How one hospital team used design thinking to transform daily frustrations into practical change.
CLIENT
Namibia Oncology Centre
INDUSTRY
Healthcare
DEPARTMENT
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Chemotherapy, Radiology, Pharmacy, Finance, Leadership, and HR
THE CHALLENGE
A leading cancer facility with world-class care faced fragmented communication, scattered platforms, and slipping morale.
THE APPROACH
We paused operations for two days and ran a Design Thinking Innovation Sprint, transforming the chemo ward into an innovation hub where every staff member co-created solutions.
THEMES
Shared Language, Prototypes to Practice, Cross-Functional Collaboration, Psychological Safety
About NOC
Namibia Oncology Centre (NOC) is a state-of-the-art cancer treatment facility with a national footprint across Namibia. Renowned for clinical excellence, NOC brings together oncologists, radiotherapists, nurses, and support staff to deliver advanced, compassionate care to patients and their families. As a leading healthcare institution, NOC’s impact extends beyond treatment; it sets standards for quality and innovation in Namibia’s medical landscape.
Beneath this reputation of excellence, however, laid a deeper challenge affecting the centre: internal communication. Information was scattered, departments worked in silos, and staff were losing confidence that change was possible. In healthcare, where every message matters, this disconnect wasn’t just inefficient — it was risky.
Priorotising Change
We first met Steffi Quarmby, now MD of NOC, over coffee while validating some of Turipamwe’s service design concepts. Steffi struck us immediately as an innovator. With her background in finance and experience building high-performing teams, she understood how fragile culture can be — and how essential it is to create environments where people can contribute.
We quickly found ourselves sharing frustrations about Namibia’s broader innovation landscape. That conversation led directly to a Design Café with NOC’s leadership team, where we introduced design thinking as a tool to spark innovation and solve complex organisational challenges.
From that Café, the real challenge came into focus: NOC didn’t just need new tools; they needed a shared language and the psychological safety to use it. Together, we framed a challenge statement and agreed that a Design Sprint could give the whole organisation a chance to reset, reconnect, and co-create solutions.
The Desgin Sprint
NOC made a bold decision. They closed their doors for a full day so every staff member — from night-shift nurses to administrators — could take part. That commitment in itself sent a message: this matters.
The chemotherapy ward was transformed into an innovation hub, complete with themed zones, cross-functional tables, live monitors for sharing ideas, and facilitators guiding each group. Even the reception turned into a café-style lounge. It was clear this wasn’t business as usual — this was everyone’s workshop.
On Day 1, we focused on empathy and definition. Staff mapped frustrations, surfaced tensions, and built empathy across departments. Together, they arrived at a clear problem statement that described the underlying causes, effects, and impact of their communication challenges.
On Day 2, staff nominated Innovation Ambassadors to lead the prototyping. In mixed teams, participants built and pitched real-world ideas. Each prototype was tested against feasibility, emotional resonance, and impact.
The Outcomes
Every element was designed to encourage inclusion, psychological safety, and shared ownership—because great solutions come from brave conversation. Through guided facilitation, interviews, and structured exercises, participants:
Mapped 12 key communication challenges across departments
Identified deep-rooted issues like siloed teams, unclear priorities, and a culture of fear
Engaged in real-time validation interviews with peers
Developed and pitched three practical prototypes with clear next steps
Despite the heaviness of the issues surfaced, the energy was hopeful. People leaned in—sharing openly, thinking creatively, and reconnecting with their sense of agency. Participation was extraordinary: more than 95% of staff joined despite demanding clinical schedules.
Together, they identified twelve core communication challenges, validated insights through peer interviews, and, in under six hours, developed three cross-functional prototypes. Feedback showed that more than 80% of staff felt the process improved empathy and trust across the organisation.
rate across two days, despite full schedules and clinical workloads.
communication issues were narrowed down from an initial set
of challenges.
developed and pitched in under 6 hours, co-created by 40 team members.
feedback indicated improved empathy and trust after validation interviews.
The Prototypes
Change Beyond The Sprint
Since the sprint, NOC created and hired Victoria Kangombe, a Communications Strategist who, together with the team, has gone on to refine and implement the staff-designed prototype, which has evolved into concrete organisational change.
"All staff-co-create prototypes have evolved into concrete organisational change. NOC.NET has become a reality through Microsoft Teams and Viva Engage, creating the unified communication platform staff envisioned: one secure, shared voice replacing our previous fragmented channels. The automation and dashboard concepts from Bumblefree 1.0 and nocITout are advancing through our SmartView oncology workflow system, bringing staff-identified solutions into daily practice.
Most significantly, we foresee the spirit of collaborative problem-solving taking root in our COURAGEtoCARE internal values campaign. We intend to transform the sprint's core insight: that when we create psychological safety, innovation flourishes, into practical daily behaviours around Compassion, Accountability, Reliability, and Excellence.
The sprint proved to us that courage isn't just required for cancer patient care; it's essential for organisational transformation. Staff who found their voice in that chemotherapy-ward-turned-innovation-hub are now carrying that same energy into Viva Engage, creating the lasting cultural shift that makes all our other improvements possible.”
– Victoria Kangombe, Communications Strategist
Lessons & Collaboration
Design thinking is a novel concept in Namibia. Turipamwe has been championing this important work, but getting "Yes" has been a challenge for its novel approach. This sprint and this client case have demonstrated to us that change isn’t about slogans, it’s about creating the conditions for honest dialogue. While we knew this internally, it was remarkable to witness how a client can embrace this style of work, to try to do things differently. We learned that empathy builds momentum, silence often masks fear, hope must be visible to feel real, and leadership participation makes all the difference. Perhaps most striking, we saw how transforming a physical space with intention and care opened the door for cultural transformation, too.
Our Aha! moments:
Empathy builds momentum: peer interviews surfaced deep insight and connection
Silence has a cause: fear of victimisation and favouritism held people back
Hope must be visible: progress has to be felt to be believed
Leadership matters: when management participates, teams engage more fully
To the NOC team: thank you for saying yes. Yes to co-creation, yes to honesty, and yes to doing things differently. By doing this deep and intentional work, you proved something powerful: innovation isn’t a department, it’s a decision, and with a commitment to doing things differently, change is possible.
If your organisation is ready to design a better way forward, we’d love to sprint alongside you.