Leadership Briefing: 28 September 2026
What this week's policy thinking means for leaders
Each week brings a fresh set of research and policy thinking about how work is changing and what organisations will need to do next. This week’s picture is clear. AI may offer significant gains, but technology alone will not improve performance. Progress will depend on investment in people, stronger management capability and workplaces that help more people stay, contribute and thrive.
Running through all four stories is a practical leadership question. How can organisations turn technological potential into sustained performance? Leaders cannot treat AI adoption, employability, workforce wellbeing and productivity as separate challenges. Each relies on good judgement, capable managers and the right conditions for people and technology to work effectively together.
Reports and publications worth exploring
1. Challenges brought by AI adoption
Learning and Work Institute and the Rigby Foundation's Building an AI-ready workforce report argues that the UK has significant economic potential from AI, but that investment in people will determine whether that potential is realised. While 85% of HR decision-makers surveyed said their organisations use AI in some capacity, only 18% said they use it extensively. Almost two-thirds said stronger leadership and management skills would help them adopt AI more fully.
AI adoption brings questions about job design, skills, culture, accountability and human judgement. Leaders need to be able to navigate all of these alongside the technology itself.
Read more: Building an AI-ready workforce report, Learning and Work Institute, Rigby Foundation
2. Keeping people in work is becoming a productivity issue
The Government’s latest Keep Britain Working update highlights the scale of economic inactivity linked to ill health and disability. Around 2.8 million working-age people are economically inactive because of long-term health conditions or disability, while around 300,000 people leave work each year with a health condition.
The evidence also points to the importance of early intervention. DWP reports that someone absent from work for four to six weeks has a 96% chance of returning, while after a year fewer than half do.
The implications extend beyond employment policy. They raise questions about how organisations manage health, absence and workplace support, and about the confidence managers have to have conversations before a problem becomes a prolonged absenc
Read more: Keep Britain Working, GOV.UK
3. Human skills remain critical in an increasingly automated workplace
City & Guilds’ latest research on employability skills highlights a tension at the heart of the changing labour market.
The research found that 64% of UK businesses are finding candidates with human capabilities such as communication, problem-solving and time management harder to find. Almost three-quarters of employers say employability skills are now more important than technical expertise for workplace success.
At the same time, 69% believe AI-powered recruitment tools prioritise technical skills over the human capabilities employers say they need.
As more routine tasks become automated, the capabilities that distinguish effective people may become more important, not less. Organisations will need to think carefully about how they identify, assess and develop judgement, communication, collaboration and problem-solving.
Read more: Counting the cost - The UK’s Employability Skills Crisis, City & Guilds
4. Productivity depends on how organisations are led
The Health Foundation’s Breaking the cycle report examines the productivity challenge facing the NHS, but some of its findings have relevance well beyond healthcare.
The report identifies short-term planning, fragmented accountability and the complexity of the operating environment as barriers to sustained productivity improvement. It also highlights leadership and management, alongside technology and data, as important conditions for improvement.
There is a useful lesson here for organisations in every sector. Productivity is rarely created by a single intervention. It depends on whether people have the clarity, capability, systems and leadership needed to work differently.
Technology may enable change, but leaders still have to create the conditions in which that change works.
Read more: Breaking the cycle report, The Health Foundation
Leadership takeaway
The common thread is that better outcomes depend on better leadership. Organisations may be adopting AI, responding to ill health, looking for scarce human skills or trying to raise productivity, but the underlying requirements are similar. Clear priorities, confident managers, trusted information and sustained investment in people.
For leaders, the priority is to look across these issues rather than address each one in isolation. Where is management capability holding back change? Which systems make good work harder? And where could earlier support prevent people or performance from slipping? Answering those questions will help organisations turn investment and innovation into lasting improvement.
