Planning for Growth in 2026

If your goal is to grow your business in 2026, the secret is not AI. While AI is preoccupying everyone’s thoughts and conversation in the workplace today, it is not the secret to growing your business in 2026. Sure, AI will impact the workplace and will eventually replace some roles now done my people. But technology has been replacing repetitive task roles for multiple decades. It will not replace all or even most of the people in your organization.

Here's the reality.

People and people related expenses still make up 25-50% of the budget in most organizations. It is the largest single expense in most organizations. If you shift your thinking about people from an expense to an asset, though, it begs a question. People and people related expenses are the largest asset in most organizations. From a quarter to half of most organizational budgets.

If you had an asset in your organization that was ¼ to ½ of your annual budget, wouldn’t you want to maximize the impact of that asset on your bottom line? It seems like a rhetorical question to me. Of course you would. Yet the reverse seems to be true in many organizations. According to the Gallup 2025 Employee Engagement Update, employee engagement is at a 10-year low. (https://www.gallup.com/workplace/654911/employee-engagement-sinks-year-low.aspx)

In 2024 employee engagement hit the lowest point in a decade, particularly among workers younger than 35. Here is a major highlight from the report. Only 31% of employees responded that they were engaged. All of the data in the report points to one cause – leadership. As the speed of change has accelerated and the world has gotten more complex, we have forgotten how to lead humans. That has to change if growth is your goal.

The secret to growing your business in 2026 is building a Growth Culture in your organization. Most organizations are still built using a Performance Culture. Performance Cultures focus on “tasks and goals.” As long as people complete their tasks and hit their goals, leaders are happy, and don’t expect more. Growth Cultures focus on “process,” because the only way to create the growth you want is to maximize the processes you use to make, market, sell, and support the products/services you provide.

In a Growth Culture, performance is actually more important than it is in a Performance Culture. The reason is “sustainability.” A Growth Culture focuses on the process to sustain growth, not just achieve growth today and hope for growth tomorrow. Sustained growth always involves maximizing and adapting the process as things change and creating a fully engaged, equipped, and empowered workforce that drives change and growth.

At the core of a Growth Culture are two things – a fully engaged workforce and building the behaviors of growth throughout the team. When people are emotionally invested in the work they do, they become a driver of growth. When people embody the behaviors of growth (the ability to see, anticipate, and respond in ways that drive growth) they become even more emotionally invested in what your organization does and the role they play in it.