The Enerfip model: an organisational challenge built on trust

Interview with Julien Hostache, President and Co-founder of Enerfip

In a world of work dominated by traditional hierarchical structures, Enerfip stands out as an exception. Since its founding, our platform has bet on a different organisational model: holacracy. No vertical management, no silos, no all-powerful leadership, but a genuine distribution of power, an assumed trust in employees, and an organisation conceived as a living organism, capable of constant adaptation.

Julien Hostache, President and Co-founder, reflects on this organisation.

Global Governance and Vision

Enerfip has made organisational choices that could be described as unconventional. What has been the guiding thread in building your governance model since the company was founded?

The guiding thread is trust. I am deeply convinced that when you trust people, they prove worthy of it.

I built this conviction from my own experience as an employee: ways of operating based on suspicion or constant oversight, designed to limit employees' room for manoeuvre, create a toxic atmosphere and reduce their engagement. Conversely, when people are given genuine trust, they become more involved and thrive. That is the central pillar of how we conceived our governance.

How do you articulate your role as President and Co-founder within a model where power is supposedly distributed?

I have never been either omnipotent or omniscient, and it is essential to be aware of that. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses is what allows you to rely on others, on those who are competent where you may not be.

My role as President is above all one of oversight and direction: ensuring that the company's values are preserved, that the people working there feel good, and that everything remains oriented toward collective goals.

I fundamentally believe in collective intelligence: several minds are always better than one. That is the foundation of our approach. It is therefore natural for roles and decisions to be distributed.

Holacracy

Why did you choose holacracy? What convinced you to adopt this model, and at what point in Enerfip's life?

The founding idea was precisely to offer a different vision of what a company could be, because we had seen too much of the negative side of the traditional world of work. We drew inspiration from what already existed, and holacracy was the model that truly spoke to us. It was a perfect match! What won me over was its protean and fluid nature — almost biological in the way it adapts.

What were the concrete, day-to-day benefits of holacracy? And the limitations you encountered?

The main benefit is that in a service company, the wealth lies in the people who work there. If you place employee well-being at the heart of your organisational model, financial and operational performance will follow. The logic is simple: when you rely on everyone's talents and commitment, results are delivered.

As for the limitations, they stem precisely from that protean nature. It does not offer the reassuring comfort of a classic model with clearly defined boundaries. Things change, contours evolve, and for some people, not having a settled daily routine is uncomfortable. We, on the other hand, thrive on constant momentum!

The other challenge is finding the right balance between collective decisions and the need to recentralise certain major decisions. You have to find the right calibration to avoid misunderstandings. It is ongoing work.

How has the model evolved as Enerfip has grown?

We were inspired by holacracy, but we did not copy it to the letter: we do not follow a pre-set path. What we have built is a circle-based model that merges the foundations of holacracy with our own vision. For us, it is necessary to have a point of reference in each circle: someone who plays a watchdog role and steers the circle in the right direction.

Furthermore, our growth has been gradual, which has allowed for a natural adoption and maturation of the model.

How do new employees respond to this model? Is it easy to onboard?

It is fairly easy, even if it always surprises people a little. During the "astonishment reports" (check-ins at one and two months), we mostly see people who are pleasantly surprised. And we can see it in our figures too: turnover is low.

Branch Offices and International Development

How does holacratic governance translate to an international structure, with different legal and cultural realities?

It is a strong stance that Sébastien and I defended together: for this model to work across multiple countries, you must absolutely avoid creating silos. Isolated structures generate pockets of disconnection within the team.

We believe, on the contrary, in preserving a monolithic character. When you are part of a circle, you are cross-border — you belong to a collective, not a national entity. We are convinced that this is what guarantees the consistency of orientations and objectives. It is not always simple given cultural differences, but it is a truly relevant approach for addressing this challenge.

What were the operational and legal challenges related to setting up a branch?

The challenges are multiple and very concrete.

• Those who have been with the company for a long time experienced, for example, the shift to English as the working language.
• Those who are geographically distant can miss things: meetings, informal moments.
• Equity must also be ensured: a "Macron bonus," for example, does not exist in other countries — how do you handle that fairly?

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These are both legal and human challenges... a near-daily struggle. It is not plain sailing. We dedicate weekly reflection to it, with topics to address continuously, on a case-by-case basis.

Remote Work

How do you reconcile a strong company culture with potentially geographically dispersed teams?

We have a basic rule: full remote is possible, but employees based near a branch or headquarters come into the office three days a week. It is the same rule for everyone, regardless of where they are located.

Do you have specific rules or rituals for maintaining team cohesion in hybrid or full-remote mode?

Yes, several.

1. Remote work days can be taken on either Monday or Friday, but not both days in the same week.
2. We organise seminars, team-building days, a New Year's dinner...
3. We have introduced a monthly "remote week" so that distant teams can get together.
4. We encourage teams to visit the branch offices to strengthen that sense of belonging.
5. And, of course, we have tools that create day-to-day connection, such as Cliq, Notion, or "Enerscoop" (our internal newsletter), which help maintain more informal relationships between employees.

Acquisitions and External Growth

How do you integrate an acquired company into a holacratic model? How does the cultural transition work?

Culturally, the Dutch are closer to a model like ours than to a pyramidal one (even though that is what they had before). That is a genuine facilitating factor.

Furthermore, we went to introduce ourselves directly to their team early on, which allowed us to move forward gradually. The success of this acquisition lies in having integrated seven people in English, with all the cultural differences that entails.

What lessons do you take from the external growth operations carried out so far?

The main lesson is that when you do things collectively, in the same direction and with conviction, you can address any topic, any challenge. Bringing a group of people together around a shared ambition is the strongest marker of our model's relevance. Everyone felt involved and wanted to contribute their part.

Outlook and Long-term Vision

In five years, what does Enerfip's governance look like? Does holacracy remain at the heart of the model?

Holacracy and Enerfip are intrinsic: you cannot separate them. The model will likely look different in form, because it is by nature fluid, but the principles and fundamentals will remain the same.

What advice would you give to a founder who is questioning their organisational model today?

Do not apply the frameworks presented to you to the letter, but draw from them freely to build something that reflects who you are. The essential thing is to align your organisational and governance model with the core values that define you as a leader.