How to Implement Talkspirit (formerly Holaspirit) in Your Organization
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- Holaspirit merged with Talkspirit in 2023: the self-management platform is part of the Talkspirit offer, and its help centre documents it as Holaspirit by Talkspirit.
- The rollout comes down to five steps: preparation, configuration and testing, communication and training, clarifying processes, monitoring and continuous improvement.
- Start small: one or two goals, a simple structure of circles and roles, a pilot group before the general rollout.
- Managers and ambassadors are trained before everyone else, they are the ones who drive the change within their teams.
- Processes are documented after use, not before: you write down what circles and roles actually do.
- Success is measured: active users per app, updates on circles and roles, speed of decision-making, feedback from employee surveys.
We often get asked: “how can I successfully implement Talkspirit in my organization?”
If that’s what you’re wondering too, here’s a quick guide to help you understand the implementation process. Fear not: it’s not that complicated, you just need to follow 5 key steps.
One clarification before we start: Holaspirit merged with Talkspirit in 2023. The self-management platform you may know as Holaspirit is now part of the Talkspirit offer, and its help centre still documents it as Holaspirit by Talkspirit. That platform is the one this guide helps you roll out, and the rest of the article calls it Talkspirit.
Step 1: Preparation and planning
Before you implement Talkspirit, begin by assessing your current organizational model and identifying areas needing improvements. Based on this assessment, define what you want to achieve with Talkspirit (for example, better alignment, increased transparency, more effective decision-making). Ideally, you’ll want to prioritize one or two goals. This will allow you to stay focused on your main priorities, and identify what you need to have on the platform in order to achieve those goals.
Try to involve key stakeholders as early as possible in the process. This will allow you to understand what people need and expect from this tool, and address the concerns they might have.
Step 2: Configuration, customization and testing
Now, it’s time to set up your Talkspirit platform! Begin by naming your platform and picking a color theme. Then focus on creating a simple structure for your organization. Set up your main circles (or teams) and roles, define a purpose and accountabilities for each of them, and map it on your Talkspirit organizational chart. This will help everyone understand how the organization is structured and how accountabilities are shared between different roles.
What we usually recommend is to test the platform with a pilot group or department, and enable them to make some changes to the structure using the free decision mode. Using the feedback from this testing phase, you’ll thus be able to make adjustments before going all-in.
Step 3: Communication, implementation and training
Communication and onboarding is very important to ensure the success of your platform. Introduce Talkspirit to everyone that’s going to use it, starting with managers and ambassadors, so they can help you drive change among their team. Explain why you want to implement Talkspirit, how it’s going to help you implement your new governance model, and how it’s going to benefit them. Once those benefits are clear to everyone, you can onboard members step by step and start to implement Talkspirit within your organization.
Organize training sessions and webinars that cover how to use Talkspirit, its features, and how it fits into existing work routines. Tailor those sessions to different user groups based on their roles and interaction with the platform (for example, administrators and members will probably have different training programs). Use real-world scenarios and examples that each user group is familiar with to demonstrate how Talkspirit can solve their problems and help them on a daily basis.
Once you’ve covered the basics, start inviting members on Talkspirit and using consent decision mode to allow them to suggest changes to the organizational structure. This is also a great time to start adding secondary roles, and customize decision-making processes and structural roles according to your organization’s needs.
Once your organizational structure is more or less complete, you can then start assigning members to different roles, and let people submit their proposals. This way, you’ll be able to quickly identify which roles are already filled, and which ones need to be filled by someone.
Designate “Talkspirit champions” within each team that can aid their colleagues and promote best practices (these could be ambassadors, team facilitators, or just employees that really enjoy using the platform). Also make sure these people have the necessary governance training, i.e. that they know how your governance model works and how they can implement it on Talkspirit.
Step 4: Clarifying processes and activating additional features
Now that everyone has started using Talkspirit, you need to identify how circles and roles interact and collaborate together on the platform. This will help you create work processes that actually match reality. Using the publication feature, you can then document all your processes and policies on Talkspirit, in order to make sure that everyone has the same level of information.
Of course, Talkspirit has much more to offer than that. So if you want to improve collaboration and transparency within your organization, we suggest activating other apps, such as Projects, OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), Meetings, etc. Some of our add-ons may also be of interest to you, such as the time spent in roles, the translation of roles, or the holacracy add-on.
For example, you can use the OKR app to define the goals you want to achieve both from a business and governance perspective. You can also set up regular tactical meetings and governance meetings using pre-defined templates (or by creating your own templates), and use those times to do project and OKR check-ins.
Step 5: Monitoring, evaluation and continuous improvement
Define clear metrics to evaluate the success of Talkspirit in your organization. These might include metrics on user engagement, the speed of decision-making, or feedback from employee surveys.
To check in on the speed of implementation, you might also want to have a look at more user-centric metrics, such as the number of active users on each app, the number of updates on circles and roles, but also the number of projects, meetings, circles and roles that have been created since the beginning.
Schedule regular check-ins to discuss the platform's performance and any issues that users are facing. Adjust processes, roles, or configurations based on these reviews to better meet the needs of your organization.
Consider setting up a regular feedback loop where users can submit suggestions for enhancements or report problems at any time. Stay open to making iterative changes to improve functionality and user experience.
| Step | What you do | What has to be true at the end |
|---|---|---|
| Step1. Preparation and planning | What you doAssess your current organizational model, pick one or two goals, involve key stakeholders | What has to be true at the endA written goal, and the list of people to bring on board |
| Step2. Configuration and testing | What you doName the platform, create the first circles and roles, test with a pilot group | What has to be true at the endA simple structure that holds up, tried out by one department |
| Step3. Communication and training | What you doIntroduce the tool to managers and ambassadors, train by user group, invite members | What has to be true at the endEvery group knows why the tool is arriving and what they gain from it |
| Step4. Clarifying processes | What you doWatch how circles and roles actually collaborate, document processes and policies, turn on the apps you need | What has to be true at the endThe written processes match what really happens |
| Step5. Monitoring and continuous improvement | What you doDefine metrics, hold regular check-ins, open a feedback loop | What has to be true at the endA review rhythm, and a place to raise what does not work |
To conclude
Implementing Talkspirit in your organization can boost your team's agility, transparency, and performance. To make the best of the platform, it’s important to start small, and focus first on establishing a solid organizational structure. Onboarding and training team members is also crucial, as it will help them feel confident using Talkspirit, but also empower them to suggest improvements to your current structure.
By following these steps, your organization can maximize the benefits of Talkspirit, ensuring that the platform supports your governance needs effectively and evolves with your organization over time.
Want to know more about how you can implement Talkspirit in your organization? Get in touch with us, we’re always happy to help!
FAQ
Yes, since the two companies merged in 2023. The self-management platform known as Holaspirit is now part of the Talkspirit offer, and its help centre documents it as Holaspirit by Talkspirit. The rollout steps described here are the ones for that platform.
Assessment. Begin by assessing your current organizational model and identifying areas needing improvements, then define what you want to achieve (better alignment, increased transparency, more effective decision-making) and ideally prioritise one or two goals so the project stays focused.
By keeping the first structure simple: set up your main circles or teams and roles, define a purpose and accountabilities for each of them, and map it on the organizational chart. That map is what lets everyone see how the organisation is structured.
Managers and ambassadors. Introduce the tool to them before everyone else, so they can help drive the change within their teams, explaining why the platform is being introduced and what each person gains from it.
By starting from reality: identify how circles and roles actually interact and collaborate on the platform, so the processes you write match what happens. Then document all processes and policies through the publication feature, so everyone has the same level of information.
Define clear metrics: user engagement, the speed of decision-making, feedback from employee surveys. To follow the pace of adoption specifically, watch the number of active users on each app and the number of updates on circles and roles.
