Are you ready for 2026?

At the beginning of every new year we often see in our inboxes a round up of predictions for our profession in the year ahead. These are often survey based or from specific interviews with Chief Communication Officers. I love reading them – if not just to confirm my beliefs (or fuel my fears!).

Agree or disagree with them, it’s definitely food for thought and for me is a great opportunity to highlight the need to understand the strategic nature of our roles and what we can be doing to drive the success of our teams and our own career trajectory in communications.

A few decent reports stood out to me this year:

• The International Communications Consultancy Organisation’s The Change Agenda: Read here
• The European Communication Monitor: ECM 2025/26 – European Communication Monitor 2025/26
• Onclusive: UK Report

A few recurring themes stand out:

• Values based positioning is important for our organisations, but it must be anchored in operational integrity. We need to make sure we align internal and external messaging – the one size fits all approach isn’t appropriate. We have diverse workforces and diverse stakeholders. As communications professionals our ability to navigate these is going to be of the highest priority.
• We still need to better understand AI and its impact, and we need to coach our younger professionals in the fundamental skills of communications – humanity, empathy, transparency, relationship building – before an over-reliance on tools.
• We need to measure what we do so that we can effectively connect our effort to revenue and business growth. Budgets are being cut, AI is impacting our work flows and we need to be able to demonstrate the value of our contribution. (If you want to dive more into this, follow Stephen Waddington on Substack for his research into communications as a management function)
• Managing reputation and trust means we need to be crisis ready, and equip ourselves with the skills to detect and challenge mis and disinformation. Highlighted by the World Economic Forum at the beginning of 2026, Mis and disinformation remains a key global concern and one which we are in many ways, underprepared to deal with.
• Strategic counsel is a skill set we need – and this involves the ability to horizon scan and understand the geopolitical pressures our leadership are operating within. 2025 saw many companies roll back from their ESG commitments but there is a reputational risk to strategic silence, and we need to consider how we advise for this.

A great quote from the ICCO Change Agenda report sums it up:

“In an “economy of uncertainty,” the core skills of professional communication—sense-making, narrative shaping, relationship building, and strategic counsel— are not becoming obsolete; they are becoming more critical than ever.”

Demonstrating that we have the skills and experience to do this is what the PRINZ APR Programme is all about. We work through the latest thinking on crisis, AI, Internal Communications and strategy – to name a few of the key areas. It’s a great opportunity to reflect on our practice and think about how we can improve our knowledge and therefore enhance our confidence in our strategic communications roles. The next course begins on 11th May and applications close on 13th March at 5pm.

Written by Suzy Giles, Chief Examiner of the APR programme.