Paula Maidens - Hiring & Team Strategy

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I help service-based businesses solve their people chaos by connecting people decisions to profit outcomes.
20+ years hiring and team expertise + Chartered Accountant = I speak both 'people' AND 'numbers' fluently.

What if the skills you've been hiring for are exactly the ones AI is about to absorb?Functional skills have always been ...
05/06/2026

What if the skills you've been hiring for are exactly the ones AI is about to absorb?

Functional skills have always been the easiest thing to hire for. You can test them, verify them, see them on a CV. Someone either knows how to do the thing or they don't. So that's what most businesses focus their hiring on.

But here's why that's not going to work anymore.

The functional parts of most roles are being absorbed. AI is taking on the tasks and processes that used to require a person with a specific skill set. And that's only going to accelerate.

What AI can't so easily absorb: Judgement. Strategic thinking. The ability to zoom out and assess whether something is working. To spot when a process has gone off course. To pivot when the plan and reality aren't matching. Big picture and small detail thinking to solve a real problem.

These are the capabilities that will define your team's performance in an AI driven business.

And here's the uncomfortable truth.

These have always been the hardest things to assess in a hiring process.

Most businesses default to what's tangible. Skills. Experience. Qualifications. Things you can tick off.

When it comes to judgement and strategic thinking, most skip it or rely on gut feel.

That approach has always carried risk. But in the next 12 to 24 months, it's going to be critical.

👉 Do you know how to assess for judgement and strategic thinking in a hiring process?
👉 Are you looking for it in your existing team right now?
👉 And if it's not there, what's your plan to train it or hire for it?

If you want to talk through what this looks like for your business, I'd love to help. Link in bio.

Here's what I'm seeing play out in businesses right now. 👇2 very distinct camps.Camp 1 is asking: how can AI enhance wha...
01/06/2026

Here's what I'm seeing play out in businesses right now. 👇

2 very distinct camps.

Camp 1 is asking: how can AI enhance what we already have?

Same team, more output. Using technology to make their people more powerful without increasing headcount. For businesses with the right foundations, this is genuinely exciting.

Camp 2 is sitting with a vacancy and pausing before they even start the process.

Do I actually need to hire at all? Is this an automation opportunity rather than a headcount one?

In some cases, yes. But what often gets underestimated is that someone internally still needs to own that automation. Drive it. Manage it. Keep it on track. That's its own skill set. And it's a big one.

Neither camp is wrong.

But the pattern I'm noticing is:

Larger businesses with more confidence in their margins seem to sit in camp one, seeing AI as a growth opportunity.

Smaller businesses, more nervous about margins, are tending to see it as a cost reduction opportunity.

And underneath both camps is a hiring hesitation that's becoming its own risk. Because while most businesses are very focused on whether to automate or cut headcount, very few are asking the equally as important question:

✨Who do I need in my business to make sure we keep up with AI as it keeps evolving, to maintain our competitive edge and catch it when it goes off course? And are we hiring in that expertise and judgement OR are we training internally for it? ✨

That's 👆 what I believe the most important future hiring and team question you need to be asking is right now.

So, which camp are you in?

Last week at Saturday morning soccer. Seven five-year-olds. One very clever dad on the sideline using AI to build the su...
29/05/2026

Last week at Saturday morning soccer. Seven five-year-olds. One very clever dad on the sideline using AI to build the substitution roster. Fair rotations, equal minutes, everyone gets a run. Great prompts, great roster!

Which worked beautifully... for about 10 minutes. 😂😂

Then one little boy hurt his foot and came off early. Another got tired. One just refused to leave the field when it was his turn.

The dad went back to re-prompt the AI tool. But what it produced... didn't make sense anymore.

So us parents did what humans do. Looked at who'd been on longest, who was flagging, used our eyes and judgment and sorted it out. Soccer was saved. The kids had a ball. 🙌

But here's what stayed with me.

Many of us are using AI for things we aren't experts in, and relying on the tool to guide us. But just like at soccer, if we hadn't had a solid understanding of the game and were watching closely, we could have easily kept following a roster that was no longer working.

I see this in businesses every single day.

AI is building impressive plans that look solid from the outset. A hiring process, a job ad, a performance script for a difficult team conversation, a team structure that cuts costs. It all looks full of potential.

Until your people respond like people.

And then what!?

The real danger is going straight back to the AI tool in that moment looking for more answers.

So here's what I think businesses rolling out AI need to think more critically about:
👉 Who is responsible for noticing when the AI plan isn't working?
👉 Do they have the expertise and judgment to catch it quickly?
👉 And what's their authority to act when they do?

There needs to be someone with the experience to know when the plan isn't right. And what I'm noticing is that person often isn't even being invited into the room anymore... because we think they're no longer needed.

What do you think? Agree or disagree? 👇

Recently I had the privilege of speaking at a conference for tutoring business owners and the conversation around hiring...
28/04/2026

Recently I had the privilege of speaking at a conference for tutoring business owners and the conversation around hiring great tutors highlighted some very real challenges that exist in this industry.

➡️ Part time / contractors - often a side gig or second career
➡️ Regional locations
➡️ A blend of online / in person delivery


So what’s the solution and where do even advertise for someone great?

Hiring well is one of the most critical skills you’ll need to master to grow your tutoring business. And almost nobody teaches you how to do it in a way that’s specific to your industry and gets you the confidence you need to think “I trust my students with this person”

So I’m fixing that.

Introducing…. A Hiring Masterclass for Tutoring Businesses 🎓

A live 90-minute session packed with practical teaching, real templates, and dedicated Q&A time so you can get answers that are specific to your business, not generic HR or Recruitment advice.

Online and live - Come learn with your peers.

📅 Wednesday 13th May | 12:30pm AEST
💰 $147 inc GST
🎟️ Link in bio to grab your spot

Tag and sharw with any tutoring business owner who you know needs this!

It is a team that actually moves your business forward without you holding their hand. There's a gap between those two t...
22/04/2026

It is a team that actually moves your business forward without you holding their hand.

There's a gap between those two things. And most business owners are living in it.

Download my free guide and find out exactly where to look - and what to change.
Link in bio 👆

Every fortnight I drop into your inbox with something I think you'll love.Tips on leading, hiring and getting more from ...
21/04/2026

Every fortnight I drop into your inbox with something I think you'll love.

Tips on leading, hiring and getting more from your team. Podcast episodes worth your time. Behind the scenes of what's working in my clients' businesses right now. And the odd personal share from my life and business too.

The kind of email where you don’t feel annoyed and instantly search for the unsubscribe button!

If that sounds like your kind of thing, I’d love to add you. The link to subscribe is in my bio. ✨

If your team is costing you more time, energy and sanity than it should be, there's a better way.Here's a look at the wa...
14/04/2026

If your team is costing you more time, energy and sanity than it should be, there's a better way.

Here's a look at the ways we can work together to change that.

From a quick diagnostic to deep-dive private consulting, everything is tailored to exactly where you are and what you need right now.

The first step? A free Discovery Call. Pop the link in my bio into your browser and let's chat. 💬

After 20 years working with service-based businesses I see this constantly: Good team. Good intentions. Business Owner i...
08/04/2026

After 20 years working with service-based businesses I see this constantly:

Good team. Good intentions. Business Owner is the bottleneck.

While this is completely understandable (of course!) that bottle neck comes at a cost.

Lost productivity, never feeling ‘off’, the guilt of slowing down growth and the weight of decisions that only you can make.

Grab my free guide to learn the 5 tweaks to change that.

Link in bio 👆

Hope the Easter bunny found you! 🐇🐣I’m out of office this week… Hitting the walking tracks to work off some of the choco...
08/04/2026

Hope the Easter bunny found you! 🐇🐣

I’m out of office this week…

Hitting the walking tracks to work off some of the chocolate from the weekend 😅❤️

School holiday bliss.

March wrapped up with tired legs, a full heart and a calendar full of good things! Here's my behind the scenes wrap:🎉 Bi...
31/03/2026

March wrapped up with tired legs, a full heart and a calendar full of good things!

Here's my behind the scenes wrap:

🎉 Biggest client win of the month 🎉

Regional business. Two roles. Six months of no luck. We reworked their messaging and created targeted ads for completely different candidate pools. Two months later? They found their people. Messaging matters. Always!

✨ Women doing great things ✨

Attended the Brisbane Business Hub IWD event for the first time with my friend Bonny. Fleur Madden hosting. Xanny Christophersen and Dr Ana Novak on the panel. Real stories. Real challenges. Real momentum. So good!
Later that week, The Mater Chicks in Pink 5km with 25,000 others. My legs were not ready. My "I am a runner" chant did not make them feel any lighter! Crossed the line and celebrated with my brave friends and I feel proud of us all. 🏃‍♀️

🚲 Family 🚲

Boys settled into their new school. Routine is back. Such a relief. Snuck away in the caravan and tackled the Northern Rivers Rail Trail. 17kms round trip on those little legs, it was so much fun

And somewhere in between all of that... An ongoing mini reno on our investment property has kept things interesting this month too!🔨

To fill my own cup this month it’s been:

✅ Sauna + cold plunging after workouts
✅ Yoga back in the weekly diary
✅ Coffee and dinner catch ups with business and old school friends

How was your March? I’d love to hear your highlights. Send me a DM or drop it in the comments 👇

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