A coaching programme built for the organisation's reality
The programme was designed to fit NS International's existing sprint model. Participants didn't take time off their day-to-day work — they applied the new methods to the actual business challenges they were already responsible for. That decision was deliberate. Methods learned in isolation rarely transfer. Methods learned on real problems, with real stakes, stick. The programme drew on Design Thinking, Lean Startup, and Agile — and also incorporated tools NS International already used, like the Business Model Canvas. This wasn't about replacing what worked. It was about adding customer-centric rigour to a development culture that was already moving toward agility. Nordkapp's coaches were on-site throughout the seven weeks. Presence mattered: questions could be answered immediately, resistance could be addressed in the moment, and the cultural dimension of the change — which is always harder to shift than the methodological one — had consistent support. Each Growth Team chose an actual business challenge to work with, following the design process from discovery to customer insights, product-market fit, and scaling.
"The coaching was concrete and to the point. This allowed our teams to create a great collaborative dynamic, working together to solve our actual business problems while adopting new methods for innovation and customer-centricity."
Succeeding on both fronts
The programme succeeded on both goals NS International had set. New business opportunities and ideas were generated during the seven weeks — the Growth Teams identified concrete possibilities across the organisation. And the design and agile methods took hold: participants became change agents, carrying the new ways of working back into their teams and accelerating the broader cultural shift. The on-site coaching model was a key factor. When Nordkapp's specialists were present to demonstrate methods, share practices for involving customers in development, and support the cultural change in real time, the pace of adaptation was faster than a workshop-based approach would have achieved. The learning was embedded through doing, not through instruction. NS International came away from the project with a more customer-centric development culture, a set of growth opportunities to pursue, and a cohort of internal advocates who had experienced the methods working on problems they cared about. That combination — ideas plus capability plus culture — is what makes this kind of engagement durable.
"Nordkapp tailored the coaching to fit our specific needs, making the learning process quick and fully compatible with our then-new agile processes. I believe that's a benefit of working with an agency like Nordkapp, who closely adapt their coaching to fit each client."
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(2016-25©)
