Build High-Performing Teams with Adam Carabetta
In Part 1, we explored how Adam Carabetta and Nick Ryland launched Formative Search from a 14-square-foot office into a thriving boutique agency rooted in empathy and purpose. But launching is one thing. Scaling a team that stays, grows, and consistently over-delivers? That’s where most founders fail.
In this second instalment of our Talent Talk Asia Episode 59 deep-dive, we go inside the engine room of Formative Search: their people strategy. How do they attract top talent in a war-for-talent market? How do they develop juniors into leaders without burning them out? And how do they retain nearly everyone in an industry where 80% churn is the norm?
Adam doesn’t have a magic wand. He has something better: a system built on psychological safety, strengths alignment, and relentless curiosity about what makes each person tick.
🎧 Listen to the full episode: A chat with New Energy Expert Adam Carabetta
This isn't a theory. This is a living, breathing model that’s been stress-tested through COVID, market crashes, and the Great Resignation. And it works.
Let’s pull back the curtain.
The Anti-Churn Playbook: Start with “Why You?”
Most recruitment agencies hire like this:
Look at the CV
Check billing history
Offer 5% more
Pray they don’t leave in 12 months
Adam and Nick flipped the script.
“We don’t hire resumes. We hire humans.”
Their interview process is less “interrogation” and more deep connection.
Stage 1: The Vision Filter
Before anyone meets the team, they’re asked one question:
“Why Formative Search? Why now?”
Not “Why recruitment?” Not “What’s your 360 number?”
Why us?
This single question eliminates 70% of applicants. Because if you can’t articulate why you’d trade your time, energy, and career capital for this specific firm, beyond money, you’re not a fit.
Adam shared a story:
“We had a senior recruiter from a global firm. Amazing biller. £800k track record. But when we asked ‘Why us?’, he said, ‘I just want to bill more.’ That was it. We passed. Six months later, he was poached by another firm for 20% more. And gone in nine months. We dodged a bullet.”
Stage 2: The Empathy Deep-Dive
If you pass the vision filter, you meet Adam.
Not for a grill session.
For a 90-minute conversation about your life.
What energises you outside work?
What drained you in your last role?
When have you felt most alive at work?
What does your ideal Monday look like?
Adam listens. He probes. He reflects.
“I want to know the whole person. Because if I understand what lights them up, I can design a role that keeps that flame burning.”
A 2025 Harvard Business Review study found that employees who feel “fully seen” by their manager are 4.7 times more likely to recommend their workplace. Adam doesn’t just read the study, he lives it.
The Strengths-Based Onboarding Revolution
In 2021, I coached the entire Formative Search team through our Strengths-Based Business Development Programme. I saw firsthand how Adam turned CliftonStrengths into a superpower.
Every new hire now goes through a three-phase onboarding:
Phase 1: Strengths Discovery (Week 1)
Full 34-theme CliftonStrengths assessment
2-hour debrief with Adam or Nick
Personalised “Strengths Snapshot” card (laminated, on their desk)
Phase 2: Role Sculpting (Weeks 2–4)
Map strengths to role responsibilities
Eliminate tasks that drain their top talents
Amplify tasks that energise them
Example:
Sarah – Top 5: Woo, Communication, Positivity, Empathy, Activator
→ Moved from cold BD to candidate experience lead and client event host
→ Billings up 40%, stress down 60%
Phase 3: Peer Strength Sharing (Month 2)
Team workshop: “How to work with me”
Each person presents their strengths + triggers
Creates a team strengths matrix (visible in the office)
“We don’t guess how to collaborate,” Adam said. “We know. Because we’ve mapped it.”
The 45-Minute Meeting Rule (And Why It Works)
One of the first things you notice at Formative Search? No meeting lasts an hour.
Default: 45 minutes.
Why?
“Because 15 minutes of buffer isn’t for bathroom breaks. It’s for transition.”
Adam explained:
“We jump from client call to candidate call to internal huddle. No one has time to arrive. They’re just reacting. That 15-minute gap? It’s sacred. It’s for grounding. For presence. For being human.”
They use it for:
A quick walk around the block
A rooftop stretch
A 2-minute meditation
Or just… silence
A 2025 Microsoft Work Trend Index found that back-to-back meetings reduce focus by 37% and increase decision fatigue by 44%. Adam’s 45-minute rule isn’t woo-woo, it’s performance science.
The “No Asshole” Policy (And How They Enforce It)
Formative Search has a zero-tolerance policy for toxic behaviour.
Not written in a handbook.
Lived in the culture.
They use a simple framework: The 3Rs
Respect – Do you treat everyone (junior, candidate, cleaner) with dignity?
Responsibility – Do you own your impact, even when it’s hard?
Reciprocity – Do you give as much as you take?
Break the 3Rs? You’re out.
No matter how much you bill.
“We had a consultant who hit £1.2m,” Adam recalled. “But he bullied juniors. Made candidates cry. We let him go. The team cheered. Retention went up after he left.”
A 2025 MIT study found that one toxic employee costs a team £10,000+ in lost productivity and turnover. Adam’s willingness to fire a top biller saved his culture, and his bottom line.
The Development Flywheel: Juniors → Leaders → Mentors
Most agencies develop talent like this:
Train → Bill → Burnout → Replace
Formative Search uses a flywheel:
Every senior consultant must mentor at least one junior.
It’s not optional.
“If you’re not developing someone, you’re not leading,” Adam said. “You’re just managing.”
They run:
Monthly “Teach Back” sessions – seniors teach a skill they’ve mastered
Quarterly “Shadow Days” – juniors shadow seniors on client meetings
Annual “Leadership Labs” – offsite, no phones, deep strategy
One junior, Tom, joined with zero BD experience. Within 18 months:
Promoted to Senior Consultant
Mentoring two new hires
Hosting Recharge podcast episodes
Billing £450k
The Feedback Loop That Never Sleeps
Feedback at Formative Search isn’t annual.
It’s constant, kind, and specific.
They use a framework called SBI:
Situation – “In yesterday’s client pitch…”
Behaviour – “You interrupted the candidate three times…”
Impact – “It made them feel undervalued, and we lost the mandate.”
Delivered within 24 hours.
“We don’t wait for reviews,” Adam said. “We fix things in real time.”
They also do “Start/Stop/Continue” every Friday:
What should we start doing?
What should we stop?
What should we continue?
Anonymous input → team vote → action plan by Monday.
The Retention Metric That Matters
Most agencies track billing per head.
Formative Search tracks “Years of Service”.
Their current average? 4.2 years.
In an industry where 12 months is “long-term”, this is revolutionary.
And it’s not luck.
It is design.
Your Turn: Build Your Flywheel
Here’s how to start today:
Ask every team member: “What’s one thing that drains you here?” → Fix it in 7 days.
Run a strengths workshop → Use CliftonStrengths or free alternatives.
Shorten one meeting to 45 minutes → Use the 15-minute buffer for transition.
Fire one toxic behaviour → Even if it’s from a top biller.
Assign one mentor pair → Senior → Junior, 1 hour/week.
What’s Next?
In Part 3, we’ll explore how Adam uses empathy as a leadership operating system, and how it’s become their unfair advantage in client relationships, candidate loyalty, and team resilience.
Stay with me.
Because high-performing teams aren’t built by accident.
They’re built by design.
Series Navigation
Part 1: Achieve Recruitment Agency Success with Andrea Ross and Adam Carabetta
Part 3: The empathy-led leadership model that retains 90% of staff
Part 4: Designing a thriving agency culture, wellness, rituals, and rooftop yoga
Part 5: Future-proofing your agency for 2030, with Adam Carabetta and Andrea Ross