The FORS Report

Thinking in Systems: A Foundation for Better Leadership

My professional passion and intellectual focus lie in the field of organizational systems. I believe that well-designed organisations – i.e. those with clear structures, roles, and decision-making processes – are not just more effective, but also healthier and more humane places to work. This is the subject of my research and writing.

My core philosophy is grounded in the Forest-Orchard Resilience System (FORS), a concept I developed to make sense of the tension between structure and adaptability. It is not a rigid implementation plan, but a powerful way of thinking about the operational challenges and interpersonal dynamics present in all organisations.

• The Orchard: Represents the parts of your organisation that need structure, discipline, and predictable execution. It’s about clarity, focus, and delivering results efficiently.
• The Forest: Represents the parts of your organisation that need to be adaptive, resilient, and innovative. It’s about learning, evolving, and getting stronger under pressure.

Most leaders are trapped in a false trade-off, believing they must choose between one or the other. This leads to burnout, frustration, and strategic drift. The goal of our coaching is to help you cultivate the wisdom to know when to be the farmer of the orchard and when to be the steward of the forest.

What You'll Find Here

Across the world, a new generation of organisations is quietly experimenting with how work gets structured, how decisions are made, and how teams remain resilient under pressure. These companies aren’t following the old management playbooks, they’re adapting and inventing new ones.

The FORS Report is my long-term research project examining how organisations are evolving in response to complexity, technology and accelerating change. It includes:

• Case Studies: Real example of companies exploring new ways of structuring, governing and collaborating within and across teams.
• Patterns and Practices: Emerging themes from the practice and strategy of organisational design thinking, including what works, how and why.
• Field Notes: Observations from interviews, research and my ongoing study of organisational design.
• FORS in Practice: How the Forest-Orchard Resilience System (FORS) plays out across different organisational contexts.
• Implication for Leaders: Reflections on what these organisational innovations mean for how leaders think, deign and act.

This is not a consulting service. It is the intellectual foundation that supports my broader mission. I seek to understand how organisations can become more adaptive, effective and humane and to share those insights with leaders who are building the future.

How This Systemic View Informs Our Coaching

Understanding this dynamic changes how we approach your leadership challenges:

• When you feel overwhelmed by competing priorities, we use this lens to distinguish between the "orchard" tasks that require disciplined focus and the "forest" issues that demand adaptive thinking.
• When you are frustrated by organisational friction, we analyse the underlying structures that are causing the bottlenecks, helping you see the system at play.
• When you are facing a crisis or disruption, we explore how to build both the "orchard's" stability and the "forest's" resilience to navigate the storm.

By thinking in systems, you move from being a reactive problem-solver, constantly fighting fires, to becoming a strategic leader who understands and shapes the environment you operate in.

This approach ensures our coaching goes beyond surface-level behavioural tips and addresses the root causes of your challenges, creating a more profound and lasting impact on your leadership effectiveness.