If 2025 felt fast, 2026 is about to set a new speed record.
AI adoption is accelerating, talent expectations are shifting, and companies are being asked to do more with teams that already feel stretched. The playbooks that carried you this year won’t necessarily hold next year. And the leaders who stay ahead are the ones already preparing for what’s coming. Early hint: it’s all about skills, agility, and AI literacy. For a deeper pulse check, check out our State of Tech Talent report.
Why 2026 is shaping up to be a turning point
The biggest shift? AI is no longer “emerging.” It’s here, woven into workflows and expectations across every team. Budgets are tightening, but skill demands aren’t. Employees want growth, not just compensation. And talent mobility is finally becoming a measurable strategy instead of a nice idea. Translation: 2026 is the year leaders stop asking whether these shifts matter and start addressing how to lead through them.
Prediction 1: AI fluency becomes the new leadership baseline
In 2026, no executive gets to opt out of AI fluency. Boards expect it. Teams expect it. Customers expect it. Most leaders don’t need to know how to code, but they do need to understand how AI affects productivity, workflows, and decision-making. The shift is moving from having an “AI initiative” to treating AI as standard operating procedure.
And here’s the part many companies underestimate: leadership can’t be the only group learning. Teams need the same AI fluency—tailored to their roles, tools, and workflows—so the entire org moves with the same level of clarity. Our AI training solutions train both leaders and teams, offering role-specific programs that make AI practical across functions, not just theoretical at the top.
Prediction 2: Skills-based hiring moves from pilot to policy
The companies that rewrote job descriptions around skills in 2025 are already seeing faster hiring cycles and better fits. In 2026, this becomes the norm. Degree requirements become less essential for many roles. Competency tests rise. Talent pools widen. Internal mobility finally gets the infrastructure it needs. But here’s the catch: skills-based hiring only works if talent and your teams actually have updated skills. Upskilling becomes the engine that makes the whole thing run. Our training and talent solutions help companies build these pipelines instead of patching gaps with endless recruiting.
Prediction 3: Technical talent shortages won’t disappear—they’ll just shift
AI does automate some tasks, but it also creates new responsibilities that didn’t exist even two years ago. By 2026, the biggest shortages won’t be traditional engineers. They’ll be AI operations specialists, data-literate managers, cybersecurity talent, and product pros who understand machine learning’s ripple effects. You can’t hire your way out of every shortage. Internal mobility becomes a competitive advantage. GA’s State of Tech Talent report reinforces this: companies that invest in reskilling outperform those that keep chasing external hires.
Prediction 4: Employee expectations rise
The workforce is clear: they want growth, autonomy, and roles that feel meaningful. Compensation still matters, but career development becomes a deciding factor. Retention follows the same logic. Companies that treat upskilling as an “extra” will see churn. Companies that treat it as a core part of the employee experience will keep the talent everyone else is scrambling to replace. Learning culture becomes a key part of your employer brand—visible, measurable, and hard to fake.
Prediction 5: Cross-functional collaboration becomes non-negotiable
AI makes every team more interconnected. Product needs data. Data needs engineering. Engineering needs operations. Operations needs strategy. Knowledge can’t stay siloed. In 2026, leaders must design orgs that encourage collaboration instead of defaulting to “that’s not our department.” The companies that outperform are the ones building connective muscle across teams—shared vocabulary, shared workflows, shared outcomes.
How leaders can get ahead now
Three moves set companies up for 2026:
- Upskill leadership in AI fluency so strategy can match the pace of innovation
- Build a skills-based mobility pipeline instead of relying on external hiring
- Train teams on cross-functional collaboration so AI doesn’t expose structural gaps
This isn’t hypothetical prep work. These are moves that shape retention, innovation, and culture. Our training and talent solutions help companies build these capabilities without slowing momentum.
The bottom line
You can’t predict every shift 2026 will bring, but you can prepare your people to meet it with clarity and skill. The future won’t wait. And the companies ready to lead it are the ones investing in their workforce now. We’re ready to help you get started.