L&D Focus Topic 2026: Leadership Competencies

The results of the current report are clear: leadership competencies are at the very top of the people development agenda in 2026. Especially in economically challenging times marked by uncertainty, efficiency pressure, and constant change, the question becomes central: how can leadership provide orientation without diminishing responsibility and innovative capacity within teams?

I experience the greatest challenge as a field of tension: on the one hand, economic pressure, performance targets, and efficiency expectations; on the other, teams that need orientation. Under this pressure, leadership quickly shifts toward more directives, more control, and more top-down decision-making. In the short term, this can feel effective; in the long term, people think less for themselves and take on less responsibility. Ultimately, this weakens the team’s capacity for innovation.

At the same time, leaders themselves are part of this uncertainty – this becomes clear, for example, when it comes to AI. Many know they need to engage with it, but wait until they feel technically “ready,” instead of shaping the learning process together with their team.

I believe that focusing solely on the question “top-down or not?” does not get us very far—the key issue is what enables leadership to hold this pressure and uncertainty effectively. For me, there are three core competency areas that are particularly relevant in times like these.

The first is a clear awareness of roles and responsibilities. Under pressure, many leaders slip into the role of the “person responsible for everything” – and in doing so, take away exactly the responsibility they actually want to strengthen in their teams. Moderating leadership, for me, means consciously deciding when I set the framework and direction and when I open up space, ask questions, and involve the team in finding solutions.

The second is process competence: I do not need to have all the answers, but I do need a solid path to get there – who is at the table, which steps we take, and how we make decisions. When leadership is less about “the perfect solution” and more about a clearly structured process, teams remain capable of action even when goals or conditions change.

I hear this concern very often – and I understand it. If we think of “moderation” only as long discussions with lots of participation and colorful sticky notes, it can indeed sound like less speed and less clarity at first. In practice, however, I experience the exact opposite: well-facilitated processes speed up decisions and make them clearer. If I take three or four minutes at the beginning of a meeting to clarify the goal, agenda, and roles – a brief contracting phase – I save significantly more time later by avoiding loops and misunderstandings.

I see L&D in a dual role here: as an architect of learning offerings and as a sparring partner to the organization. If leaders are expected not just to have “heard about” moderating leadership but to truly live it, booking a single training and hoping for a major mindset shift is, in my view, not enough.

A first lever is to consistently align learning offerings with real leadership situations and avoid abstract models in favor of typical everyday settings – critical team meetings, difficult decisions, and change processes marked by a high degree of uncertainty. When leaders work with their real cases in training and practice moderation and process skills in that context, the likelihood that they will apply these approaches in everyday work is significantly higher.

The second lever is transfer support. Moderating leadership is a behavioral change that rarely happens within two days of training. L&D can use short follow–ups, peer groups, or digital nudges to ensure that leaders stay engaged and reflect in very concrete terms: “Which meeting will I facilitate differently next week? What will I try out?”

The results of the L&D Trend Report 2026 clearly show that leadership competencies are and will remain a central field of action for people development. Moderating leadership offers a pragmatic approach to combining orientation, participation, and efficiency.

In the “Moderating Leadership” learning program we address these challenges in a targeted way. Leaders reflect on their role, strengthen their process and facilitation skills, and learn how to design meetings, decision-making processes, and change situations in a clear and effective way.