Scale up fun, fame & fortune

We help innovative organizations that set the bar high when it comes to job satisfaction, customer service & team performance.

We develop tests, empower and coach teams and create events for them. Not boring, dry and slow, because that doesn't appeal to this group. But compact, fast, interactive and fun. Like it's TV formats. Continuously hold attention.
The result is that people become proud of themselves, curious about others and want to score as a team. With passion and pleasure.

It is not for nothing that we say: you work 40 hours a week. Don't do it just for the money, but maximize your job satisfaction. Take out what's inside. Or: Get A Life – from 9 to 5.

PROJECTS

... a selection of our projects

‘creativity
is intelligence
having fun'

We are proud to have worked with the most creative & enterprising people in:

Fashion & Lifestyle
Zomers Botanical Warehouse – Grannies Finest – Diesel

Film & Media
Roffa Mon Amour – Fresh Bridge – Rauw.CC

Finance & Technology
Mogelijk – Aegon – Delta Lloyd – Ben – PGGM – Dela Innovation Lab – Ella Helpt – MijnClaim – Suikeroom

Food & Drinks
Personality Tasting – Cinema Culinair – The Fruit Lab – Zengo

Research & technology
Tilburg University – FiveFlavoursPersonality.com

Not for profit
Amsta – Brandweer – Politie – COA – Gemeente Rotterdam, Haarlem & Amsterdam – Wonen Breburg – Vrije scholen van Pallas – MST – Bernhoven – Buzinezzclub – Brabant Zorg & Wonen – Hogeschool Rotterdam & Utrecht – D66

Start up your own business

Project | Rotterdam (municipality)

Help creatives start their own business. Not boring and dull, but energetic, sexy & social. Together with Arleen Events and Friends for Brands we have strengthened hundreds of young people in their dream, helped them practically with their start-up and challenged them through a dynamic contest. Our role: provide insight into the match between personality and entrepreneurial idea, feedback on marketing and customer acquisition and jury chair at the contest. Goal: stimulate entrepreneurship. With success. Fifty percent successful starters and European 1st prize for Boosting Entrepreneurial Spirit.

Everyone enterprising

Team spirit at scale-up

Project | Mogelijk (fintech)

How do we maintain our entrepreneurial spirit while growing from 10 to 50 people? The core of the approach: making new colleagues proud of the creative & doer DNA of the company (and of themselves) and helping founders with leadership. Our role: team coach. With: introduction day for new employees, individual advice “right people in the right places” and improving and automating work processes. Result: high score on job satisfaction, well-oiled machine and good atmosphere.

Maintain our team spirit

Ownership for happy customers

Project | Delta Lloyd (insurance)

How do you increase the service level if you get a lot of complaints? Our approach: to tap creativity in employees to get compliments. All together, everyone gets compliments every week. Our role: supervising management, coaching management, organizing events and creative communication. With: no-filter videos, managers in an exemplary role, cool starting event, gossip magazine, counting compliments per team and celebrating success. Week after week. Result: high job satisfaction, happy customers and a number 1 position in the Net Promoter Score.

Boosting customer service

ACADEMY

… workshops, trainings & coaching

Dare to be different, stand out from the crowd

Creative lab

Need fresh, sparkling ideas to attract new customers or colleagues? Or to make them stay? Need creative event ideas for interaction and fun? Then consider a creative lab. Please invite:

people who can get under the skin of the target group,
people who can freak out with creative ideas,
people with a gut feeling for timing and success,
people who can make things practical and achievable.

In a team session of 5 hours we convert the problem into a creative challenge, come up with creative ideas and select the ones with most potential. Are you ready?

Yes, do me a creative brainstorm

Vision of the future - social distancing

Everything changes

Everything changes. Which trends and developments will turn our industry upside down? What are the desires per generation? What paradoxes, dilemma's and opportunities are there? What suits us? The strategic session provides focus on:

onderstromen & vernieuwing = jezelf zijn;
van 1945 tot nu: generaties & succes in 10 branches;
being yourself or fake: in which worlds do I live;
generaties & hoe zit het met hebben, huren en delen;
AI as an opportunity and a threat (different for each generation).

A must for Board of Directors, Leaders, Entrepreneurs, and High Potentials. As a talk for inspiration, or an exploratory working session. Want to get ready for tomorrow?

Yes, let‘s get ready for what’s next

MBTI teambuilding

Does your team need a 'yes we can' vibe? Need to make smarter use of each other's qualities as a team? And, want to have fun working together? Then consider an A-team building, with:

interactive MBTI talent analysis of everyone,
your match with the A-team (Face, BA, Murdoch or Hannibal?),
skills and creativity of each team member,
the do's and don'ts for smooth team communication.

The program is personal, interactive and serious-fun. For the talent analysis we need a free floor, because we work with a 'run your ass off' work form. A session of 45-60 minutes works well for larger groups (25 to 500). Can be deepened by linking it to daily werkplezier & flow. Then consider a 3-hour session. Are you in for it?

Yes, we want to work as an A-team

portrait-blindfolded-young-man-tasting-600nw-1480992455

Personality Tasting & Training

Why do you feel attracted to one person while another person repels you? Interested in strengthening relationships? Integrate lunch, a team training and drinks into a multi sensory tasting & training with these components:

introduction to 5 flavours of your personality;
tasting sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami (blindfolded);
increasing the impact of your personality;
unique contribution to the team;
team tasting / work culture analysis (optional);
your own signature drink.

The tasting and training offer a profound insight into your own personality and that of others. Can be done with small teams, but also with all colleagues at the same time (up to 180 people). Duration: 2 hours (training & tasting + feedback) to 4 hours (plus: work culture analysis and drinks).

Yes, we want feedback that leaves you wanting more

VENTURES

…invest in promising startups and scaleups

Cinema Culinair: film+dinner events

Watching a film and eating the dishes from the film at the same time. So that you smell, see, taste and feel the same as the actors in the film. That is Cinema Culinair. Good film, good food, great timing. Or: “What you see, is what you eat”.

Founded in 2013 from a neighborhood initiative in Rotterdam's Graaf Florisstraat, has grown into the most creative and delicious night out in the Netherlands and Belgium. After 10 years, the founders have handed over the baton to two entrepreneurs: Jeffrey and Rutger. Harold is still associated with Cinema Culinair as a co-founder and helps the management by: scouting new locations, leading the growing team, financial management and as a team coach.

Check all events

Five Flavours: online personality assessments

A personality test, especially for lovers of cooking, good food and drinks. Central question: How sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami do you actually taste?

In the last few years, Harold has written a book about this and he organizes training+tastings for companies. The online assessments provide insight into the five layers of your personality. You will also discover what kind of work and corporate culture suit you and what kind of people attract or repel you. Harm & Harold expect to go live in the autumn of 2025 with: individual tests, analyses of the work culture and a personalized newsletter about your personality with practical tips for better relationships.

Keep me posted

Personality Tasting: dinner & psychology events

Immerse yourself in the world of taste and psychology. Are you sweet as a cupcake, sour as a fresh lemon or (too) salty? Personality Tasting is an experiment! You discover what you like and how you taste as a person.

The most sensory personality training there is, combined with a culinary journey of discovery in which you discover your taste. Who am I? What do I like?

Personality Tasting is still in the start-up phase with B2B training events to strengthen team spirit. By the end of 2025 we expect a big festival for teams, groups of friends and families.

I want to taste it

CONNECT

What would you like to know more about? About a training, brainstorm or coaching, about one of our ventures, or a challenge in the field of marketing, service or team play?

Share your desire with Harold Smits, our team coach. He is our man for creative and enterprising businesses. Other dynamics? Let him know and he'll arrange someone else.

Mail: harold.smits@a-life.nl
Call: +31 6 242 68 372

A-Life | creative ventures, business innovation, academy
Amsterdam