Dive Brief:
- Companies that said their top challenge was “too many simultaneous changes” were 24% less likely to believe they were good at building culture compared to firms that cited other obstacles, according to HR research and advisory firm McLean & Co.’s 2026 HR Trends Survey.
- Internal upheaval, such as executive and leadership shifts, corporate restructuring, technology changes, rapid expansion, legal challenges and even reputational problems can put enormous strain on the workforce. As a result, companies need to treat upheaval “as both a cultural and operational issue,” the report said.
- Disruption has become routine at many companies, but recent studies have shown that unaddressed disruptions create long-term problems.
Dive Insight:
McLean’s report stressed the importance of building a stable work environment, but also said that HR leaders needed to create a supportive, professional atmosphere over time.
“Disruption is unavoidable,” Erin Shepherd, manager of HR research and advisory services at McLean, said in a statement. “What matters is how deliberately an organization responds and recovers.”
The report said when there’s disruption, HR leaders should figure out what happened and how it affected workplace culture. During this period, HR can help employees distinguish between temporary and permanent changes and also examine any patterns in employee responses.
McLean also recommended that HR leaders protect employees by identifying and creating a cultural consistency and helping leaders respond to upheavals “with intention rather than reactivity.”
Once situations have leveled out, HR teams can examine what worked and what didn’t work in order to better plan for future challenges.
“Effective culture management requires HR and leaders to keep listening, reinforcing what matters most, and applying lessons learned as disruption continues to unfold,” the report said.
Navigating unsteady times is a necessary skill, particularly for leaders. A report from consulting firm DDI found that just 17% of top executives said they “feel confident anticipating and reacting to change.” However, that same report found that companies with “effective change leadership” were 2.4 times more likely “to meet or exceed their financial targets.”
