In this episode, Lucy Adams and Karen Moran take stock of the people and work trends that are likely to shape 2026. Drawing on what they’re seeing across organisations right now, they focus on the changes that genuinely matter for HR and leaders, from shifting employee expectations to the growing pressure on organisations to operate with greater trust and transparency.

They explore how ideas about leadership, performance and culture are continuing to evolve, why traditional HR models are being stretched, and what this means for areas such as hybrid working, capability building and organisational design. The discussion highlights where HR can add the most value over the next few years, and where it may need to step back from long-established but increasingly unhelpful practices.

Lucy and Karen also reflect on what this moment means for HR more broadly, and how teams can prepare for 2026 in a way that is pragmatic, human and grounded in reality.

The HR Disrupted podcast will be taking a break due to other commitments but the conversation very much continues! For more insights from Lucy and the team at Disruptive HR, check out the website at www.disruptivehr.com.

Chapters

00:00 – Looking ahead: Why 2026 is a turning point for work 09:10 – Shifting expectations: What employees and leaders want next 21:05 – Rethinking HR models: What may need to change or disappear 34:00 – What’s next: Preparing for 2026

Find out more about Disruptive HR: www.disruptivehr.com Get in touch: hello@disruptivehr.com Check out The Disruptive HR Club: https://disruptivehr.com/the-club/

HR doesn’t struggle with not having enough data - we’ve got tons of it. Engagement scores, churn and absenteeism rates, performance ratings, DEI metrics - the works. But can we honestly say we’re brilliant at using that data to drive our people strategies? The answer is probably, “not yet.” So, this episode explores how we can get better at turning data into real insight and how that insight can help us build more trust, better performance, and stronger cultures. Lucy is joined by Jenny Deaborn who’s spent her career helping organisations do exactly that. Her new book, The Insight-Driven Leader, is a practical roadmap for HR teams and leaders who want to make analytics genuinely useful and human.

Drawing on over 100 one-to-one interviews with CEOs, CHROs and board members, Jenny explains why the best organisations aren’t using “magic” HR metrics – they’re just using familiar ones with far more rigour. She unpacks why “regrettable attrition of top performers in critical roles” beats a single company-wide turnover number every time, how to define “top performer” and “critical role” with real fidelity, and why every good HR metric should be in service of a small handful of measures the board genuinely cares about.

They then dig into what it really means to be an insight-driven leader rather than just “data-informed”: connecting people data with customer metrics to show where revenue, risk and growth are truly sitting in your workforce. Jenny shares practical examples of using AI to join up disparate data sources, warning that technology is no longer the barrier – mindset and culture are.

Chapters

02:15 – Jenny’s story: neurodiversity, quotas and the credibility that comes with numbers

08:35 – Business-first HR: the tiny set of people metrics CEOs and boards really care about

16:50 – From data-informed to insight-driven: joining HR, CRM and ERP data (and where AI helps)

25:20 – Is your culture ready for analytics? Plus practical first steps for aspiring insight-driven CHROs

Disruptive HR

Find out more about Disruptive HR: www.disruptivehr.com Get in touch: hello@disruptivehr.com Check out The Disruptive HR Club: https://disruptivehr.com/the-club/

Contact Jenny https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennydearborn/

Lucy and Karen get honest about one of HR’s toughest challenges: helping leaders and managers actually change how they behave. Drawing on their own “humiliations” as former HR Directors, they unpack why influencing senior leaders can feel so hard – from fear of getting it wrong, to loss of status, to simple overload – and introduce four familiar resistance types: the Defiant, the Intellectual, the Busy Operator and the Reluctant.

They share ten practical ways to shift behaviour without a 50-slide deck. You’ll hear how to start with sharp, leader-focused questions instead of programmes, use commercial numbers to earn attention, set clear people outcomes rather than more process, offer genuine choice, and make change feel tiny and doable through simple nudges. They also explore how to swap “HR as trainer” for peer-to-peer learning, use more human language, and tailor your message to different decision-making styles – from fast-moving Drivers to cautious “steady hands”.

Finally, Lucy and Karen show how to stop pouring energy into the hardest resistors and instead “go with the energy” – working first with early adopters, then using their success to win over results-focused pragmatists.

• 00:03 – Setting the scene: Why influencing leaders feels so hard for HR
• 03:31 – Four types of resistance: Defiant, Intellectual, Busy and Reluctant
• 08:48 – Ten practical tips: Questions, data and focusing on outcomes
• 16:35 – Making it easy: Choice, tiny nudges and peer-to-peer learning
• 28:23 – Personas, packaging and next steps: Olivia, Jessica, Michael and a simple plan for your next leader conversation

Find out more about Disruptive HR: www.disruptivehr.com Get in touch: hello@disruptivehr.com Check out The Disruptive HR Club: https://disruptivehr.com/ https://disruptivehr.com/the-club/