As you could’ve read in this article, BlueFinch-ESBD is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. This means 15 years of history, experience, interesting projects, amazing customers, and most importantly, 15 years of a great team that brought us to where we are today. Our team, which consists of 24 hard-working people, is spread out over two countries and four locations. This means that, even though we work together every day, we rarely have the opportunity to be all together in one location. Which is why this year we wanted to do something special, and we decided to organise a Teambuilding Across Borders event in Morocco together with event and incentive specialist WYT. The goal of this? To reconnect, inspire each other, strengthen our teamwork for the future, really get to know each other, and of course also celebrate 15 successful years in the business.
Why this location
Together with WYT, we chose to take this teambuilding event all the way to the beautiful city of Marrakech. Here, we could create the perfect combination of nature and culture through the different activities. This location gave us the perfect spots for conversation, trust-building, and stepping out of our comfort zone.
Day 1
We kicked the day off early at the airport. The French teams boarded their flights and arrived in Marrakech a few hours later, where they could kick off the adventure with a traditional Moroccan lunch in the desert to reconnect with each other. For the Dutch team, however, the day did not start as smoothly. After waking up early and boarding the plane, the flight was sadly cancelled. Luckily, our trip leader, Jeroen from Bureau WYT, immediately arranged for everyone to get on another flight from Charleroi to Marrakech. With a small race against the clock and a flat tyre on the way from Schiphol to Belgium, everyone still managed to arrive on time.
In the meantime, it was time for the French teams to split up and work together to find their way to the desert camp. This was done by riding buggies through the rough roads of the desert. This adventurous trip was great for building trust and learning to work together, especially between colleagues who normally work from different offices and countries.
We ended the day over a traditional Moroccan dinner accompanied by traditional dances and a fire-eating show providing an opportunity to discuss our experiences, mingle with each other, and exchange stories with co-workers from different offices.
Day 2
We kicked off day 2 with a nice breakfast at the camp, before making our way aboard 4X4’s to the Atlas Mountains, where we started our hike to the top. There were some tricky passages during which we had to look out for each other and help each other find the best way to reach our shared goal. This hike was gorgeous and helped us strengthen our teamwork and attentiveness. Once we reached the top, we enjoyed a stunning view and a delicious traditional Moroccan lunch. We then arrived at our hotel, settled into our rooms and took some time to relax by the pool before getting ready for the evening. We ended the day by going to Marrakech, having a nice time in the night souk and enjoying a tasty rooftop dinner in the city centre where we could mingle again and have a nice time together.
Day 3
The third day started before sunrise; we had to be ready to go at 5 in the morning. With sleepy eyes, we arrived at a remote location in the desert. Here, we split up into two groups for a very exciting activity: ballooning! As the sun slowly came up into the sky, so did we. Together with around 50 other hot air balloons, we watched the world waking up from above. It was very special to experience the peace and quiet this high up in the air. The hot air balloon gave us the experience of seeing the world from a different perspective, which shows that a simple change in perspective can bring you a lot of beautiful things. Following this delightful experience in the air, we came back down to enjoy a great breakfast in the desert sunshine, surrounded by hot-air balloons.
After this exciting morning, we jumped on our bikes to discover the city. Biking in Marrakech can be quite chaotic, but by working together and looking out for each other, we managed to get the hang of it quite quickly. During the bike ride, we visited multiple local spots, such as a bakery and a mosaic workshop. It was a beautiful and adventurous way to discover the city. To close off the day, we enjoyed a delicious dinner accompanied by an impressive show. During this dinner, we truly celebrated our anniversary and our team. It was the perfect way to end this teambuilding trip.
Day 4
The fourth day marked the conclusion of this memorable journey. As we reflected on the experiences we had shared, it made us realise how fortunate we are to have such a great team. We learned many things during this trip about each other, about the different ways we work, and about how we can collaborate even more effectively across offices and countries. This trip showed us that even though we are spread across multiple offices and countries, we can still depend on each other to work hard and support one another. The activities during this teambuilding trip helped us build trust, connections, and understanding, and showed us how changing our perspective can help when we feel stuck.
We want to thank everyone who made this trip a success. So, thank you, Team BlueFinch-ESBD, and thank you to Jeroen from Bureau WYT!
We returned energised, inspired, and ready for what comes next.
