Results

By the late 2010s, FMT had reached a tipping point. Participants and project leaders were actively requesting more management training — a grassroots signal that something was working. That demand caught the attention of the Operations Team at MSF's Paris Headquarters, arriving at a significant moment: the team had recently completed a critical review of MSF's response in Borno State, Nigeria (2015–2016), examining why delays had occurred during a major emergency. The review created space to acknowledge past challenges and commit to strengthening future operations.

With both the field demand and the institutional momentum aligned, the Ops Team partnered with FMT facilitators to redesign the program. What had begun as an HR-focused training evolved into a broader operational management program — and the foundation of Ways of Working (WoW) was defined.

Over the next six years, WoW was developed into a highly engaging, context-driven program designed to reflect the complexity and uncertainty of field environments. It emphasized inclusive leadership, shared decision-making, and building strong learning cultures across teams — growing steadily from a pilot initiative into a globally delivered program reaching hundreds of MSF staff each year. The highlights below reflect the scale of that growth.