Introduction: Holacracy® Constitution

What is the Holacracy Constitution?

The Holacracy Constitution documents the core rules, structure, and processes of the Holacracy framework for governing and managing an organization. It provides the foundation needed for Holacracy practice, by anchoring the target power shift in concrete and documented “rules of the game”.

How is the Holacracy Constitution intended to be used?

The Constitution is intended to be referenced by whatever declaration or agreement captures the decision to organize using the Holacracy framework. That may be a formal set of legal bylaws or similar operating agreement, or a simple board resolution or CEO policy declaration similar to the sample one attached here.

What the Holacracy Constitution isn’t

The Holacracy Constitution is not a complete set of legal bylaws or a formal operating agreement. (HolacracyOne separately publishes its own operating agreement as an example of a legal governing document that references and incorporates this Constitution.)

The Constitution is also not an instruction manual or a guidebook for learning to use the Holacracy framework. Like the rulebook for a sport, it can serve as a critical reference at times, but reading it will not teach you how to play the game. If you're looking for an introduction, check out HolacracyOne's website.

Legal Disclaimer

HolacracyOne is not a law firm, and the Constitution should not be construed as a legal document or legal advice. Consult with your attorney about your specific situation before using the Constitution in any legal capacity or for any legal needs. This document is provided "as-is", without warranty or condition of any kind whatsoever. HolacracyOne does not warrant this document’s quality, accuracy, timeliness, completeness, merchantability, or fitness for use or purpose. To the maximum extent provided by law, HolacracyOne and its agents and members shall not be liable for any damages whatsoever arising from the use of this document.

Licensing and Usage

Like Linux®, Wikipedia®, and Java®, Holacracy® is a registered trademark; in this case, of HolacracyOne LLC. And like other stewards of open platforms, HolacracyOne aims to maintain the integrity of its brand and the quality of what it represents. So, we invite you to make and share your own derivative works of the Holacracy® Constitution, per the terms of our open-source CC BY-SA 4.0 license, and to reference that your work is derived from the official Holacracy Constitution - please include a link to http://holacracy.org/constitution. However, beyond that reference, you may not name or otherwise brand your derivative work using the Holacracy mark, to avoid confusion between your version and the official Holacracy document. If you have any questions, please contact HolacracyOne!

Contributors

Up to version 4.0, the Holacracy Constitution was developed by Brian Robertson and HolacracyOne.

Contributors to v4.1 include Brian Robertson, Rashid Gilanpour, Alexia Bowers, djwork, Martina Röll, Olivier Compagne, Koen Veltman, Mieke Byerley, Diederick Janse, Karilen Mays, Bernard Marie Chiquet, Tim Kelley, Dien Kwik, Kræn Hansen and Jeffrey Anthony.

For a list of contributors to v5.0, please see the history of submissions to the Constitution's GitHub repo and issue database.

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For More Information or Support with the Holacracy Framework: holacracy.org

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The Holacracy Constitution is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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