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Holacracy Strategy Meeting Template

Holacracy 90 min Quarterly Circle members and core roles (4-12 people)

The Holacracy strategy meeting gives a circle a shared rule of thumb for making trade-offs. In self-organizing teams nobody hands out priorities, so a guiding strategy, usually phrased as prioritize X even over Y, lets each role decide for itself what to emphasize without waiting for a manager.

When to use it

Run a strategy meeting roughly quarterly, or whenever the circle keeps facing the same kind of trade-off and resolving it inconsistently. It pairs naturally with the rhythm of governance and tactical: strategy sets emphasis, governance sets structure, and tactical executes.

Who attends

All members filling roles in the circle attend, typically four to twelve people. A facilitator guides the reflection and keeps strategies simple, and a secretary records the adopted strategies so every role can refer back to them between sessions.

How to run it

Open with a check-in round, then ground everyone in the circle purpose and current reality before looking forward. A retrospective reflection surfaces what is working and what keeps generating tension, which is where useful strategies come from. The circle then generates candidate guiding strategies as simple emphasis statements rather than detailed plans, because the goal is a heuristic each role can apply in the moment. Test the candidates for clarity, adopt a small set, and close with a round. A good strategy is short enough to remember and sharp enough to settle a real trade-off; a long strategy nobody can recall is worse than none.

Facilitator tips

  • Keep strategies to a memorable phrase, ideally prioritize X even over Y.
  • Ground the session in a real retrospective, not abstract aspiration.
  • Adopt only a few strategies; a long list cannot guide decisions.
  • Make sure each strategy actually resolves a trade-off roles face.

Common mistakes

  • Writing detailed plans instead of simple guiding emphases.
  • Adopting so many strategies that none of them guide anything.
  • Producing strategies that sound nice but settle no real trade-off.
  • Never revisiting strategy as the circle context shifts.

Give your circle a clear emphasis to self-direct by. Run it in OrgTP and keep your guiding strategies visible to every role.

Agenda

90 minutes total · 6 sections

  1. Check-in Round 5 min
    Each participant shares what has their attention to become present. No cross-talk.
  2. Orientation and Context 15 min
    Review the circle purpose, current reality, and the broader context so strategy is grounded in where the circle actually stands.
  3. Retrospective Reflection 20 min
    Reflect on what is working, what is creating tension, and the patterns the circle keeps running into.
  4. Generate Guiding Strategies 25 min
    Surface candidate strategies as simple emphasis statements, often in the form prioritize X even over Y, that help roles make trade-offs.
  5. Test and Adopt 20 min
    Pressure-test each candidate strategy for clarity and usefulness, then adopt a small set the circle will actually use to self-direct.
  6. Closing Round 5 min
    Each participant shares a brief reflection on the session. No response or discussion.

Run this meeting live in OrgTP

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