The Foresight approach
High achievement. Healthy people.
A way to decide what needs to happen and how to work together to achieve it. The difference is in the behaviours, including how people use authority, take responsibility and treat one another.
The conditions for good work
The conditions for people to work well
People work well when they can contribute to decisions, understand what is happening and have authority that matches their responsibilities. Good management gives them that involvement, support and room to use their judgement.
Authority with responsibility
People have the authority to act on the responsibilities they carry.
Involvement in decisions
People contribute information, ask questions and influence the work.
Trust in people and the system
People understand the approach and believe in those taking responsibility.
Foresight connects a Management Framework for deciding what needs to happen with a Behavioural System for how people work together. Planning matters. Our distinctive contribution is the way people put it into practice.
The experience behind Foresight
Shared responsibilities, different authority
The organisational work we share
Our professions involve the same organisational responsibilities as yours: developing people, managing resources, meeting legal requirements and getting the work done. Much of this happens before an emergency, as we prepare our people and services for what they may be asked to do.
Like you, we sometimes work with incomplete information, changing priorities and people in different locations. Volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity, or VUCA, describe conditions that both our organisations face.
For us, these conditions are frequent and mistakes can cost lives or cause lasting harm, including to our own friends and colleagues. Looking after the people doing the work is part of our responsibility for getting it done.
We have built and managed response organisations and taken part in hundreds of international deployments, as well as rescuing, treating and caring for people ourselves.
What we do in calm periods determines how well we work when the pressure rises. Foresight teaches the management, followership, leadership and command that help us achieve difficult things while looking after one another.
How authority differs
Military and police authority includes the power to compel people through force or the threat of force. A member of the armed forces can be imprisoned for disobeying a lawful command, while police have powers of arrest and lawful force over the public. That authority does not depend on the individual’s consent.
Foresight comes from fire, rescue, medical and humanitarian work. Our purpose is to rescue, treat, care for and protect people, and the approach we teach depends on willing cooperation. We do not use force, threats or humiliation to make people follow us.
We follow people because we trust them and believe in the system we work within. That trust grows through being involved, treated with respect and given the authority to meet our responsibilities.
We help you build teams that work this way, where people understand the work, contribute their knowledge and choose to support one another.
Four behaviours. Clear meanings.
Management, followership,
leadership and command.
Management
Application of the rules, policies, procedures, and guidelines of an organisation.
Followership
The voluntary, authentic, and active support provided to a leader.
Leadership
The guidance, direction, and support provided to a follower.
Command
Rapid leadership involving little consultation. Requires permission from followers.
These are the definitions used in Foresight teaching. The permission required for command depends on the trust described below.
The Foresight approach
Command and consent
Management allows time for discussion and explanation; command means giving direction quickly, with little consultation. People who understand Foresight can actively want command because they see its benefit to themselves, their team and their organisation.
They consent only because they trust and believe in both the person and the system. That trust is earned through management, and command cannot be used too often or for too long.
People remain accountable to the organisation’s rules, policies and procedures, but their choice to follow, be led or be commanded can be withdrawn at any time, for any reason.
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From management to command
The change in pace, with trust and consent shown throughout.
“Leadership tokens are earned in management and spent in command.”
A Foresight-625 principle taught by our professional team
Dr Shawky Amine Eddine included the leadership tokens principle in his presentation about the Beirut port explosion at the World Trauma Symposium in October 2022.
Two connected systems
Understand the situation.
Plan what comes next.
The Management Framework helps people decide what needs to happen. The Behavioural System helps them choose how to work together to make it happen. Clear thinking and cooperation develop together.
The Management Framework
01 / History
How did we get here?
Understand the events, decisions and actions that led to the present situation.
02 / Current circumstances
What is happening now?
Build a shared picture of the facts. Notice what is known, what is assumed and what still needs to be understood.
03 / Risks & opportunities
What could this mean?
Consider the consequences for the work and the people involved, including opportunities worth pursuing.
04 / Aim & objectives
What do we want to achieve?
Set an overall aim, then define the objectives that will help people work towards it.
05 / Resources
What will it take?
Identify the people, information, time and other resources needed to carry out the plan.
06 / Timeline
How will we get there?
Connect the present situation to the aim through a sequence of actions, responsibilities and review.
Use the questions to establish a clear picture before acting, then revisit the plan as circumstances change. The Behavioural System below helps people put that plan into practice.
What could change in your organisation?
Tell us what you want to achieve, the people involved and what is making the work difficult. You do not need to choose a service before speaking to us.