LIVEsciences

Weekly

The LIVEsciences team comes together once a week for 2 hours. The first part of the Weekly meeting follows the Holacracy Tactical Meetings format to focus on operational work and operational tensions. The second part is focused on exchange and connection. In this part, they focus on bringing their culture and values (captured in the LIVEline* https://livesciences.com/liveline/) to life and reflecting on it. Team members then share how their week was in general e.g. on project work or upskilling. Further team members can share their stress level, learnings, praise, and success of the week.

Tension meeting

The one-hour tension meeting takes place every two weeks to process all emotional tribe-related tensions (tensions in the system). A template is used which follows the structure of non-violent communication. Tensions might be solved by being shared and discussed, specific actions to be taken, or they might be revisited again later.

• Tension Description (Observation/ My emotion with it/ My need/ My wish)
• From
• Towards
• Date of tension raise
• Output (noted in the meeting)
• Status
• Date of closure

Governance

The governance meeting takes place every month for 90 minutes. Within this meeting, governance changes are processed by using the consent decision-making after a proposal is raised. Further tensions directed towards any governance topic are processed (tensions on the system). Proposals follow the structure of describing the tension, proposal and next steps to be taken. Once the proposal follows the consent decision process the governance decision will be implemented.

Orange Week Kick-Off

Every second-week LIVEsciences has a 1-hour meeting focusing on several financial metrics. Even though all numbers and metrics are transparent, this meeting ensures that information is understood by everyone. Furthermore, it gives room to ask questions and discuss.

Coffee machine meeting

Once a week a virtual coffee machine meeting takes place for 15 minutes for anyone that would like to connect with others.

Offsite

Every 4-6 weeks the LIVEsciences team meets for 2-3 days face-to-face to create belonging, trust, and connection within the team. This time is also used for some efficient face-to-face working, upskilling, or team development.

*LIVEline: The LIVEline gives an impression of the character of LIVEsciences. It summarises who they are and what they think is the right way of working together. For example, it includes values, principles, and behaviors the team is striving for and triggers passionate discussions on different situations in their day-to-day work life (https://livesciences.com/liveline/).

Status of August 2022

• Single decision making with advice
• Consent
• Consensus

Individual Decision Making with Advice

In this case, decision authority lies with the roles. Everyone is entitled to take any decision at any time – LIVEsciences team members trust each other to do the right thing no matter what. This is the most common decision at LIVEsciences and it typically involves only a few people. An example of an individual decision is deciding how to create a workshop. As a default rule, LIVEsciences uses single decision-making combined with the advice process, meaning that any person can take any decision after seeking advice from:

• All stakeholders who will be significantly affected or at least key representatives of these groups
• People with expertise in the matter or holding relevant information for this decision, e.g. the “Finance Manager” role for decisions with significant out-of-pocket cost involved

Advice received shall be taken into consideration. However, advice is simply advice. No colleague can advise the decision-maker what to decide. With all the advice and perspectives in mind, the decision-maker chooses what he/she believes is the best course of action. Usually, the decision-maker is the person who notices an issue first, he/she is the owner of a specific role or he/she is affected by the issue.

Decision Making by Consent

LIVEsciences is also leveraging consent decision making. Consent means the absence of objections and going with a “good enough for now, safe enough to try” solution. When there are any objections, i.e. significant risks to the survival of the company, the decision cannot be taken, and the objections need to be dealt with (e.g., by seeking understanding or revising content).

Decision Making By Consensus

LIVEsciences has two exceptions where they switch to decision making by consensus as these decisions have a higher criticality to their business. Typically very few decisions require consensus and the number of people involved is normally higher compared to the other decision types:

• Recruiting requires consensus within the panel of three colleagues
• Purpose changes require consensus across the company

Status of August 2022

LIVEsciences believes that conflicts are born in personal subjective emotions and tensions and that ignoring tensions causes them to escalate into serious conflict. To avoid this, the following steps are followed to address and resolve specifically interpersonal tensions:

1. The affected colleagues sit together and try to sort the tension out privately or process it in a dedicated meeting.
2. If they can’t find a solution agreeable to everyone, they nominate a colleague they trust to act as a mediator or call an external mediator. The mediator doesn’t impose a decision. Rather, he or she supports the participants in coming to their own solution.
3. If a tension cannot be resolved with the first two steps, the person with the tension can make a proposal for dismissal in Consent Decision Mode, where everybody can object except the person who is proposed to be dismissed. When there is no objection, the responsible person owning this accountability (currently Admin/Legal) is asked to formally give notice on behalf of the consent decision taken before.

LIVEsciences also processes tensions within the system in a dedicated Tension Meeting and tensions on the system in the Governance Meeting (see “Meetings” for further information).

Status of August 2022

Every employee has access to all business information to be able to sense and make the best decisions in serving the company. Those decisions include strategic company decisions, governance decisions, hiring decisions, or employee training records. individual decisions.

On Google Drive, general information like cashflow forecast, CRM, project pipeline, and recruitment information are accessible for each employee. Individual information is transparent e.g. salary information, utilization rate, capacity planning, or vacation planning. Other platforms reveal information on booked hours, expense claims, and credit card billing. More detailed information on the financial situation of LIVEsciences is always available from the finance role holders.

It lies in each employee's accountability to update all information so that LIVEsciences employees have an up-to-date overview of the key data.

LIVEsciences employees mostly use Slack for their day-to-day communication. In Slack all levels of communication from 1:1, client project teams, governance information, or whole team communication take place. Slack is used for sharing knowledge, announcing decisions taken, asking for urgent support within the team, and sharing fun information.

Within the standing meetings, (see “Meetings”) LIVEsciences employees have some focused time to exchange information. For example, in the Weekly meeting,day-to-day information is shared in the Orange Meeting key metrics are shared, and in the Governance Meeting, governance proposals are decided on. Employees can follow up on these meetings by recordings, Miro boards, or information exchanged on Slack.

LIVEsciences also believes that everyone is able to handle difficult and sensitive news. Therefore, financially critical phases are shared with all employees to take advantage of the collective intelligence to find solutions and make the right decisions for the company.

The current structure and role holder of LIVEsciences are displayed and publicly accessible in Holaspirit (https://app.holaspirit.com/public/livesciences-ag). This makes it especially easy for employees to reach out to the right role owner and hold others accountable.

Status of August 2022

Every employee sets their salary for one year without ranges, levels, or limitations.

While this process is evolving, LIVEsciences followed these steps in its most recent compensation cycle:

1. The individual collects financial & other inputs and reflects on money, self-worth, and value.
2. Every employee receives input from everyone else on what they think he/she should earn (one CHF-figure) in line with the advice process. This information is captured in a datasheet.
3. Everyone meets via Speed Dating with explanations for the figures and criteria people used for their advice.
4. The individual decides on their salary and communicates it.
5. Tensions get addressed and (sometimes) resolved.
6. The Finance Role has a veto right if the total salary amount (not per individual) might lead to financial distress for the company.

The salary process aims to fulfill the purpose to support the people to take a decision for their own salary for the following calendar year which is:

• Subjectively fair and reflective by self and others in the team
• In line with the entrepreneurial spirit
• Fulfills LIVEsciences need for efficient and lean approach and
• Fulfills the company need for financial sustainability

Besides the fixed annual salary LIVEsciences employees have the possibility to invest part of their salary in the LIVEpot supporting LIVEscienes keeping the structural cost low over the year. At the end of the year, a certain proportion of the profit is allocated to the LIVEpot contributions, applying a factor similar to an interest rate on the money invested. Reflecting the entrepreneurial risk, the factor is not always above 1, hence employees might have made an investment with their salary in the future of the company.

The compensation and the LIVEpot contribution are transparent to all employees.

Status of August 2022

The Talent Scout identifies and attracts new hires with the best fit to the LIVEline* (character)and customer needs (expertise). He or she facilitates the recruiting process mainly by initiating self-assignment of catalysts to form a balanced panel for the interviews.

The Talent Scout enables continuous reflection on their sourcing tactics e.g. demand, location, and profile, and ensures an alignment between panels ongoing in parallel.

The interview process is driven by the Panel Lead who enrolls 2 further panel members forming a 3-person panel. During the interview process, the Panel Lead is the point of contact for the candidate answering his or her questions about compensation, benefits etc.

As recruiting decisions have a higher criticality to their business, hiring decisions are made by consensus amongst the 3 panel members.

*LIVEline: The LIVEline gives an impression of the character of LIVEsciences. It summarises who they are and what they think is the right way of working together. For example, it includes values, principles, and behaviors the team is striving for and triggers passionate discussions on different situations in their day2day work life (https://livesciences.com/liveline/).

Status of August 2022