Many years ago, before we had the circle-based management structure (grounded in sociocracy) that we use today, we were holding one of our monthly Plenary sessions (a gathering of everyone at Esfera). During a closing session called Open Space, more than 15 of us from Esfera gathered to discuss a topic that was on our minds: our salaries—how competitive they were compared to other organizations, how we perceived them internally, and how we could improve in those areas.

Following that meeting—which was in person back then; I still picture all of us standing in a circle in the office dining area—we kept the conversations on these topics alive. Through several subsequent meetings, as the number of participants naturally decreased over time, we eventually converged into a core group of five people who decided to propose a new management team to the Board: the Salary Experience Team.

This would become the starting point for the management circle structure we have today, and it has since been a space for innovation and continuous improvement in an area we care deeply about. For those of us who make up the team, it is a motivating and challenging workspace. It emerged out of necessity—bottom-up, so to speak—and it also represents our ability to institutionalize improvement initiatives born from the drive to participate and build that defines us.