We took our team to Portugal – here's why every team needs time away from BAU

Having arrived late on Wednesday evening, we were up early to open the day on Thursday with a presentation from Al Catto, reflecting on what we’ve built so far and how we want to evolve.

This year, BeyondFS was named one of the Sunday Times Best Places to Work 2025 in the small company category – external validation of the culture we’ve spent years shaping. But culture isn’t fixed; it’s something you maintain, reinforce, and rebuild constantly, through your actions, your decisions, and the way you work together when no one’s watching.

At the core of our discussion on Thursday was our purpose: financial crime prevention isn’t working – and how we’re here to change that. Not by helping on the sidelines, but by empowering the exceptional people in our team to lead complex change in high-pressure environments.

When we talk about building high-performing financial crime programmes, we mean starting with the reality on the ground, understanding where legacy decisions have created risk and where front-line teams are overburdened, or where leadership lacks visibility or confidence in what’s actually being delivered.

Al talked about what makes BeyondFS special to work with – we are laser-focused on execution. The famous Peter Drucker quote we kept repeating rings particularly true for us: "Strategy is a commodity, execution is an art". As Al reminded us, our focus on delivery is why every client we've worked with so far has asked us back.

Over dinner on Friday evening, we paused to reflect on some of the outstanding contributions from across the team over the past quarter.

Alongside some other awards, this quarter’s Beyonder of the Quarter went to the brilliant Irene Oldham, whose impact over the last few months has been felt well beyond her core responsibilities. From planning the Portugal trip to organising team socials and ensuring new joiners are supported from day one, Irene has helped create a space where people genuinely want to do their best work. Her persistence in driving our recruitment efforts forward has been equally impressive.

On Saturday, the team had the option to take a boat trip along the coast. I joined the crew, and we enjoyed glorious weather as the boat sailed along the Portuguese coast.

We had a chance to jump in the sea – some went paddleboarding, some swam. Some attempted headstands on said paddleboards. We ate together again that evening, before flying home on the Sunday.

Those moments – the unstructured ones – often tell you just as much about a team as any workshop or presentation. But what makes the whole thing worthwhile is the effect it has when people are back at their desks, on client sites, running projects and leading teams.

So if you’re running a large function or growing a team, don’t treat this kind of time as a reward to be earned or a luxury to be justified. Treat it as a core part of how you improve. Step away from the noise, bring your people together, and give yourselves the time to ask: how are we going to achieve our goals?

What I can say with confidence is that we’ve come back more aligned, more energised, and better prepared for what’s ahead. Bring on the rest of this year!