How QoQa Managed to Successfully Implement Holacracy Using Holaspirit

Going from micro-management to self-managed autonomous teams, is that really possible? Well yes, that’s exactly what our client QoQa achieved by implementing Holacracy. And we’re going to tell you all about it!

QoQa is a community-based e-commerce platform based in Switzerland. The company offers a daily selection of personalized products at attractive prices. Since its founding in 2005, Qoqa has maintained a close relationship with its community, often involving them as active partners in various projects.

Some key data about QoQa:

• 1 million users
• 230 employees
  (both referred to as “otters”)
• €160 million in revenue in 2023

The company has always tried to give the most freedom possible to its employees. However, achieving this without an explicit framework proved complicated at first. In order to empower employees, QoQa thus decided to implement Holacracy, a governance model that replaces traditional hierarchy with self-organizing teams (called circles) that have clear roles and responsibilities. And we’re proud to say that they chose our tool Holaspirit to make this transition!

To know more about this organizational transformation, we spoke with Fabio Monte, Chief Operations Officer (COO) and leader of the largest circle of QoQa. Here’s what he had to say:

Seeking a Model to Empower Employees

Fabio Monte: In the early days, we envisioned QoQa as a grill, where we would add meat and fish (our employees) and sauces for flavor (4-5 people who would provide structure). 

Until we had 120-130 employees, we didn't have a formal governance structure. The organization was pretty flat and employees had total freedom over their work. However, they  didn’t necessarily know how to utilize it, which often led to micro-management practices.

The idea was thus to find a governance model that would help us make the implicit more explicit, and empower employees to suggest changes and make decisions by themselves.

Scrum Methodology: A First Step Towards Agility

The first methodology we worked with was Scrum. The IT team was the first one to implement it and start doing sprints, retrospectives and reviews. Since it worked well for them, we decided to apply this methodology to all departments. Teams met every two weeks and tracked projects using a dedicated tool, which brought a lot of improvements over time. 

This model worked well within each department, however it brought a lot of silos due to a lack of communication between departments. For example, people didn’t know who to contact when they had an IT issue. This problem worsened during the COVID crisis when everyone was working remotely. We saw a significant loss of connection between people, and that’s how we realized we needed to explore other available models.

Transitioning to Holacracy

We searched for a model that would help us improve employees’ freedom and autonomy, without creating information silos between different teams. We got inspired to implement Holacracy because it had all the benefits we were looking for, and we saw many companies who had successfully adopted it. Some even managed to tailor the Holacracy Constitution to their internal needs, such as Loyco who created Loycocracy.. That’s something we considered but didn’t do. Instead we preferred to follow the Constitution to maintain clarity, and adapt it gradually whenever a need would arise. 

Getting Employees Buy-in

At first, I had a lot of misconceptions about Holacracy. To me, it seemed like a rigid model, full of jargon and bureaucracy, where everyone could do anything that they wanted.

We thus decided to work with a partner that would help us understand it better and convince employees that we needed to implement Holacracy. In 2019, we did a training session with consulting firm Nova Consul (formerly igi Partners) to get to know Holacracy. Based on this, we worked on creating a common purpose that everyone would be aligned with. We then did some workshops to share this purpose with employees and get their buy-in. This allowed everyone to give their input, including those who weren’t used to expressing their opinion before.

Following these workshops, we surveyed employees to see if they were ready to implement Holacracy. The first survey showed only 60% were in favor. We realized it was because many people didn’t share the same expectations and didn’t understand why we were changing. We thus held more workshops and re-explained the reasons for the change until we reached 90% approval.

Also read: Change Management: Our Three-Step Method

Meanwhile, we changed partners and started working with Ivolve and Semawé, who helped us officially implement Holacracy and Holaspirit in October 2021.

Implementing Holaspirit

We chose Holaspirit to implement Holacracy because we found all the features we needed on it, including the organizational chart and OKRs framework, which were essential for us. Everything was in there, which meant we didn’t need to look for any other additional tool. Moreover, we found Holaspirit very user-friendly and agile. So the decision was quickly made.

We began with a trial version where people could play with the platform. With Ivolve and Semawé’s training, we learnt how to use the tool by directly practicing on it. Once we got the gist of it, we then created our official Holaspirit platform.

We started by establishing the QoQa circle (the organization’s largest circle) and its main sub-circles, which correspond to the organization's departments (Supply, Operations, Marketing, etc.). We identified a leader for each circle. All circle leaders then worked with their team to define the roles of the circle, a crucial transformation step known as encoding. 

Also read: How Great Place To Work Implemented Self-Management Using Holaspirit

The Challenge of Defining Roles

Defining roles was definitely the hardest part for people. At the beginning, many of them created roles that fit their entire job descriptions. We thus had to explain that a person can have multiple roles, not just one. This allowed people to reflect on themselves and identify their roles within the company more clearly.

Once we defined the main roles of each circle, employees were able to suggest new roles they wanted to create. So today we have some more original roles, including:

• “Buddy” for helping new arrivals integrate
• “Master Yoda” for coaching talented newcomers (“Padawans”)
• “Shit Storm” for crisis management

Allowing people to have different roles allows them to make the most of their skills, and not just use the ones we hire them for. However, to avoid too much dispersion, we’ve decided that 80% of employees’ roles must be related to their job. For example, if I’m a developer, I can have multiple development roles but not 30 ‘party organizer’ roles. Still, nothing stops me from having a few non-job-related roles. 

And if someday a role becomes obsolete, I can just edit or remove it. That’s the magic of Holacracy: nothing is set in stone.

How We Use Holaspirit for Meetings, OKRs and Projects

In addition to creating roles, we also use Holaspirit for:

• Doing tactical and governance meetings
• Monitoring project progress,
• Setting OKRs (Objective and Key Results) 

At the start of each year, we work on QoQa’s purpose and strategic priorities. Based on this, we determine our action plan and OKRs, as well as the projects needed to achieve these goals.

At the company level, we limit ourselves to three strategic OKRs per year. Each circle uses these OKRs to create their own, which they later present to the rest of the company. Everyone can then give feedback on the validity and feasibility of these OKRs. This helps teams feel more accountable, since the company’s results directly depend on their results.

Once an OKR is approved, all employees must commit to achieving it. To encourage this, we’ve implemented a bonus system at both the company and team levels: if everyone meets their OKRs, everyone gets a bonus. If some don’t, the bonus is reduced. We find that this promotes solidarity between teams. 

‍Each project we create on Holaspirit is linked to an OKR we want to achieve. This provides visibility on QoQa’s strategic projects and aligns all departments on the same priorities. Moreover, this allows us to identify blocked projects and address associated tensions more quickly during tactical meetings.

More Clarity and Initiative-Taking

Overall, Holaspirit has brought us a lot of clarity. It allows everyone to understand what they can or cannot do, who to contact, and who is responsible for what. For example, if I want to know if I can make a Facebook post, I just have to search for this keyword on Holaspirit to find the associated policy and responsible individuals. 

Since we’ve implemented Holacracy, we also see more people taking initiatives. Previously, many people came to me privately with their issues. Now, people are more empowered: they bring their tensions during meetings, so we’re able to discuss it and resolve it faster together. And if they want to make a change, they suggest proposals instead of waiting for it to happen.

At QoQa, each person’s authority depends on their role and skills, and not their position like it’s the case in a hierarchical structure. You can thus be at the bottom and still suggest initiatives.

For example, we once had a logistics employee that noticed that packing tapes kept breaking. He wanted to fix this but didn’t know who to approach. We thus created a ‘Tape’ role for him, instructing him to find more durable tapes, create, and approve a budget for this expense. This shows that anyone can have responsibilities and take initiatives!

To Conclude

QoQa’s journey from using Scrum to implementing Holacracy has proven immensely rewarding for both the organization and its employees. This transformation, though demanding and requiring patience, has brought increased clarity, enhanced knowledge sharing, proactive initiative-taking, regular feedback, and better alignment across teams. These achievements were made possible with the right support and the right tool—Holaspirit.

Whether your organization is looking to implement Holacracy by the book, adopt certain elements of it, or explore other methodologies, Holaspirit provides the tools necessary for supporting your organizational transformation. We also work with a network of +130 partners who can help coach you through this process. So no worries, you’re in the right hands 😉

Want to know more about Holaspirit and its benefits? Contact our sales team to get a personalized demo.

Finally, if you're looking for some expert insights on how to implement a model like Holacracy in your organization, we suggest having our look at our latest white paper on organizational models 👇

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In our white paper "The Ultimate Guide to Organizational Models", you'll get: a comprehensive overview of innovative organizational models (like Agile, Teal, Holacracy, Constitutional Management, and more), testimonials from pioneer organizations that have successfully adopted it, best practices for choosing, implementing and measuring the effectiveness of our model, as well as digital tools to facilitate the transition.