Scaling Product Maturity in Specialty Insurance

Introduction

Real organisational change doesn’t happen by flipping a switch; it happens through sustained mindset shifts and shared vocabulary.

Recently, Colab partnered with Tokio Marine Kiln (TMK) to design and deliver a tailored coaching and training program. Our mission was to build a curriculum specifically mapped to TMK’s unique goals: driving genuine behaviour change and moving technical teams toward a culture of product stewardship. By integrating with TMK’s daily workflows, we focused on “small, repeatable moves” that drive massive shifts in clarity and decision speed.

We sat down with Andreea Rogojan, Product Lead at TMK, to discuss the journey from “episodic” training to a sustained, outcomes-first mindset.

The Strategic Challenge: The Language Gap

Q: Before engaging with Colab, what was the primary challenge or friction point your team was facing?

Andreea: Our core friction was misalignment on language and intent. Teams used different terms for the same concepts and often framed work around timelines rather than customer or business outcomes.

We knew this wasn’t a switch we could just flip. It requires a sustained mindset shift. Our immediate goal was to lay the foundations—shared vocabulary and lightweight practices—that start the journey and compound over time.

Why “Informative” Training Isn’t Enough

Q: You’ve tried playbooks and recorded trainings in the past. Why did those fall short?

Andreea: We’ve tried recorded trainings, playbooks, and small process changes. They were informative but episodic. Without practice on live work and reinforcement from managers or rituals, old habits returned.

Q: What led you to choose Colab for this specific transformation?

Andreea: We chose Colab for three reasons: (1) facilitation craft, (2) modular, do‑right‑now exercises applied to daily work, and (3) willingness to co‑design with TMK’s context. Crucially, they shared our belief that behavior change takes time, so the program emphasized small and repeatable moves we could sustain after the cohort ended.

Seeing the “Leading Indicators” of Change

Q: What tangible improvements are you seeing in the team since the engagement?

Andreea: We’re seeing leading indicators of the mindset shift:

• Teams now open conversations with the problem, evidence, and outcome before solutioning.

• Hypotheses and success metrics are appearing in roadmap and sprint planning.

• Shared terms (e.g., problem statement, hypothesis card, outcome metric) reduce back‑and‑forth.

These are visible, early-stage behaviours—the start of the shift, not the finish line. They’re already improving clarity and decision speed.

Creating Psychological Safety through “Mini” Templates

Q: Were there any unexpected “Aha!” moments that emerged?

Andreea: A shared vocabulary lowered friction faster than expected, and “mini” templates created psychological safety to test, learn, and iterate. These lightweight artifacts (problem statement, hypothesis card) signaled that it’s okay to say “we don’t know yet but, here’s how we’ll learn.”

Advice for Industry Leaders

Q: If you were recommending Colab to another leader in the industry, what would you say?

Andreea: Colab makes product thinking practical. The facilitation is excellent, the exercises are contextual and applicable, and the behaviours stick because they’re small and repeatable. It’s not a silver bullet because mindset change takes time but, this is the right starting point.

Q: If you could summarise the value delivered in one sentence, what would it be?

Andreea: Colab helped us lay the groundwork for an outcomes‑first mindset—through shared language and small, repeatable product management exercises—with early signs of the shift already visible in our ways of working.

Speak with our team to explore how we can help drive real behaviour change in your organisation today.