When Two Companies Became One Team: A Custom Schiphol Painting for Croonwolter&dros

Some team events happen once a year. Others mark the start of something much longer. When Croonwolter&dros brought together the teams from two companies at the start of a multi-year Schiphol construction partnership, they needed the second kind — and it landed at the perfect moment: the final day of onboarding and training week.

The challenge: turning new colleagues into one team

A multi-year infrastructure partnership means people from two different companies are about to spend years working side by side. Onboarding week had covered the process, the tools, and the plan. What was missing was time to just be in a room together — no agenda, no slides — so new colleagues could start building the trust a long project depends on.

That's exactly where an onboarding team building activity Amsterdam companies can lean on for a moment like this makes the difference: something hands-on, low-pressure, and shared.

A painting designed around their project

Rather than a generic canvas, we designed a custom painting depicting the new Schiphol building the two teams are constructing together — a piece that meant something specific to the room, not a stock design. Our instructor also brought a few additional design options along, so anyone who wanted a different take on the theme had the choice.

The group worked in our Guided format: everyone following the same design, step by step, with an instructor keeping the pace relaxed and the mood light. No art experience needed — just two teams, side by side, painting the project they're about to spend years building.

Fully hosted, at a venue built for the occasion

We partnered with The 51 in Amsterdam for the venue, who handled the snacks and drinks alongside our setup — so the only thing Croonwolter&dros had to plan was the date. We brought the canvases, paint, brushes, easels, and the instructor; The 51 brought the food and the space. Everything else, start to finish, was ours to run.

The outcome

By the end of the afternoon, the room looked a lot different than it had that morning. People who'd spent the week in training sessions together now had something they'd made together — a shared painting of the very project bringing their two companies into partnership, and a genuinely relaxed afternoon to close out an intensive onboarding week.

It's a good example of why a painting workshop works so well for kickoffs, mergers, and any moment when a team needs real connection, not another icebreaker.

Planning a kickoff, onboarding week, or partnership event of your own? Get a direct quote →