One of the things organisations often discover after implementing the Hire Great People methodology is that the impact extends far beyond recruitment itself.
Yes, hiring decisions improve. But over time, organisations also tend to see changes in culture, accountability, collaboration and long-term team performance.
That’s because recruitment doesn’t simply determine who fills vacancies. It shapes the behaviours, standards and environment an organisation builds over time.
Recruitment decisions shape organisational behaviours
Many organisations still focus heavily on CVs, technical skills and interview performance when hiring people.
Whilst those things clearly matter, they don’t always tell you much about how somebody will actually behave once they join the organisation.
Simon Hartley, Founder of Be World Class, has spent almost 30 years working with world-class organisations, Olympic gold medallists and championship-winning sports teams to understand what genuinely drives high performance.
One of the recurring themes Simon identified was that elite teams recruit very intentionally around character as well as capability.
Not just technical competence, but things like resilience, accountability, adaptability, consistency, teamwork and willingness to learn.
Over time, those behaviours shape the wider culture around them.
The people organisations recruit ultimately influence standards, communication, leadership behaviours, team dynamics and performance expectations.
In many ways, recruitment becomes one of the biggest cultural decisions a business makes.
Organisations often see cultural changes as well as recruitment improvements
One of the recurring themes from leaders who have engaged with the Hire Great People methodology is that it changes the way organisations think about recruitment altogether.
Not just in terms of hiring outcomes, but in terms of culture and long-term team performance too.
Rob Burgess, Senior Director of Talent Acquisition at adidas, described focusing more intentionally on character as “the real unlock” for his organisation. He shared that the challenging questions and five step methodology outlined in the Hire Great People programme helped to frame everything into a practical and usable way that really resonated with the team.
At Headstar, we experienced similar changes ourselves after implementing many of these principles internally.
Whilst our recruitment success rate improved significantly (increasing from 45% to 89%), we also saw wider cultural benefits including stronger alignment across teams, clearer standards and greater consistency in behaviours.
Why technical capability alone rarely builds strong long-term teams
Technical skills can often be developed over time. Character traits are usually much harder to teach.
That’s one of the reasons organisations sometimes experience frustration with people who appear highly capable during recruitment processes but ultimately struggle to integrate into the business long term.
The strongest teams are rarely built around technical competence alone. They’re built around people whose behaviours, mindset and attitudes align closely with the environment the organisation is trying to create.
That doesn’t mean technical capability becomes less important. It simply means organisations become much more intentional about assessing both capability and character together.
Building stronger organisations using the Hire Great People methodology
Over the last few years, Headstar and Simon Hartley have continued refining these principles through leadership events, recruiting on character workshops and practical implementation inside organisations.
That eventually led to the development of Hire Great People – a CPD-accredited practical 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 and build stronger, higher-performing teams over time.
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
