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Session Flow

Holacracy Tactical Meeting

The operational meeting of Holacracy, built to process a lot of practical issues fast. A quick data-sharing preamble is followed by an agenda that the group builds on the spot and triages item by item, each ending in a concrete next action.

7 phasesSession Flow
When to Use This Framework

When your sessions feel disjointed or participants lose focus

Your meetings or sessions need better pacing, clearer transitions, or more engaging sequences to keep participants engaged.

Weekly operational meetings for self-organising or role-based teams with many small issues to clear.

The 7 Steps
Follow this sequence to apply Holacracy Tactical Meeting
1

Check-in Round

Each person names what has their attention so they can be present. One at a time, no responses.

2

Checklist Review

The facilitator reads recurring actions and each role answers check or no check for the last period.

3

Metrics Review

Roles that own a metric report the latest numbers, with clarifying questions only.

4

Project Updates

Each project owner says what has changed since last time, or that nothing has.

5

Agenda Building

People add operational tensions as one- or two-word labels, without explaining them yet.

6

Triage Issues

Work through the items one by one: the owner says what they need, gets it from others, and the secretary records actions and projects.

7

Closing Round

Each person gives a short reflection on the meeting, with no discussion.

What You'll Achieve

Creates natural rhythm and momentum that keeps energy high throughout.

Use the seven steps as blocks for a weekly operational team meeting; the triage block takes most of the time. It also works for teams that do not run full Holacracy if roles and a facilitator are named.

Practical Tips
How to get the most out of this framework
  • 1
    Vary the pace between high and low energy activities
  • 2
    Use clear transitions between sections
  • 3
    Build complexity gradually throughout
  • 4
    End with actionable takeaways
Best For
  • Self-organising teams
  • Operational team meetings
  • Role-based organisations
  • Teams with many small blockers
Key Principles
  • Agenda built in the meeting, not beforehand
  • Each item ends with 'did you get what you need?'
  • Rounds without cross-talk
  • Separate operations from governance
  • Facilitator and secretary roles
Watch Out For
  • Holacracy is a registered trademark of HolacracyOne
  • The strict facilitation can feel mechanical to newcomers
  • Changes to roles or policies belong in a separate governance meeting, not here
  • Works best when roles and metrics are already defined
Related Frameworks
Other Session Flow frameworks you might find useful
Derby & Larsen's Five Stages of a RetrospectiveA five-stage arc for team retrospectives from Esther Derby and Diana Larsen's book Agile Retrospectives. It works as a container: any retro activity, such as a timeline or a sailboat, slots into one of the stages, so the meeting moves from data to insight to commitment instead of stopping at venting.
Daily Scrum (Scrum Guide)The Daily Scrum is the Scrum Guide's 15-minute daily event in which the Developers inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt their plan. The 2020 Guide no longer prescribes questions; the team picks any structure as long as it focuses on the goal and ends in a plan for the day.
EOS Level 10 MeetingThe weekly leadership meeting of the Entrepreneurial Operating System, with a fixed 90-minute agenda. Short reporting segments surface problems quickly so most of the time goes to solving the top issues through Identify-Discuss-Solve.