2025-11-18
At Skyscrapers, we’ve embraced a self-managing organizational structure that replaces traditional hierarchy with clarity, autonomy, and shared responsibility. If you’re looking at our organisation structure for the first time, it might look different from what you’re used to. This guide will help you understand how to read it.
Our organization is built on five core concepts that work together to create clarity about who does what, who decides what, and how we work together.
At Skyscrapers, we don’t organize around hierarchy or managers. Instead, our foundation is built on a hierarchy of aims and domains that are materialised through circles and roles.
Here’s something important: a Circle is not a team of people. Instead, it’s a collection of functional roles that all contribute to the circle aim. Roles in turn are then held by people, also called Role Holders, that then become members of that Circle.
This distinction matters because the same person might hold Roles in multiple Circles, aligning their diverse skills and talents with different areas where the organization needs them.
As already mentioned, in each Circle the work is divided into Roles. These are much more focused and smaller than traditional job descriptions. A person typically holds multiple roles, even across different circles. The combination of all Roles a person holds, is effectively his or her job description.
Roles provide clarity: everyone knows where to go, who does what, and who’s accountable for what. It’s where the work really happens.
Each role has a name, Aim (its purpose) and Accountabilities (what it’s responsible for organizing and paying attention to). Just like Circles, some roles may also have Domains.
Think of an aim as the “why” behind everything we do. It’s the clear, inspiring purpose that describes what the organization, circle, or role wants to achieve.
An aim is outcome-focused: it defines the intended result, not just activities. It serves as a guiding North Star that helps everyone stay aligned on what matters most. Even without detailed role descriptions, a well-crafted aim should give enough inspiration to know what direction to head in.
A Domain is an area of responsibility and decision-making authority that a Circle or Role has autonomy over for the whole company.
This unique concept is designed to decentralize decision-making. Instead of needing company-wide approval for every decision, Circles and Roles can make autonomous decisions within their assigned domains. This prevents bottlenecks, speeds up our work and decisions are better informed.
For example, if a Circle has the Domain of “customer support processes,” they have full authority to make decisions about how support is delivered across the entire company. They don’t need to ask permission from the entire company or some manager (which we don’t have).
Circles can also carve out sub-Domains and assign them to Roles within the Circle, further distributing decision-making power to where it makes the most sense.
When you look at our organization structure, here’s what you’ll see:
Start at the top: The General Circle contains our highest-level Aim: why Skyscrapers exists and what we’re working toward.
Follow the Circles down: Each Circle beneath has its own Aim, Domains, and Accountabilities. This creates a clear chain of purpose from our company mission down to specific areas of work.
Look at the Roles: Within each Circle, you’ll see Roles that define how the work gets done. Each Role has its own Aim, Domains and Accountabilities.
Notice the Circle Leader: Each Circle has a Circle Leader Role. This isn’t a traditional manager, but someone who serves as liaison to the rest of the organization, fosters collaboration, oversees operations, and ensures effective governance. Their authority is strictly defined. Unlike traditional managers, they don’t have unilateral power over any Circle decisions.
See the connections: Because people can hold multiple roles across Circles, our structure creates a network of connections rather than a rigid hierarchy.
In a traditional organization chart, you’d see people reporting to managers in a pyramid structure. At Skyscrapers, you’re seeing how work is organized instead, not how people are controlled.
This structure might seem complex at first, but it creates powerful benefits:
If you want to know, our operating model is inspired by Sociocracy, a framework for decentralized and self-organizing governance. Sociocracy emphasizes distributing authority, enabling everyone to participate in decision-making, and creating clarity through defined roles and domains. We’ve adapted and evolved these principles to fit our specific needs. Read more about this on Sociocracy For All and Sociocracy 3.0.
One final note: our organization structure is not set in stone. It’s designed to evolve. As we discover tensions, identify better ways of working, or recognize new needs, we update our circles, roles, domains, and accountabilities. So be sure to check out the organization structure from time to time!
Welcome to a different way of organizing work. We hope this guide helps you navigate and understand how Skyscrapers operates.
Don’t hold back on letting us know what improvements or tensions you experience with this approach. Also if you have any questions about how we are organised, the self-managing principles we use or Sociocracy in general, also get in touch!
