Change, constant change: what to do, how best to act proactively?
Certain changes happen to us as leaders but many changes are created and chosen by us to navigate a path forward for our teams and organisations. Yes, these are problems to solve, but I have found these experiences to also be opportunities to learn more about ourselves and who we are as leaders regarding insight, integrity, courage and agility. I have 25 years’ experience of leadership pressures, tackling challenges and disruption and my experience in global organisations was that leaders tend to operate in silos, reactive and focused on surface-level change.
Only when I invested time and effort in coaching was there a seismic change of direction in my approach as I developed a better lens to see what I had previously ignored. As an executive coach, I now leverage all parts of my experiences to support my clients in this VUCA world.
From my own practice, I have noticed a few trends that have been at the heart of my coaching sessions this year, namely….
- Leaders are actively seeking out the less heard opinions in their organisations. One client remarked that change is often seen first by those farthest from the top — so they adapted their style and those of their executive teams to include reach outs to clients and client facing teams, suppliers and partners to gauge what’s emerging on the periphery
- Strategy development is more challenging and fluid than ever as AI, political uncertainty and harsh economic challenges are among the factors making reliable forecasting incredibly difficult. Many leaders now want to be able to adapt more quickly to changing market and labour conditions and are asking for ‘thinking time’ with me to gain perspective on the why rather than the what
- Skills still seem to be the key enabler of strategic agility. At the National level, Ireland’s investments in skills and education have been key to our economic success and there is much focus on how this can be enhanced in 2026 leveraging technology and training (skillsnet)
- As a follow on, strategy implementation remains a key challenge with reported success rates remaining below 80% in achieving their intended outcomes according to research published by Harvard Business Review, McKinsey and Gartner – despite decades of research and investments in change management capabilities
- There seems to be a trend in being more comfortable in the unknown. Leaders are adapting their style to act on ‘known unknowns’ and willing to move before all the angels are investigated
- And lastly, I have noted a concerted focus on leaders working with allies, mentors and coaches – as the wonderful Simon Sinek maintains, you can’t do it alone. We all become leaders when we accept responsibility for the wellbeing of others. Please spare of moment to follow Simon’s insights on The Optimism Library—real lessons from real leaders to help you navigate challenges and thrive in your career
The European Institute of Management and Finance have release what they see as the Seven Key Leadership Trends Shaping Organisations Worldwide in 2025, certainly worth reviewing as we finished out the quarter and back our chosen strategic plans and initiatives in 2026:
