Cross-links & linking circles: connecting your structure

As your organisation grows, circles need to coordinate across boundaries. Nestr has two mechanisms for that, and they work differently: a rep link carries a circle's voice upward to its parent, and a cross-link invites a role from one circle into another so the same role operates in both.

The rep link

The rep link is one of the four role templates Nestr ships with, and like the others it is added to every new circle as long as it is ticked as a core role in Workspace settings → Applications → Default circle roles. Its purpose is to represent the circle's needs in the parent circle.

• It is electable by default, so the circle can elect who fills it through an election proposal.
• It carries no circle admin rights, unlike the circle lead and the secretary.
• Whoever fills it becomes a member of the parent circle, which is what creates the channel between the two.

It is a default rather than a fixture. An admin can edit it, switch it off, or rename it. See Role templates and core roles.

Cross-links

A cross-link takes an existing role in one circle and invites it into another. The role appears in the second circle and stays tied to the original, so the two do not drift apart.

FeatureRep linkCross-linkDirectionChild circle to parent circleAny circle into any other circleHow it arrivesAdded with every new circle, as a core roleInvited deliberately, one role at a timeStays in syncNo, it is an ordinary roleYes, it follows the role it was invited from

Inviting a role from another circle

Cross-links are made in a governance proposal, in the same place you would apply a role template:

1. In the circle that needs the role, raise a governance tension and add a New role proposal part. See Tensions and governance proposals.
2. Open the template dropdown in the top right of the role editor.
3. Choose Invite cross link.... If your workspace is not in Holacracy mode the same option reads Invite from other circle....
4. Pick the role you want from anywhere in the organisation.
5. Propose it as you would any other governance change.

What a cross-linked role behaves like

• It keeps the name, purpose, accountabilities and domains of the role it came from, and updates when that role changes.
• It cannot be edited where it was invited to. Nestr marks those fields Not editable as it is part of the cross-link, because the original circle owns them.
• The role shows a Cross linked from panel pointing at its source, and the source shows Cross linked into other circles, so the relationship is visible from both ends.
• Assignment is local. Who fills the cross-linked role is decided where it now lives.

To break the link, turn off the Invited cross link field on the role. It then keeps everything it has and becomes an ordinary role of that circle, free to evolve on its own.

Copying instead of linking

The same dropdown offers Copy existing.... That takes a one-time copy of a role and leaves it unconnected: you can edit it freely, and it will not follow the original. Copy when you want a head start; cross-link when the same role genuinely operates in two circles.

When to cross-link

• Shared services. One circle provides something to another, such as IT supporting Marketing, and the role should be identical in both.
• Cross-functional work. The work spans circles and you want one definition of the role rather than two that slowly diverge.
• Representation. A circle needs a specific role present in its meetings, not just its parent's ear.

For coordination between several circles at once, you can also create a circle for that purpose and cross-link the relevant roles into it. That is an ordinary circle used deliberately, not a separate kind of object.

A note on wording

Nestr adapts its vocabulary to your way of working. In a Holacracy workspace this feature reads as a cross-link throughout. In other modes the same option is called Invite from other circle, and the panels read Linked role template and Used as template for. The behaviour is identical. See Holacracy and Sociocracy in Nestr.