DEAR READER: Are you acquiring and honing skills to meet employers’ growing needs in the new year?
Mind the gap: the skills gap. Employers are struggling to fill key roles due to an ongoing labor shortage of skills. According to Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy’s Center on Education and the Workforce report, “Falling Behind: How Skills Shortages Threaten Future Jobs,” from 2024 through 2032, 18.4 million experienced workers are expected to retire. This significantly outpaces younger workers entering the job market, both demographics with postsecondary education.
In addition, the center determined that 5.25 million workers with postsecondary education will be needed across the country through 2032. The report indicated, “Through 2032, the largest projected shortfall of workers at all levels of educational attainment will be in management occupations.”
Here are several skills to lean into to potentially fill the gap that are integral to succeeding in management occupations.
Human-centric leadership involves empathy, emotional intelligence and fostering psychologically safe places to work, especially among hybrid and remote teams. According to the World Economic Forum’s “Future of Jobs” report from last January, “leadership and social influence” and “talent management” are on the list of the top 10 fastest growing skills.
Sure, the core of leadership involves management people, but another component in addition to processes (and politics) are the interfaces with technology: AI literacy.
According to Bright Horizons’ “2026 Workforce Outlook” report, 79% of workers feel they must learn new skills with many saying it’s due to AI. That said, there’s a “critical adoption gap” — managers aren’t currently equipped to lead this revolution. The report indicated that organizations investing in their employees’ development within both soft skills and technical will outperform their peers when it comes to adaptability and innovation.
Considering the only thing constant is change, as cliché as it sounds, adaptive change management is a critical skill to possess and demonstrate during job interviews. It’s the ability to lead teams through change to regulate their discomfort and resilience to navigate new territory as business strategies and organizations evolve, focusing on morale and engagement in ways that don’t lead to burnout and turnover.
According to Gartner’s “2026 Top HR Trends and CHRO Priorities for 2026” report, “Change has become ungovernable.” Instead of managers viewing change as a one-time event, they should treat it like building daily muscle memory, much like a golf swing. That swing is attempted to be mastered through consistent, repetitive practice until it becomes a more instinctive reflex.