dedicated course from HolacracyOne that you may want to consider some/all of your Circle Leads taking.
Circle Lead Part 1
Circle Lead Part 2
Additional Authorities with a Modular Adoption of Holacracy
At this point if only Article 1- Organizational Structure of the Holacracy Constitution has been adopted, then the additional authorities below are also part of the Circle Lead role, until the relevant parts of the constitution are adopted; at which point those authorities then get delegated into the constitutional rules.
This means that Role Leads don't yet have the full authority to take any action or make any decision to enact their Role’s Purpose or Accountabilities; Circle Leads can still guide and direct them according to these additional authorities below.
The shift of power to Role Leads increases with each additional article of the Constitution that is adopted. You can think of it that each article of the Constitution provides an additional piece of scaffolding for the Power Shift to become more complete.
If you use GlassFrog, you can see these additional authorities of the Circle Lead in the left navbar of GlassFrog under Organization/Constitution.
Circle Lead Part 3
Signpost to a more In-Depth Holacracy Course
As you'll have gathered by now, there's more to the Circle Lead role than meets the eye 👀! Because of the influence that Circle Leads can have, filling the Circle Lead role in an organisation using Holacracy or something similar, without understanding it well can be a bit like driving without a license.
This course from HolacracyOne with 35 video lessons takes a deeper dive into the Circle Lead role and it's critical role in the powershift of Self-Organization, so you may want to check it out and consider your Circle Leads signing up for this course.
(It's called the Lead Link in this course, which is from Holacracy v4.1; most of it still applies to v5.0, and any differences between the two versions are explained in the course).