The 2026 Leadership Execution Gap
Our Leadership Challenges and Priorities research reveals that leadership development is an execution priority. Download the report to learn why.
Many organisations are focused on building leadership capability, but the research highlights what most leaders already know: more needs to be done to ensure new behaviours show up in the work itself.
To find out what organisations are focusing on, we surveyed 281 HR, L&D, talent management, people operations, and organisational development professionals.
The findings reveal a key tension between the biggest challenges in developing leaders and what’s a top priority.
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report no increase or a decline in people managers meeting performance expectations
find recruiting and hiring strong leaders challenging
find sustaining behavior change over time challenging
Urgent Leadership Priorities and Systemic Gaps
Leadership development faces two agendas in the remainder of 2026: urgent priorities and systemic gaps that can undermine performance. For example:
- 71% say that first-time manager capability is challenging, yet only 17% say it’s a top priority.
- 76% say that bench strength is challenging, yet only 27% say it’s a top priority.
As urgent priorities arise, L&D leaders need to protect the foundational work that builds manager capability and succession depth, to avoid undermining business performance.
