Two competing forces are currentlyshaping the work of people leaders at many majorbusinesses. On the one hand,geopolitical uncertainty and economic volatility are leading to a tightening of purse strings, making it harder toretainand attract top talent. At the same time, the requirements of the modern workplace meanthat there has never been such a need for workers with the right skills and attitudesto innovate and embrace the potential ofAI and othercutting-edgetechnologies.
To addressthis, weconveneda panel of experts to glean their insights on the challenges facing CHROsin 2026 and the practical solutionsthat can help.
The problem: Siloed, opaque workforce decisions
One of the biggest challengesforpeopleprofessionals, and one area where the savvy use of technology can really help, is decision-making. Workforce decisionsarerarely broken because of poor policy, says Maria Colacurcio, CEO ofSyndio, apay equity software platform.Instead, they often break down inthe execution.
“What happens is, once those policies are set, they go out into the wild,” she says.This could mean that a recruiter needs to close a deal by Friday to get a candidatein,or a retention bump gets approved because a specific manager makesareally goodcase for it.“These decisions happen inmassive silos,so, in spite of really good intentions, there are unintended consequences when you can’t seeall of these decisions together.”
This means that it is no longer enough tosimply formulate excellent policiesonce a yearand let them go, saysSara Morales,senior vice president for people and communities at Cisco. “Now, with the pace of change,we need to be proactive and reactive. Culturally, whatwe’reseeing is an evolution of highly structured teams’ organizational decision-making to much more dynamic and fluid ways of making decisions at speed.”
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Laura Weis,global human-AI strategy lead at WPP, agrees.“Ways ofworking are fundamentallychanging,and you only get value from technologies like AI if we’re moving away from this siloed, waterfall, process-heavy way of working towards something more integrated and cross-functional.” At WPP, this means moving more of the HR function into cross-functional product squads which work together to shape work design.
Practical takeaway:Break down decision silos by mapping where key workforce decisions (hiring, promotion, pay, performance) are made and introducing shared governance or checkpoints across functions. Move from isolated decisions toconnected workflows—ensuring HR, finance, and business leaders are working from the same data and principles.
The pressure: Why this is reaching a breaking point
Thisparticularchallengeis coming toabreaking point owing to a confluence of factors.Regulation, AIadoption,and workforce expectations are all acceleratingsimultaneously,and this is fundamentally changing the role of people leaders.
“Culturally, whatwe’reseeing is an evolution of highly structured teams’ organizational decision-making to much more dynamic and fluid ways of making decisions at speed.”
Sara Morales,senior vice president for people and communities, Cisco
“There are 657 things that leaders are trying to work through every day—maybe even every hour,” says Morales. “To move through that with clarity, leaders need to establish what are the few most important things to focus on.”
One such important thing, for European Leaders, is theEU Pay Transparency Directive,the measures of which member states must have implemented by June of this year.The result of this, says Colacurcio, is a greater need for explainability.“All of your folks now have access to so much more information,” she says. “They’re going to be showing up in a way that requires your people leaders on the front line of these difficult conversations about pay to be able to explain things.”
Practical takeaway:Shift from annual planning cycles to more frequent, cross-functional workforce reviews, and equip frontline leaders with clear frameworks for explaining decisions—especially around pay, progression, and performance. Prioritization is critical: Define the few decisions that matter most and ensure consistency in how they are made and communicated.
The misstep: A fixation on outcomes, not decisions
One of the tools leaders will reach for when it comes to workforce issues isAI,but many fall into the trap of thinking that simplyimplementing the technology will be enough to solve the problems. Not so,saysWeis.
“It leads to a lot of frustration because people feel like they shouldgenerate huge value with these tools,” she says.“But the way we have designed work is totally not suitable for the way of working that needs to happen in order to unlock value with AI.”
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Weis explainsthat too many companies are seeing the productivity and efficiency gains AI can bring as a solution to employees being overworked and burned out. Unfortunately,workers under pressure are highly unlikely to change their way of working orexperimentwith new tools.Instead, if they do useAIit is in relativelyunstrategicways which creates more frustration and increases cognitive load.
“The story was that AI makes work easier, but actually what happened is that AI took away the easy work,” says Weis. “AI is a multiplier. If you have a mediocre performer or team, AI will simply make that worse.”
Practical takeaway:Don’ttreat AI as a quick fix; focus first on redesigning how decisions and workflowsoperateday to day. Create the conditions for effective AI use by reducing overload, clarifying expectations, and aligning teams on what“good”decision-making looks like before layering in technology.
The Shift: From remediation to prevention
So, what can people leadersdo? “You have tostart bycollaborating differently,” says Morales. “We have to create space, time, and energy for people to learn and think and strategize.” At Cisco, this involves a new practice called Time to Grow where all employees have four hours blocked out in their calendars every monthfor each of them to go and invest in themselves and develop theskillsthey will need to be ready for the AI transformation.
“The story was that AI makes work easier, but actually what happened is that AI took away the easy work.”
Laura Weis,global human-AI strategy lead, WPP
ForSyndio’sColacurcio, the organizations shesees aswinning in this areahave changed the way they do governance—particularly when it comes to pay. “It’s not governance after the fact, with this big bucket of moneythat you then have to dole out to fix your mistakes,” she says. “It’s thinkingabout a manager getting guidance in the moment when a pay decision is being made so you can prevent issues from happening in the first place.”
At WPP, Weis saysit’sa question of embracing a total mindsetshiftthroughout the organization. “We’re moving from a knowledge economy to aninnovationeconomy,” she says. “Sowe’retrying to get people toact in an innovative and creative way, tocontinuouslyreimagine and to question their ways of working. AI gives usspeed,but it also gives us space, andwe’rereally trying to ensure that space is being used in an effective way, rather than just being absorbed by the system.”
Practical takeaway:Embed guidance and governance into decisions as they happen, rather than relying on retrospective fixes. This can include introducing real-time decision support, setting clearer guardrails for managers, and carving out protected time for learning and experimentation to build long-term capability.
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