Recruit for the business you’re building A practical session on hiring, developing and keeping the team you’ll need in three years
Birmingham |
Tue. 15th September 2026 |
09.00am - 12.15pm 
In-person topic workshop
Most MDs hire for the gap in front of them. A role opens, someone leaves, a team is stretched, so they hire for what is missing right now. But the businesses pulling ahead are thinking differently; they are making deliberate decisions about the kind of organisation they are becoming, and building their teams accordingly.
In this interactive session, People Puzzles People Director Nicola Harris challenges you to think about recruitment not as an operational task, but as a strategic one. Because the people who will drive your business forward in three years might look very different from the people you are hiring today.
Why attend?
If you have a growth plan but have not thought seriously about whether (or how) your people strategy can keep pace with it, this session is for you. You will leave with a clearer picture of the workforce your business actually needs, practical tools to close the gap, and a sharper sense of how to hire for potential, not just track record. It is a session for MDs who are thinking about the next phase of growth – not just the next hire.
This workshop is led by Nicola Harris, People Director at People Puzzles
Nicola is a former Global CPO and Group HR Director with 25 years of experience advising leaders on people strategy across the UK, Europe and beyond. She has worked with scaling businesses, PE-backed organisations and large corporates, leading people strategy through periods of rapid growth, acquisition and transformation. She is known for being commercially sharp, genuinely engaging and brilliant at making complex people challenges feel solvable. Expect a session that feels more like a conversation than a presentation.
What will be covered?
Using proven approaches and frameworks, Nicola will guide the group through the strategic thinking that sits behind great hiring decisions. Expect honest conversation about where most businesses go wrong, practical tools for understanding the gap between where your team is now and where your business needs to go, and a fresh perspective on what to look for when you are hiring for the long game rather than the immediate fix.
The session is deliberately interactive. Nicola will draw on real experience with scaling businesses to make the content feel relevant to the room, not generic. Come ready to think, to share, and to leave with something you can actually use.
Takeaways
What you will take away
A clearer sense of where your people strategy is strong, where it has gaps, and what to do next. Nicola will share practical tools you can take straight back into your business, alongside the kind of thinking that tends to shift how leaders approach hiring for good.
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This event is led by multiple speakers
