Fanfinity Strategy Days: from remote working to true team connection
🌍 An international scale-up with a shared passion
Fanfinity is not a classic company. What started from a shared passion for trading card games (including Pokémon) grew in a few years into an international organisation with some 40 people spread across Europe.
The East Flanders company thus grew into a true global player, with weekly events attracting thousands of participants. (And recently received an award for it) Surely that is the max!!!
That passion runs deep. Employees and freelancers feel a strong connection with the community and are willing to go that extra mile. But just that rapid growth also brings new questions:
- How to stay connected as an international team?
- How to deal with working from home versus hybrid working?
- And how do you make sure that communication does not just run through management, but really occurs between colleagues?
During their multi-day Strategy Days - on a farm near Paris - Fanfinity wanted to deliberately reflect on this. And were allowed to facilitate this process with mussels from brossels.
In this article
⚖️ Growing in a highly connected culture
The strength of Fanfinity clearly lies in the commitment and passion of its people. At the same time, growth also brings new questions. Because organising events for so many people and continuing to put that quality and passion into them each time. That takes some doing.
In the collaboration, some subtle tensions that are typical of organisations at this stage surfaced. Consider how feedback is shared, how different voices are addressed and how people relate to each other within a mix of permanent staff and freelancers.
The way of working together in an international, largely remote context also plays a role in this. Not everything is always easy to discuss, especially when it comes to expectations or habits that have quietly formed.
Beyond that, a broader reflection lives on:
👉 How do we stay true to our original drive and passion while continuing to grow and professionalise as an organisation?
🎲 From talking to experiencing: a connecting communication workshop
Together with Fanfinity, we designed a half-day around connecting communication and collaboration, based on experiential learning.
Not a classic workshop, but a journey in which people first experience, then reflect, and then translate to their daily practice.
What that meant concretely:
Land safely first
We started by creating a safe context. No small step, but an essential condition to enable honest conversations.
Game-based learning: feeling where it chafes
Through a playful simulation, participants worked in “islands” with their own goals as well as a shared group goal.
The parallels with their reality were immediately apparent: working in silos, limited communication (as in remote working), depending on each other to move forward,...
Reflection on behaviour and patterns
What really happened? Who took the initiative? Who remained silent?
In small groups and plenary, we brought out these insights.
Connecting communication in practice
With a simple but powerful framework - perception, feeling, need, request - participants engaged in conversation.
From individual reflection → to duos → to small groups → to the whole.
Dialogue with space for all voices
Through a fishbowl setup, an open conversation ensued in which different perspectives could coexist.
Not to convince, but to understand.
>> discover other exercises on connecting communication
💡 What set this in motion
This session did not bring ready-made solutions, but it set something fundamental in motion:
- People first. By really listening, management sent a powerful message: it's all about you.
- Strong buy-in. There was a renewed desire to keep going that extra mile together.
- Concrete handles. Participants learned how to have conversations beyond “hey, what's up?”.
- Playfulness and energy. Because working together can also be fun.
In addition, the important themes clear to work on further.
The remote vs. hybrid working was explicitly given the attention it deserves in the process.
The central question became:
👉 What do we need, even remotely, to work well together and stay connected?
🔁 How we anchor this further
After the workshop, we took time with management for a post-workshop discussion.
As a strategic partner, we thus brought together key insights to ensure the overall picture was right and the next steps were well aligned with what was going on in the team.
An online return moment is still planned, to see what has remained in motion, where it is chafing and what is still needed to grow further. Like strengthening leadership. Not unimportant to keep reconciling passion with business.
🧭 Why this worked for Fanfinity
This approach perfectly matched their reality:
- International and hybrid team → need for real connection
- Strong passion culture → giving space to what drives people
- Growth phase → conscious handling of communication and structure
The playful and experiential nature made it possible to discuss sensitive topics safely and openly - without becoming heavy or theoretical.
🤝 Also getting started with your team?
Are you facing similar challenges as an organisation around hybrid working, international collaboration or connecting communication?
We like to think along in a process that suits your context - with an approach that connects, challenges and gets things moving.
Other playful inspiration for your team
26 June 2026
24 June 2026
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