Asmodee is a global leader in tabletop gaming, bringing beloved games like Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride and Dobble to audiences for over 30 years. The business was going through a period of explosive growth, generating hundreds of millions in revenue, but its culture hadn’t kept pace.
This longevity was both a blessing and a curse.
With an ambitious 2030 strategy on the table, the leadership team recognised that they needed a meaningful culture shift to support it.
Working with theSHIFT has been an absolute pleasure over the last 18 months. Matt has facilitated a number of Leadership specific team building events which we now do every 6 months and has used a number of techniques to help us to think smarter and to be more future looking.
The feedback has been really positive in terms of encouraging the group to think outside of the box, and his style of using both theory and real life honest stories has helped to engage us all in how we move forward as a group in a more positive and honest way.
Challenge
Asmodee’s leadership team were caught between the demands of day-to-day delivery and the need to think and lead differently.
The organisation had grown significantly, but the habits, mindsets and ways of working hadn’t evolved with it. Leaders were drawn into operating tactically when they wanted to spend time thinking strategically. Decision-making was concentrated at the top when it needed to be distributed. And the culture, however familiar and well-intentioned, wasn’t designed to operate at the scale they had grown to.
To deliver on their 2030 strategy, something more fundamental than a planning exercise was needed. The culture itself had to shift.
What we did
Over 18 months, we worked closely with Asmodee’s leadership team to create the conditions for culture shift at a leadership level and organsiationally, one that could sustain the business growth and make its 2030 strategy deliverable.
We started with a two-day offsite, bringing the leadership team together to define Asmodee’s Culture Codes and build the habit of long-term strategic thinking. This wasn’t about producing a document, it was about shifting how the team thought and led, moving from fixing problems to leading the organisation, from short-term tactics to long-term focus.
Every three-to-six months we reconvened, using each session to reflect on progress, sharpen priorities and work on the team dynamics that would make the strategy real. The team explored tools like Insights profiles and the Immunity to Change model to surface what was getting in the way, and to build the kind of honest, constructive conversations that leadership teams often avoid.
As the work deepened, it extended outward. Senior Manager sessions brought the next layer of leadership into the shift, moving the culture from “tell” to “involve” and building genuine ownership and accountability beyond the leadership team. Management training cascaded this further, embedding the changes across the organisation.
IMPACT
Asmodee delivered double-digit growth in both sales and EBITDA over the past year.
Culture change is not the only variable in commercial performance, and we wouldn’t claim otherwise. But we do believe that the work we did together helped the organisation handle the explosive growth.
Matt has been, and continues to be, a pleasure to work with. He has proven to be insightful and, most importantly, has spent time to get to know us as a Leadership Team and our business. This has helped immeasurably in the way that he has lead and guided the team through the sessions with us.
I also think it’s testament to the faith that we have in Matt, that we have asked him to facilitate a number of sessions with our management team too. Thoroughly recommended.
