McLean & Company Releases HR Trends Report for 2026: Highlights Growing Gap Between Organizational Change and Leadership Capacity
McLean & Company, one of the world's leading HR research and advisory firms, released its HR Trends Report 2026 today. Based on new data from 1,626 human resources and leadership respondents, the firm reports that organizational change is outpacing leadership capacity as AI, economic uncertainty, and shifting employee expectations reshape work.
TORONTO, Dec. 9, 2025 /CNW/ - As many organizations accelerate AI adoption and others face mounting pressure to retain talent amid economic pressures, global HR research and advisory firm McLean & Company's new HR Trends Report 2026 warns of a growing structural risk inside the workplace this year: leadership capacity is no longer keeping pace with the demands being placed on them.
Drawing on insights from 1,626 organizations, the recently published report reveals that while the external world is shifting faster than ever, the internal systems designed to help organizations adapt – such as leadership capability, cultural alignment, and change readiness – have not kept up. The result is a widening gap between the pace of transformation and the people expected to lead through change.
The firm's report explains that this tension is already visible in today's workplace. Employees are reporting rising change fatigue, leaders are struggling to manage both technology and people-driven change, and organizations are pushing to integrate AI without the strategic direction needed to guide that shift responsibly. McLean & Company advises that in this environment, HR must become the de facto stabilizing force, increasingly relied upon to help organizations navigate challenges while maintaining cohesion through rapid change.
Top HR Priorities for 2026 Reflect a Shift Towards Resilience
McLean & Company's 2026 findings reveal the top HR priorities for the year that human resources leaders will need to navigate:
- Developing leaders
- Enabling innovation
- Retaining employees
- Providing a great employee experience
- Recruiting
- Controlling labor costs
The 2026 HR Trends Report highlights a meaningful shift in organizational priorities: innovation has surged from tenth place in 2025 to second place in 2026, while controlling costs has dropped in importance. This change signals that organizations increasingly recognize that navigating ongoing disruption requires more than cost containment, it requires intentional investment in people. Priorities such as leadership development (#1), innovation (#2), and retention (#3) underscore that organizations are looking to build capability, adaptability, and long-term resilience by developing their workforce and enabling new ways of working.
The report frames the coming year as a pivotal moment in HR's evolution from reactive support to strategic leadership. McLean & Company's data highlights how HR is now expected to guide organizations through accelerating AI implementation, shifting employee expectations, and increasing economic and legislative uncertainty, all while ensuring decisions remain human-centric and grounded in organizational values.
"Organizations are trying to move faster than ever, but their systems for leadership, culture, and change haven't fully caught up," says Karen Mann, senior vice president of Human Resources Research, Learning & Advisory Services at McLean & Company. "Our 2026 data shows that HR is uniquely positioned to close this gap. By building strong people leaders, aligning culture with strategy, and taking a structured approach to uncertainty, HR can help organizations innovate while building change resilience."
Strengthening the foundations of people leadership
McLean & Company reports that leadership development remains HR's top priority, reflecting the central role leaders play in managing change, developing talent, and sustaining innovation. However, the data reveals a persistent capability gap.
The firm's findings show that when leaders are highly effective at people leadership, organizations are 2.3x more likely to be high performers in innovation and agility. Despite this, only 35% of HR teams say they are high performing at developing the organization's leaders. This gap signals the importance for organizations to embed continuous learning into leaders' day-to-day work, equipping leaders with tools that fit into daily routines and reinforcing expectations through performance management, succession planning, and other talent processes.
Harnessing culture for strategic impact
As strategies shift in response to AI, market volatility, and external pressures, organizations must ensure their culture and values continue to align with these new directions. A key finding from the report is that while values should not constantly change, they should be regularly reassessed to confirm they still support and anchor the evolving strategy. Organizations where values, culture, and strategy are aligned are twice as likely to excel at innovation and adaptability.
Despite this, fewer than half of organizations hold leaders accountable for acting in alignment with their values – a gap employees increasingly notice. This misalignment weakens trust, slows change, and creates operational inconsistencies. McLean & Company recommends that HR help organizations revisit and reinforce their values regularly, integrate accountability into leadership expectations, and position culture as an active lever during transformation.
Leading through uncertainty with structured scenario planning
Scenario planning emerges as one of the highest-impact yet least adopted practices for navigating complexity. Only 22% of organizations report using a structured, documented scenario-planning approach, while those that do are 2.1x more likely to be high performers in innovation and 1.8x more likely to excel at executing strategic goals.
At the same time, 70% of organizations report challenges with managing change, from too many simultaneous initiatives to weak leadership accountability and gaps in change management skills.
The report emphasizes that HR must shift from ad hoc responses to structured foresight, helping leaders anticipate multiple futures, prioritize work, and reduce the strain of continuous, uncoordinated change.
AI adoption is outpacing human readiness
McLean & Company's analysis of AI maturity shows that more organizations are progressing into the incorporation and proliferation stages, where AI becomes embedded into everyday operations rather than treated as a pilot or experiment.
However, the people side of AI transformation is lagging, according to the data:
- Few HR teams are highly effective at enabling technology adoption.
- Change fatigue is rising, with employees and leaders struggling to keep up with evolving tools, workflows, and expectations.
The report reinforces that sustainable AI transformation is not merely a technology challenge. Rather, it is a leadership, culture, and change management challenge that requires close partnership between HR, IT, and other functions to implement AI responsibly and human-centrically.
McLean & Company's HR Trends Report 2026 is based on survey data collected in August and September 2025 from 1,626 respondents across industries (including technology, healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, public sector, and professional services), regions (North America, EMEA, APAC, and Latin America), and organizations of all sizes. The full report is available to McLean & Company members here.
Non members can learn more and request access via the HR Trends 2026 landing page.
In alignment with the report's findings, McLean & Company highlights several programs and workshops designed to support organizations as they navigate 2026:
- AI Enablement for Leaders, including the firm's AI strategy workshops, Prepare HR for a Strategic AI Roadmap and Enable Your AI Organization Strategy Through HR, alongside the Generative AI Skills for Leaders facilitated training. Together, these programs help organizations build responsible, human-centric AI strategies and confidently lead AI-enabled teams.
- Articulate Organizational Culture and Shape and Sustain Organizational Culture workshop, which helps organizations define culture through values and behaviors needed for strategic execution and a positive experience.
- Management Fundamentals and Essentials for Leaders of Leaders programs, which strengthen foundational people-leadership capabilities through 12-week competency-based upskilling pathways.
- Leadership Development Coaching, offering personalized support for HR and business leaders to develop structured approaches to uncertainty and scenario planning.
Media Inquiries for McLean & Company HR Analysts and Industry Experts
For media inquiries or to connect with McLean & Company analysts for exclusive, research-backed insights on human resources, crisis management, and building resilient, future-ready teams, please contact communications manager Katie Tame at [email protected].
About McLean & Company
McLean & Company pairs evidence-based research and immediately applicable tools with deep HR expertise to position organizations to meet today's needs and prepare for the future. The global HR research and advisory firm's member organizations enjoy comprehensive resources, full-service diagnostics, workshops, action plans, and advisory services for all levels of HR professionals, from executive leadership and HR leaders to HR team members, that help shape workplaces where everyone thrives.
McLean & Company is a division of Info-Tech Research Group.
Media professionals can register for unrestricted access to research across IT, HR, and software, and hundreds of industry analysts through the firm's Media Insiders program. To gain access, contact [email protected].
SOURCE McLean & Company
Media Contact: Katie Tame, Communications Manager, McLean & Company, [email protected], +1 (888) 670 - 8889 x2418
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