2026 Starts Now: The Team’s best advice for the year ahead

​As 2025 moves into its final stretch, many businesses are already looking ahead to what 2026 will demand and reward. While technology continues to accelerate and markets shift at pace, one thing remains constant: businesses that succeed are those that stay human, stay focused and stay willing to evolve.

At the Team, we bring together specialists across brand, strategy, employee engagement and design. Every day, our people help businesses create meaningful experiences for employees and customers, and collectively, we’ve gathered our best advice for businesses preparing to enter 2026 with clarity and confidence.

​Strategy that actually gets used – Kevin Mackenzie, Managing Director

Too many strategies are well written and rarely used. In 2026, the brands that win will treat strategy as a decision-making system, not a narrative. A real brand strategy simplifies choices. It tells people what matters, what does not and how to behave when trade-offs appear. If your brand strategy for your business is not influencing daily decisions, it is not strategy, it is commentary. Make it usable. Make it operational. Make it count.

​Stay human to build trust – Sophie Creedon, Marketing Manager

​“With automation everywhere and communication becoming more efficient but less personal, genuine human connection will be one of 2026’s most powerful differentiators. Authenticity isn’t a trend; it’s a practice.

Strong partnerships grow from honesty, presence, and openness. Being real with your customers and clients; especially when things don’t go perfectly, strengthens trust more than any polished messaging ever could. The positive here is simple: show up consistently, communicate sincerely, and embrace transparency. People value truth far more than perfection.”

​Celebrate belonging and identity – Jennifer Robinson, Employee Engagement Consultant

​“Diversity and inclusion has had a year of very unhelpful distractions, including a myriad of misinformation that seeks to polarise people. But the reality unites us far more than it divides us.

My advice to employers is double down on your team identity because of course it improves performance, but it does that because it gives individuals a sense of belonging.

This is crucial when the world around can feel less than friendly for some. Share and celebrate what makes your workforce good at what it does. Who is behind the variety of skills and mindsets that lead you to success, and what combines you as one?”

​Communicate clearly and embrace change – Sally Tarbit, Director

“Ghosting, whether it’s between clients, partners or prospects, continues to be a challenge. It’s absolutely okay to say “no thank you.” Clarity is kind. It saves time, respects effort, and helps everyone direct their energy to the right places.

Another. Don’t be afraid of change. Not change for changes sake, or when things take a turn for the worse, but proactively and regularly, looking at things with fresh eyes, taking stock on a regular basis, testing new ideas. It’ll keep your brand and activation fresh and in touch.

And perhaps most importantly: hold your nerve. Most things shift in cycles, if they go down, they’ll go up again. Think mid to longer term if you can. And if you do need to act, make sure you have a consultancy partner who gets you, considers your audiences needs above theirs, and can think critically.”

​Filter and focus – Mark Hauser, Applied Behavioural Scientist

• Filter the noise from the intelligence
• Filter the colleagues taking you forward from the colleagues holding you back
• Focus on the people you want to serve – both employees and customers.
• Focus on what you do well.

​Empower the next generation – Simon Mannering, Design Director

“The future of innovation lies in how we treat junior talent. 2026 won’t be about asking them to compete with AI, it will be about empowering them to manage it.

Junior employees bring curiosity, adaptability and digital fluency. When businesses invest in developing those skills and build confidence in how to collaborate with emerging technology, they secure a smarter, more inventive future for their business.”

​Design culture from the outside-in – Cliff Ettridge, Director

Looking ahead to 2026, businesses need to be far more intentional about how culture, employer brand and storytelling are designed and who owns them.

The most effective organisations work from the outside-in. They start with customer needs, then deliberately design the employee experience, behaviours and narratives required to deliver on those needs consistently.

This requires treating employer brand, internal culture and external brand as one connected system, owned by leadership, not as separate initiatives or side projects for HR or marketing. When this system is designed properly, culture becomes a driver of performance, not just a talking point.

​Remember the fundamentals – Paddy Cavanagh, Brand and Customer Value Consultant

There are a lot of predictions going around about what next year has in-store. Take all of these with a pinch of salt. No one really knows what the future holds. What new technologies or macro forces will disrupt the world, the market and your business. So, it’s good to focus on the areas you have some control over. Like your brand.

A business always needs to know what motivates its customers and what makes it different and better from the alternatives. And it needs to know how and where best to communicate this message to its audiences. This is true today and it will be true tomorrow. So, think about your brand as you head into the new year. Ask yourself two fundamental questions:

• Does your brand reflect the business you want it to be?
• Does your brand reflect the business your customers need it to be?

​Into 2026 with purpose

Across all this advice, one theme stands out: businesses win by staying rooted in people; through honesty, belonging, clarity, focus and empowerment.

2026 will reward businesses that act with intention, communicate with confidence, and invest in both experience and emerging talent.

Do that, and you won’t just navigate the year ahead, you’ll shape it.