INQA Coaching for German SMEs
More value creation, less busywork. So your work has impact again.
A shortage of skilled workers, new demands and increasingly complex processes – many SMEs are now realising that the old structures are no longer working.
Business as usual won’t hold up much longer either.
With INQA-Coaching, you and your team build the structures behind better collaboration, clearer workflows, stronger leadership, and ideas that actually work in the market, not something imported from outside.
Up to €14,400 in consulting costs — 80% covered by government funding.
Online. 30 minutes. No commitment.
Program Overview
INQA Coaching for German SMEs
Up to 80%
Government-Funded
INQA-Coaching is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and the EU.
For Small and
Medium-Sized Enterprises
Open to businesses registered in Germany that meet the EU SME criteria.
Up to 12
Consulting Days
Spread across a kick-off, moderated work phases, and evaluation session, built around how your team works together.
A Participatory
Process
Leadership, your team, and the relevant roles in your business build the solutions together, not us alone.
Ready for the
Digital Workplace
We help you get collaboration, communication, and workflows right, in a digital environment too.
Not sure you qualify? A short call will tell you.
BEFORE OUR COLLABORATION
Does This Sound Familiar?
Problem
Organizations Under Pressure
Skills shortages and rising demands keep growing, and usually faster than you can keep up.
Problem
Growth Outpaces Structure
The team keeps growing fast, but roles, meetings, and decision paths simply haven’t kept up.
Problem
Decision Paralysis
Nobody really knows who gets to decide anymore. Every decision still ends up on the same desk again.
Problem
Change Theater
New tools and programs launch. The will is there. Structure, participation, and clarity for execution aren’t.
Problem
The Leadership Problem
You were good at your job, so you got promoted. Nobody ever showed you how to actually lead.
Problem
Busy, Not Building Value
More time goes into alignment rituals than into actual customer problems. What matters most keeps getting pushed.
Part of the problem is external. Others are home-grown—and those, you can change.
INQA SERVICES
This Is Exactly Where INQA-Coaching Kicks In – Built on Six Core Action Fields
In the initial consultation, you and the IBS agree on which fields matter most for your coaching.
1. New business models & innovation strategies
How fast can you respond to a changing market? For example, new sales channels, digital add-on offers, responding to new customer demands.
2. Production models & work organization
How is digitalization changing your work situation? For example, clear responsibilities, digital knowledge-sharing, agile processes instead of rigid ones.
3. HR, employment & qualification
What capabilities does the shift require? For example, targeted training, updated job profiles, digital learning formats, stronger communication skills.
4. Social relations, trust & culture
How does trust actually form between leadership and the team? For example, open communication, real participation from the team, feedback that lands.
5. Leadership, career development & career paths
What are you doing to attract and retain skilled people? For example, part-time leadership, shared leadership roles.
6. Future Workplace, Working Hours & Performance Policy
What does tomorrow’s workplace look like? For example, flexible hours, remote work, fair shift scheduling, and healthier office concepts.
All six fields are part of our authorization. Our deepest experience is in New Business Models, Production Models and Work Organization, Social Relations and Culture, and Leadership, the same track record that took Blinkist to the German Design Award.
WHO YOU’RE WORKING WITH
The Leadership and Organizational Development Consultant Who Starts With the System — Not the Symptom
I work as a systems navigator — observing before intervening, making patterns visible, and helping leaders and teams see their system more clearly so they can act more freely and create real value.
I don’t just address the individual. I see the organizational system they’re operating inside — and work at both levels simultaneously. Because structure overrides behavior every time. Change the mindset without changing the conditions, and the system wins within weeks.
Martin Backes – Transformation coach, consultant, and facilitator for leadership, innovation, and organizational development. Speaker, author, trainer, and lecturer.
🥷 20+ years of experience in design, leadership, innovation, and organizational development, across projects, trainings, and teaching.
📊 4 companies founded (CoHive, Design Sprints Studio, Studio Martin Backes, aconica)
🎤 15+ years of experience as a university lecturer (theory meets practice)
🪪 INQA Coach, Authorized SME Advisor (German Federal Ministry of Labour / ESF Plus)
👨🏫 10+ years of experience as a business trainer and mentor
🪪 1 000+ people trained and certified in workshops and seminars
📱 Product Design, UX expert and official usability certifier in the DACH region
🥇 German Design Award winner 2021
🎨 International recognition: work exhibited in museums worldwide
🏅 Certified in Transformation, Change Management, New Work, Agile Coaching, (AI) Design Sprints, Systems Theory, Behavioural Design, Design Thinking, UX and Service Design, Problem Framing, JTBD, and Workshop Facilitation
Not your typical consultant. I cut through the noise, work at the level where patterns actually change — and build solutions that run without me.
HOW IT WORKS
How the INQA-Coaching Process Works
We work with you — not for you. Solutions don’t come from us. They emerge from the work we do together with your leadership and your team.
Your people know the system from the inside. We bring the outside perspective that makes the invisible visible, patterns you’re too close to see, structural dynamics nobody has named yet, leverage points that an internal view will always miss. That’s how we always work, inside INQA-Coaching too.
1. Initial Phase (About 1 Month)
See the system clearly before anything changes.
1 to 3 expert interviews with leadership and staff, followed by a joint kick-off workshop where you set the action fields for your coaching. Result: A shared, honest picture of what's happening, and the action fields that will guide the rest of the coaching.
2. Innovation Phase (About 3 to 4 Months)
Build and test in real work, not in a workshop room.
3 work phases inside the Lab Team, each about 4 weeks, with a planning and review session each time. Your team develops and tests solutions directly in daily work. Result: Structural changes that work in your reality, not on a slide.
3. Learning Phase (About 1 Month)
Evaluate together, and agree on what happens next.
In the evaluation session, you and we assess the three work phases together and agree on the next steps. The final report documents that in writing. Result: A shared conclusion and clear agreements for what comes next.
About 3 to 6 months after the coaching ends, your INQA advisory office holds a closing conversation with you, without us, to check what held.
FOR WHOM?
Is INQA-Coaching Right for You?
Not for you if you…
have already used INQA-Coaching once, the program is available to each company only once
are looking for a quick fix without really involving your team throughout the process
want to use the coaching to prepare a workforce reduction, that's explicitly excluded from the program
have more than 250 employees or exceed the EU SME revenue and balance sheet thresholds
This is for you if you…
have under 250 employees (full-time equivalents) and are registered in Germany
notice that growth, new tools, or new demands have outpaced your structures
are ready to actively involve your people, participation is mandatory in the program, not optional
want a structured, funded process over several months, not a single workshop
If you want change that holds once we’re no longer in the room — it’s worth a conversation.
Think big, start small.
CLIENT TESTIMONIALS
Don’t Just Take Our Word for It: Hear What Our Customers Say
🏆 Our project was honored with the German Design Award
»Working with Martin Backes was great. We hired him to direct and consult us in our vision of becoming a worldwide-leading audio product.« Niklas Jansen, CEO and co-Founder blinkist
Challenge: Blinkist’s leadership team needed to align around a bold new vision — becoming a worldwide-leading audio product. Getting a complex, cross-functional stakeholder group moving in the same direction, fast, was the critical bottleneck.
Solution: Structured leadership alignment sessions brought the team to strategic clarity in days rather than months. Martin then stayed on as a strategic partner, coach, and consultant for 18 months — keeping execution sharp and the team aligned through the full transformation.
Result: Blinkist transformed into a premium audio-first product, and won the German Design Award in 2021. Two years later, the company was acquired by Go1, valued at over $2 billion.
🎯 This is what lasting organizational change feels like
»Working with Martin Backes was a turning point for our organization. He helped us build real structures for leadership and collaboration — not just better meetings.« Anna Schieber, CEO UVR Berlin
Challenge: Slow decision-making, low team autonomy, and no scalable leadership structures. UVR Berlin was stuck in day-to-day firefighting — with no frameworks to unlock strategic innovation or growth.
Solution: Systemic redesign of leadership and collaboration: transforming leaders from firefighters to enablers with clear decision paths, defined responsibilities, and lightweight structures that enable real team autonomy. Built from the inside out for lasting results.
Result: Leadership became a real enabler — giving direction instead of creating bottlenecks. The team became more autonomous, decisions moved faster, and the dynamic shifted in ways that outlasted the engagement. UVR went on to open two new stores and successfully transitioned to a more sustainable brand.
🔍 Martin Backes brings clarity to complex teamwork and leadership
»I recommend Martin to anyone who wants to genuinely rethink teamwork, communication, and leadership — not just tweak it.« Laura Nielsen — Co-Founder New Monday & UX Growth Academy
Challenge: The UX Growth Academy — built by the team behind New Monday, Germany’s leading B2B UX agency — helps experienced UX designers develop communication, leadership, and stakeholder management skills. For their course “Designing Influence”, two new learning modules were needed on communication complexity in teams and overcoming silo thinking — complex topics that had to be immediately applicable for practitioners.
Solution: Martin developed both modules with rare structural clarity and innovative thinking — making complex team dynamics and communication patterns directly usable for course participants.
Result: The course “Designing Influence” gained real focus and impact. Participants reported feeling more confident in their communication and stronger in their teamwork — with effects that lasted well beyond the course itself.
CONVINCE YOURSELF
Not Sure Where the Real Friction Is? Let’s Find Out Together
1. Scheduling
Pick a time that works for you — slots are available within the next few days.
2. Situation Analysis
We look at what’s actually happening in your system — not just what looks like the problem.
3. Your Diagnosis
You leave with a clear picture of where to work — whether we continue together or not.
Our first meeting is 100% free of charge and without obligation.
No pitch. No commitment. Just real value.
FAQs
Questions We Get Frequently
The questions we hear most often — answered directly. If yours isn’t here, just ask.
1. What exactly is INQA-Coaching, again?
A government-funded program for SMEs that builds structures for leadership, collaboration, and work organization, not just digitalization in the narrow sense. The government covers up to 80 percent of the cost.
2. What does INQA-Coaching cost us?
You pay 20 percent of the consulting fees yourself, 80 percent is reimbursed through ESF Plus and BMAS. At the maximum of 12 consulting days and a net daily rate of 1,200 euros, that’s up to 14,400 euros total, of which you’d pay at most 2,880 euros yourself. You pay upfront and file for reimbursement within one month after the coaching ends.
3. Are we eligible for the INQA-Coaching?
Your INQA advisory office checks this in a free initial consultation. Baseline requirements, registered in Germany, under 250 employees, at least 2 years in the market, and you haven’t used the program before. Use the map of INQA advisory offices to find the one responsible for your region.
4. How long does the coaching take?
4 to 6 months recommended, up to 7 months maximum under the funding guideline, with up to 12 consulting days, spread across kick-off, three work phases, and an evaluation session.
5. What if our focus shifts during the coaching?
The action fields can still be adjusted up until the kick-off workshop. After that, whatever was agreed at kick-off is binding for the rest of the coaching. But we’ll do everything we can to solve your problems.
6. Is this different from your regular services?
Same method, we work on structure, not symptoms. The difference is format, INQA-Coaching follows a fixed, government-defined process and is 80 percent funded.
7. Can we use INQA-Coaching more than once?
No. Each company can use the program once.
8. What if we don't qualify?
Then we look at alternatives together. We also offer formats outside of INQA, like Coaching & Sparring or a single sprint. Structural change works with or without funding.
Still have a question that’s not covered here? Just reach out — by email or by booking a call directly.
CONTACT
Talk to Me First — Even Alongside the Official Consultation
The official first step for funding is a free initial consultation with an INQA advisory office. But if you want to talk through your situation first, or just find out whether we’re a good fit, you can reach out to me directly, anytime, whether or not you’ve already been to an advisory office.
No commitment. 100% free.
