Governance is often seen as a necessary evil—an administrative burden that slows down decision-making. But when designed intentionally, governance can be a powerful enabler of distributed leadership, helping organisations work with clarity, agility, and fairness.
The challenge? Evolving governance without it becoming a full-time job. I’ve seen organisations get stuck in endless redesigns, refining rules instead of delivering real impact. In this blog, I’ll share a step-by-step approach to updating your governance structure without getting lost in the process.
The Challenge Of Evolving Governance While Keeping Operations Running
Governance should serve the organisation—not the other way around. However, many businesses struggle to strike this balance.
Research from McKinsey & Company shows that organisations that update their governance alongside structural changes are 1.4 times more likely to sustain performance improvements. Yet, without clear intent and focus, governance work can become a time-consuming distraction from real business priorities.
So, how do you evolve governance without overwhelming your team? Let’s break it down step by step.
Step 1: Define the Purpose of Governance for Your Team
Before making any changes, start with this question: What do we need governance to achieve?
Common governance priorities include:
✅ Clarity – Making roles, responsibilities, and decision-making processes transparent.
✅ Agility – Ensuring governance enables quick, effective decision-making rather than creating bottlenecks.
✅ Fairness – Embedding accountability and inclusivity into governance structures.
A report by the Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland highlights that governance isn’t about adding bureaucracy—it’s about creating frameworks that support transparency, accountability, and effectiveness.
For distributed leadership to thrive, governance must empower people to make informed decisions independently, rather than waiting for approval from the top.
Step 2: Make Governance Engaging—Patagonia’s Approach
Governance often fails because it’s dry, complex, and inaccessible. But what if it were engaging, even inspiring?
Take Patagonia, for example. The outdoor brand weaves governance into its mission-driven culture, ensuring that every decision aligns with its core purpose: “to save our home planet.”
How does Patagonia make governance engaging?
Clear, mission-aligned policies – Governance is framed in the context of environmental and social responsibility.
Employee involvement – Team members actively shape policies rather than having rules imposed from the top.
Public transparency – Governance isn’t buried in legal jargon—it’s shared openly, in a way that aligns with Patagonia’s values.
By making governance a guiding tool rather than a rulebook, organisations can ensure their structures support distributed leadership in a way that people actually engage with.
Step 3: Implement Small, Iterative Changes
One of the biggest governance mistakes I see is organisations attempting a full-scale overhaul in one go. Instead, governance should evolve incrementally, allowing for adaptation along the way.
A few principles to keep in mind:
Start with one key area. Maybe it’s decision-making clarity or role definition—don’t try to fix everything at once.
Test and refine. Introduce small changes, see how they impact the team, and adjust as needed.
Keep it lightweight. Overly detailed governance structures tend to slow teams down rather than empower them.
This approach ensures governance remains flexible and responsive, rather than rigid and bureaucratic.
Step 4: Use A Framework Like Holacracy (Or Not?)
If you’re exploring structured governance models, you may have come across Holacracy.
Holacracy introduces a constitutional governance structure, where organisational roles and decision-making processes are clearly defined and evolve through a structured process. While this can create clarity and autonomy, it also comes with trade-offs.
Holacracy: Pros & Cons for Distributed Leadership
✅ Clear governance rules – Reduces ambiguity and empowers teams to make decisions independently.
✅ Role-based clarity – Decisions are based on roles rather than hierarchy.
❌ Process-heavy – The system requires strict adherence to structured governance meetings, which can feel overwhelming.
❌ Not for everyone – Some organisations find Holacracy too rigid, particularly if they value informal collaboration.
If you like elements of Holacracy but don’t want to go all in, consider adopting only the governance principles that work for your team. Governance should serve the organisation—not the other way around.
Step 5: Avoid the Governance Rabbit Hole
One of the biggest pitfalls of governance work? Over-engineering it.
The MIT Sloan Management Review warns of the "governance paradox"—where companies become so focused on refining governance structures that they lose agility and responsiveness.
To avoid this, ask yourself:
✅ Is this governance change helping us work better, or is it just adding complexity?
✅ Are we spending more time debating governance than actually working?
Governance should enhance productivity and decision-making, not create endless meetings and process fatigue.
Conclusion: Start Small, Iterate & Be Human-Centred
Governance should be a tool for empowerment, not a burden. By following these steps—starting with purpose, making governance engaging, iterating slowly, and avoiding unnecessary complexity—you can create a governance model that truly supports distributed leadership.
If you need help evolving your governance in a way that works for your organisation, I’d love to help. Learn more about my approach to working together here, or read what my clients have said here.
Want to discuss your governance challenges? Get in touch with me here, and let’s build a governance structure that works for your team—not against it.
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