Blog post

What organisations are actually prioritising in 2026 - and how to fund it

Every year, the pressures on L&D seem to intensify, and 2026 is no exception. Organisations are transforming in the face of AI, economic uncertainty and talent challenges - and the pressure lands squarely on L&D to deliver critical skills, support engagement and retention, and prove measurable value.

Our 2026 L&D Impact Survey, run in partnership with HR Grapevine and Training Industry, set out to understand where that pressure is taking the function. What emerged was a clear picture of where organisations are choosing to concentrate their investment. Three priorities stand out.
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1.

AI curriculums

Unsurprisingly, AI sits at the top of the agenda. Seventy-one percent of UK and US organisations cite AI and digital fluency as their most critical future skill, and appetite for AI-driven learning has grown year on year.

But the survey revealed something more nuanced than a simple rush to adopt. The mood has shifted from hype to considered implementation. Optimism around Gen AI adoption jumped from 29% to 38%, and six in ten respondents want to scale AI use further having seen it work in pockets of their organisation. Organisations aren't just asking whether to invest in AI capability — they're working out how to do it deliberately, building structured AI curriculums rather than one-off experiments.

The tension underneath is real. As one respondent put it: "We're transforming faster than our people can reskill." Closing that gap is now one of the defining tasks for L&D.
2.

Leadership programmes

If AI is the newest priority, leadership is the most persistent one. An overwhelming majority of UK respondents — 86% — identified strengthening core people-management skills as the top leadership priority for the next 12 to 18 months, and 72% see developing leaders who can grow, reskill and retain talent as a priority.

The survey was candid about why. Many organisations have long relied on promoting their best individual contributors into leadership roles — without the training, support or tools to succeed. The result is a generation of managers who are technically capable, but not people-leadership ready. The report identifies the recurring consequences: accidental managers promoted without development, underperformance left unaddressed because leaders lack the confidence for difficult conversations, and a widening disconnect between senior leadership and the frontline.

It's why leadership development continues to command such a significant share of investment — and why the appetite shows no sign of fading.
3.

Project management and delivery capability

The third priority is quieter, but it matters just as much. As transformation accelerates, organisations are feeling the strain in their ability to deliver — to take strong strategies and turn them into executed change. Project and programme capability is where that plays out: the skills to manage complexity, keep initiatives aligned, and stop value leaking away between the plan and the result.

It connects directly to the broader survey finding that the remaining priorities beyond AI are overwhelmingly human-focused — communication, adaptability, change readiness, and leadership and management capabilities. Delivering change well is as much about people and coordination as it is about process.

The common thread: knowing the priority, finding the room

What's striking across all three areas is that most L&D leaders already know where they need to invest. The harder question is capacity — the budget and the headspace to build these things properly, without rushing them.

That's worth sitting with, because the instinct under pressure is to move fast: spend the budget, book the programme, tick the box. But rushed learning decisions tend to be poor ones. The organisations getting the most from their investment are the ones giving themselves room to design the right AI curriculum, build the leadership pipeline deliberately, and develop delivery capability in a considered way.
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