Connect with the Author: Garrick Throckmorton, COO
Every year, Gartner publishes its top priorities for HR leaders. I typically scan the list looking for what’s new, what has moved up, what has dropped off, and what emerging trends deserve attention.
But on many occasions this year, I found myself asking a different question: What hasn’t changed?
Comparing Gartner’s 2025 and 2026 HR priorities reveals a pattern. The language has evolved from leadership development to AI, and from HR technology to a human-machine workforce. The fundamental challenge facing organizations remains remarkably consistent.
In 2025, Gartner identified these as HR’s top priorities:
- Leader and manager development
- Organizational culture
- Strategic workforce planning
- Change management
- HR technology
The findings painted a concerning picture:
- 75% of HR leaders reported managers were overwhelmed by expanding responsibilities.
- 69% said leaders were not equipped to lead change.
- Organizations were investing more in leadership development, yet many were not seeing better outcomes.
- More than half (55%) of HR leaders think their current technology solutions do not cover current and future business needs
At the same time, Gartner noted that organizations struggled to translate culture into everyday actions.
In 2026, the conversation has shifted dramatically. Of course, AI dominates the agenda. Gartner’s priorities now focus on:
- Harnessing AI to revolutionize HR
- Shaping work in the human-machine era
- Mobilizing leaders for growth in an uncertain world
- Addressing culture atrophy to power performance
AI Is Changing the Tools. Not the Human Challenge
Artificial intelligence is transforming how organizations recruit, learn, coach, and manage talent. We know this is true. It is accelerating work that once required significant human effort and creating entirely new ways to deliver support and consultation.
But AI hasn’t eliminated the need for leaders, managers, and individual contributors who can (consider the World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report 2030):
- Build trust
- Adapt to uncertainty and demonstrate agility
- Coach effectively
- Navigate conflict
- Influence with/without authority
- Reinforce culture
- Lead through change
In fact, I believe these (and more) capabilities may become even more important as AI becomes more integrated into daily work. The technology is evolving rapidly. The human capabilities that determine organizational success are far more enduring. They are not a commodity.
A Common Thread Across Two Years of Research
When I compared Gartner’s recommendations side by side, one theme stood out.
In 2025, Gartner emphasized that organizations needed leaders and managers who could effectively lead change and translate culture into everyday work.
In 2026, Gartner advanced that idea by recommending that organizations “translate values into actionable, contextualized behaviors” and help leaders routinize, not simply inspire, change.
While those recommendations may sound different, they point to the same conclusion: leadership isn’t built on abstract competencies alone. Culture doesn’t come alive through posters or value statements.
Both become real only when people understand the specific behaviors expected of them, those that drive effectiveness, and those that the organization has aligned to their strategy in clear and overt ways. Only then do leaders, managers, and individual contributors have the opportunity to practice, develop, and reinforce those behaviors over time.
The Missing Layer in Talent Management
As AI makes it easier to identify, infer, and match skills; another question becomes increasingly important:
Why do two people in the same position, with similar experience and similar skills, produce dramatically different outcomes?
Why does one inspire confidence while another creates uncertainty?
Why does one successfully guide a team through disruption while another struggles?
Why do some teams naturally reinforce organizational culture while others unintentionally erode it?
They’re questions of behavior.
Observable, measurable, evidence-based behaviors that influence how work gets done, how decisions are made, and how people respond under pressure.
Why This Matters in the Age of AI
One of the most compelling ideas in Gartner’s 2026 priorities is that organizations must move beyond defining values to embedding them into day-to-day work by translating them into actionable behaviors.
I believe that’s exactly where a gap exists today in talent management. AI will continue to automate processes, personalize learning, and improve decision support. But AI is only as effective as the quality of the intelligence behind it.
If organizations want AI to deliver meaningful insights about leadership readiness, succession, coaching, mobility, or culture, it needs more than job histories and skills inventories.
It needs an evidence-based understanding of human behavior.
Behavior (the outcome of the whole person showing up to work with Knowledge, Skills, and Attributes) provides the connective tissue between leadership, culture, change, and performance. It helps explain not just what people can do, but how they are most likely to do it, and how they can grow.
Looking Ahead
The future of HR isn’t about choosing between AI and people. It isn’t about choosing between skills and behaviors.
It’s about bringing these elements together in a way that enables organizations to make better talent decisions.
Next year, there will be another set of priorities, another emerging technology, another new challenge. But the organizations that thrive will be those that never lose sight of the human side of performance.
AI will transform how work gets done, but human behavior will continue to determine how well it’s done.
