How Incision’s leadership reconnected strategy, purpose, and execution
Incision is a fast-growing MedTech scaleup empowering surgical teams through education and digital tools that improve operating room performance.
After a period of restructuring and renewed growth ambitions, Incision’s leadership team faced a pivotal moment: they needed to realign around a shared vision, rebuild team cohesion, and evolve their goal-setting approach to better connect strategy with execution.
The leadership offsite, facilitated by Ritmoo, was designed to strengthen collaboration, clarify direction, and introduce the NCT framework (Narratives, Commitments, Tasks) as a practical tool to anchor focus for 2025.
The challenge
The company had strong mission-driven roots but faced several growing pains typical of a scaling business:
Fragmented focus across divisions, markets, and priorities.
Cultural and functional silos between clinical and non-clinical leaders.
Goal-setting fatigue, where ambitious objectives lacked shared context or rhythm.
A sense of misalignment between Incision’s powerful purpose and its daily execution.
Leadership wanted a way to reconnect — to make goals feel meaningful again, and to rebuild momentum for the next phase of growth.
The how
The offsite combined strategic frameworks with experiential learning:
a) Setting the Stage — Connection Before Content
The day opened with truth-telling and storytelling exercises to foster psychological safety and authenticity. Through “Memory Lane,” leaders reflected on key moments of pride, challenge, and growth — setting the emotional foundation for strategic alignment.
b) Sailboat Exercise — Context and Focus for 2025
Using the Sailboat Framework, the group identified what propelled and slowed Incision:
Winds: strong product-market fit and positive customer feedback.
Anchors: long sales cycles, lack of focus, and resource constraints.
Rocks: competitive pressure from AI-driven players and compliance risks.
Island: a clear aspiration — becoming a must-have product in the US market.
This exercise surfaced key themes for leadership focus in the upcoming year: clarity, prioritization, and focus on core strengths.
c) Hedgehog Canvas — Rediscovering the Core
Teams co-created Incision’s “Hedgehog Concept” — the intersection of what they are deeply passionate about, best in the world at, and what drives their economic engine.
It reinforced the company’s unique position: improving surgical care by empowering teams with trustworthy, practical, and human-centered learning tools.
d) Manual of Me — Leadership Reflection
Each leader created a “Manual of Me,” articulating their motivations, feedback preferences, and leadership style.
This built empathy across the team and supported better collaboration across cultures and disciplines.
e) NCT Coaching — From Goals to Commitments
The offsite concluded with Ritmoo coaching the team on transitioning to the NCT framework.
Leaders learned how to translate strategy into clear Narratives, define measurable Commitments, and outline actionable Tasks — ensuring goals are both strategic and feasible.
The outcome
The offsite delivered tangible outcomes:
Renewed leadership alignment around purpose and priorities for 2025.
A shared strategic context and language for focus and decision-making.
A practical foundation to adopt NCTs, shifting from goal overload to goal clarity.
Reconnected culture, bridging clinical and non-clinical leaders through empathy and shared purpose.
Incision closed the day with a clear direction, a stronger sense of unity, and the structure to turn ambition into execution — embodying the next phase of its mission to transform surgical care.