Louis Fameli

As we prepare to start the new year in earnest, it’s a good time to consider the skills that are most likely to see leaders succeed in people leadership, regardless of what size team they lead.

Adaptability

The first, and possibly most important, skill every leader will need in 2026 is adaptability. The world of work is only getting more complex, nuanced, and changing at an ever-increasing pace.

The growing number of tools, technologies, greater use of AI (more on that later), and the need to integrate each of these into systems that seamlessly work together presents a challenge for leaders. Add to this the need to make sure their teams are also equipped to handle each of these challenges, and people leaders have a significant task on their hands.

The reality for many people leaders is that the work environment of 2026 is likely to be a series of rapidly changing priorities, requirements, and client requests. Also, all of these demands will be taking place in a context where their team members are becoming greater advocates for their own needs, seeking greater work-life balance and development opportunities.

Each of those factors, all taking place at once, will call for leaders to balance priorities and pivot to meeet new requests, while ensuring working environments are healthy and sustainable. All of which asks for people leaders to show more adaptability than ever before.

AI fluency (and a willingness to learn more about AI developments)

The next skill a people leader will need is AI fluency, and a willingness to learn more about how AI is developing. As more use cases for AI make their way into the workplace, and individuals start – or continue – to use AI in their work (whether they officially share that information or not), it will be increasingly important for people leaders to understand how AI technologies work in order to make sure their teams make the best use of these tools.

Additionally, AI is the technology most likely to develop rapidly as the year progresses and staying up to date with the key developments is another attribute leaders will need to possess. Being able to understand these technologies can help leaders guide their teams and develop workflows or practices that better (and more sustainably) meet the rapidly changing demands mentioned in the first section of this post.

Examples of this include using AI agents to:

• Cut down the time needed to find suitable times and schedule client meetings; or
• Form part of their ideation processes when looking to develop strategies.

In the first example, this might be one way that a team gives themselves the mental space to do the deep-thinking work needed to deliver value in the ways that only humans can. Meanwhile, in the second example, the team is making use of AI to build on their own ideas and come up with different ideas.

In any case, for a team to do those things successfully, the leader is ideally across how those tools best work. This helps ensure the team takes a coordinated approach to using AI and related technologies, and uses them in ways that best meet client and organisational expectations.

A solid foundation of subject matter expertise

The third thing a leader will need to succeed in 2026 is a solid base of subject matter expertise in the area their team works. This is especially important when a leader has made a diagonal shift, both upward and into a new or related area to their previous experience.

While diagonal shifts happen all the time and often work exceptionally well, this tends to be the case when the new manager builds on their existing base of knowledge. This is because teams often expect their leaders to:

• Have a base level of knowledge and understanding of how the area works;
• Understand the constraints the team needs to work within; and
• Know the red flags that they as the new manager should be on the lookout for.

New leaders can also use the learning curve as an opportunity to build rapport with their team, and gain more credibility with their new reports than they otherwise would have had.

Some final thoughts

The three qualities outlined here are three pillars that can make people leaders successful in 2026. While they might sound like the basics, they also represent what can become a strong foundation from which leaders can build their skills and capabilities, or give themselves a refresher if they have been leading people for a while already.

Until next time,

Louis