Hire Great People didn’t appear overnight.
The methodology has been shaped over several years through a combination of leadership events, recruiting on character workshops, practical implementation inside organisations and an ongoing partnership between Headstar and Simon Hartley.
What started as a series of conversations around recruitment gradually evolved into a much broader online programme focused on helping organisations hire more intentionally and build stronger long-term teams.
Where the partnership began
Headstar first began working closely with Simon Hartley several years ago. For those unfamiliar with Simon’s background, he is the Founder of Be World Class, and a globally respected sport psychology consultant, performance coach, award-winning professional speaker and published author.
He has spent almost 30 years working with Olympic gold medallists, championship-winning sports teams and world-class organisations to understand what genuinely drives high performance.
One of the things that resonated most strongly with us was Simon’s focus on how elite teams recruit.
Not simply on technical capability alone, but on behaviours, mindset, resilience, adaptability and long-term fit.
The more we explored those ideas, the more we realised how relevant they were to the recruitment challenges many organisations face every day.
Turning world-class performance principles into practical recruitment thinking
Over time, the partnership evolved beyond workshops and speaking events.
Headstar began implementing many of the Hire Great People principles in our internal recruitment processes, becoming much more intentional about defining the characteristics and behaviours that genuinely drive success within the business.
We also started seeing the same themes emerge repeatedly through client conversations:
- organisations struggling to assess character effectively
- overreliance on interviews and CVs
- inconsistent hiring decisions
- frustration around long-term fit and retention
The Hire Great People methodology continued evolving through practical implementation and real organisational feedback rather than simply theoretical discussion.
Bringing the Hire Great People methodology together
To make this thinking more accessible, Headstar and be World Class joined forces to develop Hire Great People – a CPD-accredited online programme designed to help organisations build a more intentional and consistent approach to recruitment.
The programme focuses on helping organisations:
- define the characteristics that genuinely drive success
- attract the right people more intentionally
- assess behaviours and long-term fit more effectively
- reduce poor hiring decisions
- build stronger, higher-performing teams over time
Much of the filming itself came directly from real Hire Great People masterclasses and workshops delivered jointly by Headstar and Simon Hartley.
That meant the content naturally reflected many of the real-world discussions, recruitment frustrations and leadership challenges organisations were already raising during live sessions.
The result is a programme grounded in practical application and real organisational experience.
What’s included in the Hire Great People programme:
• Three live group coaching sessions with Simon Hartley
• 45+ bite-size video lessons with a comprehensive interactive workbook
• 14.25 hours of recognised CPD learning
• Signed copy of Simon Hartley’s best-selling book, Hire Great People
More importantly, the programme is designed to help organisations:
• Improve hiring success rates by recruiting more intentionally around character
• Reduce the cost, disruption and frustration of poor hiring decisions
• Build stronger cultures and higher-performing teams
• Create a more consistent and repeatable recruitment process
50% introductory discount currently available using code: HireGreatPeople50
Learn more here: www.headstar.co.uk/great
