Holaspirit Glossary of Terms
Unsure what we might mean by one of the terms you've seen on Holaspirit?
Here are some quick explanations:
Purpose ⢠Circle ⢠Role ⢠Accountability ⢠Domain ⢠Scope ⢠Member
Governance ⢠Policy ⢠Core Role ⢠Elected Role ⢠Tension ⢠Proposal
Inactive Member ⢠Transversal Role
Clarifies the identity and intention of a role or circle. The purpose represents the âwhyâ, the âmission statementâ of a role or circle.
A collection of roles that all contribute to the same purpose or topic. You may consider circles to be self-managed and semi-autonomous teams. Just like roles, a circle can have accountabilities.
A circle is actually a role that has expanded into more parts â when a role becomes too complex or diverse, you may extend the role into a circle and split up the work into more roles within the circle.
For decentralized management and organizational governance models that call for special roles to represent a circle (e.g. Facilitator, or Circle Lead), one can add core roles to a circle.
đ Read more about circles
Roles are the foundation of your organization in Holaspirit. Roles are defined by a purpose, a set of accountabilities, and a set of role holders (members). A role puts clarity on âwho does whatâ and âwho decides whatâ.
đ Read more about roles
An ongoing responsibility expected of a role. It basically is the work a role is supposed to do.
â Quick Tip: define accountabilities as full sentences that begin with an -ing verb. For example, a âContent managerâ role might have an accountability for âWriting and publishing meaningful content to our blog.â
A piece of property controlled exclusively by a role or a circle. For example, a âWebsite Managerâ role might own the domain of âWebsite contentâ. The role may impact its own domain to achieve its purpose and accountabilities, but may not impact anotherâs domain unless given permission.
đ Read more about domains
If a role has more than one member, you may want to further clarify who's in charge of the responsibilities of the role under particular conditions.
For example, a âBusiness Developerâ role with several members may have a focus per holder for geographical areas, such as âFrench leadsâ, or âDutch leadsâ, or âGerman leadsâ.
đ Read more about members' scope
A person with whom you collaborate and is part of the organization. A member is defined by their profile information and the set of roles that they hold.
An explicit, written set of rules and expectations including the circles, roles, purposes, accountabilities, domains, and policies of the organization. The organizationâs governance changes in response to the demands of the environment through the initiative of circle members (during meetings or via propositions of evolution). The Governance menu in Holaspirit allows you to navigate to your chart, roles and circles.
A policy allows or limits others from impacting a domain. For example, if a âWebsite Managerâ role owns the domain âWebsite contentâ then a policy might be enacted to allow a âContent Managerâ role to publish blog content (e.g. âContent Manager has permission to post content to the website blogâ).
đ Read more about policies
A role that is flagged to have a special status for a circle. This may be a coordinator, an elected strategist, or a spokesperson role for the circle. For decentralized management and organizational governance models (such as Holacracy, Sociocracy), the Circle Lead, Circle Rep, Secretary and Facilitator are core roles.
đ Read more about core roles
Roles can be set to be electable, meaning that role holders are elected for a term. Marking a role as electable allows one to set the term limits.
A gap between the current reality and the potential you sense for one of your roles. Basically, a tension is an opportunity to improve, a feeling that something could be different.
đ Read more about tensions
A recommended change to the circleâs governance presented by a circle member during or outside a meeting.
đ Read more about proposals
A member who do not need full access to Holaspirit features.
These are useful to represent external suppliers, partners, freelancers, etc.
đ Read more about inactive members
A role that is invited into another circle to participate in the circle's decisions and operations on a one-time or permanent basis.
đ Read more about transversal roles
đ**Note:** Several terms are adapted from glossaries found at Holacracy One and Sociocracy 3.0
Here are some quick explanations:
Purpose ⢠Circle ⢠Role ⢠Accountability ⢠Domain ⢠Scope ⢠Member
Governance ⢠Policy ⢠Core Role ⢠Elected Role ⢠Tension ⢠Proposal
Inactive Member ⢠Transversal Role
Purpose
Clarifies the identity and intention of a role or circle. The purpose represents the âwhyâ, the âmission statementâ of a role or circle.
Circle
A collection of roles that all contribute to the same purpose or topic. You may consider circles to be self-managed and semi-autonomous teams. Just like roles, a circle can have accountabilities.
A circle is actually a role that has expanded into more parts â when a role becomes too complex or diverse, you may extend the role into a circle and split up the work into more roles within the circle.
For decentralized management and organizational governance models that call for special roles to represent a circle (e.g. Facilitator, or Circle Lead), one can add core roles to a circle.
đ Read more about circles
Role
Roles are the foundation of your organization in Holaspirit. Roles are defined by a purpose, a set of accountabilities, and a set of role holders (members). A role puts clarity on âwho does whatâ and âwho decides whatâ.
đ Read more about roles
Accountability
An ongoing responsibility expected of a role. It basically is the work a role is supposed to do.
â Quick Tip: define accountabilities as full sentences that begin with an -ing verb. For example, a âContent managerâ role might have an accountability for âWriting and publishing meaningful content to our blog.â
Domain
A piece of property controlled exclusively by a role or a circle. For example, a âWebsite Managerâ role might own the domain of âWebsite contentâ. The role may impact its own domain to achieve its purpose and accountabilities, but may not impact anotherâs domain unless given permission.
đ Read more about domains
Scope
If a role has more than one member, you may want to further clarify who's in charge of the responsibilities of the role under particular conditions.
For example, a âBusiness Developerâ role with several members may have a focus per holder for geographical areas, such as âFrench leadsâ, or âDutch leadsâ, or âGerman leadsâ.
đ Read more about members' scope
Member
A person with whom you collaborate and is part of the organization. A member is defined by their profile information and the set of roles that they hold.
Governance
An explicit, written set of rules and expectations including the circles, roles, purposes, accountabilities, domains, and policies of the organization. The organizationâs governance changes in response to the demands of the environment through the initiative of circle members (during meetings or via propositions of evolution). The Governance menu in Holaspirit allows you to navigate to your chart, roles and circles.
Policy
A policy allows or limits others from impacting a domain. For example, if a âWebsite Managerâ role owns the domain âWebsite contentâ then a policy might be enacted to allow a âContent Managerâ role to publish blog content (e.g. âContent Manager has permission to post content to the website blogâ).
đ Read more about policies
Core role
A role that is flagged to have a special status for a circle. This may be a coordinator, an elected strategist, or a spokesperson role for the circle. For decentralized management and organizational governance models (such as Holacracy, Sociocracy), the Circle Lead, Circle Rep, Secretary and Facilitator are core roles.
đ Read more about core roles
Elected role
Roles can be set to be electable, meaning that role holders are elected for a term. Marking a role as electable allows one to set the term limits.
Tension
A gap between the current reality and the potential you sense for one of your roles. Basically, a tension is an opportunity to improve, a feeling that something could be different.
đ Read more about tensions
Proposal
A recommended change to the circleâs governance presented by a circle member during or outside a meeting.
đ Read more about proposals
Inactive member
A member who do not need full access to Holaspirit features.
These are useful to represent external suppliers, partners, freelancers, etc.
đ Read more about inactive members
Transversal Roles
A role that is invited into another circle to participate in the circle's decisions and operations on a one-time or permanent basis.
đ Read more about transversal roles
đ**Note:** Several terms are adapted from glossaries found at Holacracy One and Sociocracy 3.0
Updated on: 14/04/2025