Comparing Sociocracy and Holacracy

People sometimes ask me what the difference is between sociocracy and Holacracy. I set out to create a table summarizing the answer to that question.

My direct knowledge and experience are solely with sociocracy. What I know about Holacracy is from reading and from talking with Holacracy coaches and people who are in organizations using it. That means I know just enough to be dangerous.

So I asked Anna McGrath, who has a lot of experience with Holacracy and was the first Licensed Holacracy provider in the USA, to collaborate with me on this. We developed a table listing similarities and differences for selected aspects of the two systems.

This table is not intended as a complete reference or introduction to either sociocracy or Holacracy. For an overview of sociocracy, see 5 Pitfalls of a Top-Down Hierarchy and What to Do about Them.


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Member Consultant Sheella MiersonSheella Mierson, Ph.D., a founding member of The Sociocracy Consulting Group, helps design relationships, processes, and structures for collaboration so that people and organizations flourish.

 

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