At some point, rocket leaves started showing up – suddenly salad tasted really bold! Most people loved it, some not so much, but since then it's become a staple on countless menus and is hardly imaginable hiding beneath the dressing anymore.
The Leafworks recipe is also undergoing constant change. How much AI do we want? So that everyone agrees on what is on the menu and how we work together best from shopping to washing up, it was time to meet in real life. And, of course, to inspect the new restaurant manager...
Arriving, unwinding, getting to know each other
Gut Hungenbach is tucked away in the greater Cologne area – a beautiful old estate, quiet and green. It's the kind of place where you actually leave the daily noise behind. And that was more than welcome this time around, because something important was on the agenda: Tim, our new CEO, experienced his first real Leafworks day here (and his second and third, too). Impressive that you made that happen so quickly!
And honestly, the pleasure was surely mutual – a first day doesn't get much better than this. No monitor, no checklist of onboarding todos, just straight into the team, the conversations, the ideas. Speed dating for teams, basically!
Georg and Tim
Now, take ...
On the content side, we didn't hold back either – several important topics were front and center: What goes on the menu? In other words, who are we for you, today and tomorrow? And how much does everything taste of AI now? From vision and positioning at every level, to embedding AI even more deeply into how we and you work, to the question of how short or long we want to be part of your world – everything landed on the table. And what can we say: it was worth it, professionally, personally and as a team. (You'll hear from us on that!) Even though we celebrate and fully embrace 100% remote work, every once in a while a real-life sync is just impossible to replace.
In between: talking, silence, taking a dip and going for walks
Gut Hungenbach makes work-life balance easy – which, admittedly, hasn't always been our strongest suit at offsites. Ponds and green spaces for walking (or survival trekking, depending on your mood), a pool and sauna, a great outdoor area and a bar were all at our disposal, and all of them were well used to switch off and wind down between sessions or at the end of the day.
Flammkuchen, darts and Passion-up
The great organisation included evenings with exactly the right balance of programme and freedom. In the historic – well, very old at least – bakehouse, we made AMAZING flammkuchen from scratch, competed in more or less passionate dart battles on the boards Annika had organised, and made full use of the bar, including inventing new drinks. "Passion-up" was an instant hit by Eren, whose mysterious list of ingredients will from now on be passed only from druid's mouth to druid's ear.
Remo and Annika, highly focused on the flammkuchen
Georg at the bar
Verdict: the estate was great!
Three days that were well overdue, and that felt like a big step forward. Gut Hungenbach was the perfect setting – quiet enough to think, beautiful enough to enjoy, and equipped with everything you need to grow closer as a team both at the conference table and away from it.
Annika and Dina deserve all the credit for the organisation – it was brilliant!
We're heading into the next phase with fresh direction, clear next steps, and a new boss who isn't new anymore. Stay tuned!
The Leafworks team at Gut Hungenbach
