Four Core CHRO Skills That Drive Business Performance in 2026 

The Head of Human Resources isn’t just managing policies and employee relations anymore.  

In 2026, Chief Human Resources Officers are stepping into a different role entirely, one that puts them right in the middle of how companies reinvent themselves. Between AI (artificial intelligence) disrupting workflows, skills becoming outdated faster than ever, and employees expecting more from work, HR leaders need a broader toolkit than they did even a few years ago. 

How the CHRO Role Changed from Administrator to Business Partner 

The CHRO role used to center on compliance, hiring processes, and handling employee issues. It was about maintaining stability and minimizing risk. That version of the job still exists, but it’s only a fraction of what CHROs do now. 

Today’s HR leaders work directly with Chief Executive Officers and boards on business strategy. They’re involved in decisions about technology adoption, organizational redesign, and how to position the company for future growth. According to Gartner’s 2026 CHRO Priorities research, embedding culture into day-to-day work can increase employee performance by up to 34%. This change means CHROs need to think less like administrators and more like business leaders who happen to specialize in people. 

Why AI Adoption Makes Leadership Skills Even More Important for CHROs

Artificial intelligence is the biggest driver of change in the CHRO role right now. By early 2025, 40% of U.S. employees were already using AI tools at work, nearly double the 21% using them in 2023, according to Gallup. 

This adoption creates constant disruption. Jobs are changing, skills are becoming outdated faster, and employees are anxious about what AI means for their careers. This environment of perpetual change is exactly why research from Deloitte shows that 74% of CHRO job postings in 2024 listed initiative and leadership as core requirements, with 59% emphasizing communication and 55% requiring critical thinking and problem-solving. 

When everything is in flux, organizations need HR leaders who can take initiative without waiting for perfect information, lead people through uncertainty, and communicate clearly about what’s happening and why. CHROs have to work closely with technology leaders to build governance frameworks, train managers on AI tools, and help employees adjust without losing sight of what makes work human. That takes both technical understanding and the leadership ability to bring people along. 

Top CHRO Priorities for 2026

Priority 1: Building Culture When Employees Are Scattered

The most pressing priority is culture. With hybrid and remote work still the norm for many organizations, keeping culture alive takes deliberate effort. You can’t rely on people absorbing values through osmosis when they’re not in the same physical space. 

The data shows this is harder than it looks. McLean & Company’s 2025 Employee Engagement Trends Report found that 62.6% of employees are currently engaged, nearly 2% higher than pre-pandemic levels. But that still leaves more than a third disengaged. More concerning, Culture Amp’s mid-2025 benchmarks show that employee pride has dropped another percentage point in the last year, marking a 4% decline since 2022. People feel less connected to their companies even as overall engagement holds steady. 

Priority 2: Partnering with CFOs and CIOs to Drive Business Results

Culture doesn’t exist in isolation, however. It needs to be reinforced through deliberate organizational design and ongoing transformation. This is where the CHRO’s relationship with other C-suite leaders becomes a priority in itself, particularly the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Chief Information Officer (CIO). 

The partnership with finance matters because human capital costs usually represent a company’s largest expense. When financial and talent strategies aren’t aligned, companies waste money on recruiting and hiring that doesn’t support actual business goals. According to research from DigitalDefynd, organizations where CFOs and CHROs share transparent communication practices report 2x higher leadership alignment and 35% faster decision-making during periods of change. 

More CEOs are recognizing this. They’re turning to the combined insights of their CHRO and CFO to form a “golden triad” of leadership. The CHRO brings workforce insights, the CFO brings financial discipline, and together they can make smarter decisions about where to invest in people. 

The partnership with the CIO is equally important because technology decisions have massive people implications. As AI tools proliferate, CHROs and technology leaders must collaborate on governance frameworks, data ethics, and helping employees work alongside intelligent systems. McKinsey’s 2025 State of AI research shows that while 88% of organizations are now using AI regularly, most are still experimenting rather than scaling it effectively. The gap between pilots and real business impact often comes down to people issues: training, change management, and workforce planning. CHROs play a central role in closing that gap. 

Priority 3: Developing Leaders for an Uncertain Future

These partnerships with CFOs and CIOs only work when the right leaders are in place to execute them. That’s where leadership development comes in. The skills that made leaders successful in the past don’t necessarily prepare them for this kind of cross-functional collaboration under pressure. 

According to Gartner research reported by The People Space, 64% of CHROs say their leaders lack the mindset to guide people through continuous change. This matters because CEOs are still pushing for growth, with 53% citing it as their number one priority. 

That creates a real problem. McKinsey’s 2025 Global Economic Outlook shows that nearly seven in ten executives now think a recession is the most likely scenario, with economic volatility becoming a top three risk. At the same time, Deloitte’s 2025 Global Human Capital Trends research found executives preparing for more agile ways of working while workers want stability. 

Organizations need leaders who can handle this kind of ambiguity. The CHRO’s responsibility is to identify people who can communicate complex visions, make decisions without complete information, and maintain emotional intelligence even when AI is handling much of the tactical work. Technical expertise alone won’t cut it anymore. 

Priority 4: Personalizing Compensation and Benefits

Employees now have different expectations, and one-size-fits-all packages don’t work anymore. While 65% of employees want personalized benefit offerings, only 14% of companies currently provide them, according to recent research. 

This gap matters because wellness has become a deal-breaker for talent. Wellhub’s State of Work-Life Wellness 2025 report shows that 88% of workers think their wellness is just as important as their salary. CHROs need to structure rewards that drive engagement while remaining financially sustainable. That means working with the CFO to figure out how to offer personalization without exploding costs. 

Essential CHRO Competencies for 2026

Meeting these priorities requires specific skills. Here are the four core competencies every modern CHRO needs. 

Competency 1: Using Analytics to Predict Problems

CHROs must now use workforce analytics and market insights to anticipate risks and recognize opportunities before they become crises. This matters because reactive HR is too slow. 

Research shows that AI-powered workforce analytics can help HR teams predict turnover and identify skill gaps before they threaten business performance. According to SHRM’s 2024 State of the Global Workplace research, 83% of employees in good or excellent workplace cultures feel deeply motivated to deliver high-quality work, compared to 45% in poor cultures. The analytics help CHROs spot when culture is deteriorating so they can intervene early. 

Competency 2: Maintaining Ethics as AI Expands

This data-driven approach must be balanced with ethical stewardship. As CHROs gain access to more employee data and deploy more AI tools, the potential for harm grows. Algorithmic bias in hiring, privacy violations in monitoring, and unfair performance evaluations can all damage trust. 

Visier’s 2025 Workforce Trends Report notes that 72% of CIOs say data is the biggest challenge for AI, and 68% highlight that unifying their data platform for analytics and AI is essential. CHROs need to make sure privacy, equity, and fairness are embedded in all HR processes. This means setting clear policies, auditing AI systems regularly, and being willing to slow down adoption if the ethical guardrails aren’t in place. 

Competency 3: Leading Change That People Accept

Change management has become another essential competency. According to Evanta’s 2025 CHRO Leadership Perspective Survey, change management ranks among the top five priorities for CHROs. Yet only 30% of CHROs believe their leaders and managers are equipped to lead change effectively, according to Gartner research. 

The problem is that most change efforts fail because of people issues, not strategy issues. Gartner also found that 54% of CHROs report that current communication methods fail to engage employees. When people don’t understand why change is happening or how it affects them, they resist. 

The solution is to embed change throughout the business culture rather than dictating it from the top. An organization’s ability to drive effectiveness is heavily affected by its readiness for change. CHROs need to create a compelling vision that makes transformation feel personal and necessary, then equip managers to have honest conversations with their teams about what’s changing and why. 

Competency 4: Forecasting Skills Before Gaps Become Crises

Skills forecasting has become essential because the pace of skills obsolescence has accelerated dramatically. Research cited by Harvard Business Review shows that a generation ago, the half-life of the value of a skill was approximately 26 years. Now it’s often less than five years. 

This creates a constant training challenge. The World Economic Forum projects that 44% of core job skills will change by 2030, yet only 26% of HR leaders say they have a solid skills taxonomy in place to guide workforce planning. Without that taxonomy, organizations can’t identify gaps early or build training programs that actually prepare people for what’s coming. 

Finding the Right CHRO for Your Organization

The most successful CHRO leaders in 2026 will be those who build an expanded, people-centered, data-enabled vision while guiding boards and C-suites to align talent and culture with technology and business goals. 

Organizations need HR leaders who can operate at the intersection of business strategy, technology adoption, and people development. The right CHRO must bring analytical capability, ethical judgment, change management expertise, and cross-functional collaboration skills. 

Stanton Chase’s global HR practice specializes in identifying and placing CHROs who can meet these demands. With more than 70 offices across 45 countries, we bring local market knowledge combined with global best practices. We assess candidates on the full range of competencies that drive CHRO success: strategic thinking, analytical capability, change orchestration, and cross-functional leadership. 

When you partner with Stanton Chase for CHRO search, you benefit from our extensive network of HR leaders and our commitment to finding candidates who can excel in your specific context. We help you identify the HR leader who will become a valued partner to your CEO, a trusted advisor to your board, and an architect of your organization’s future success. 

About the Authors

William Brewer, CCP, is a Director at Stanton Chase Los Angeles. He is also Stanton Chase’s Global Human Resources Functional Leader. Prior to moving into executive search, Bill had 25 years of experience in corporate human resources. In addition to his executive search career, Bill is an adjunct Professor at the University of Redlands. Bill also serves as a mentor for the MBA program at the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) and has been a mentor with the School of Business at the University of Redlands.        

Iris Drayton-Spann is a Managing Director at Stanton Chase in Washington, D.C., specializing in executive placements across all functional areas with deep expertise in Human Resources and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging. Prior to joining Stanton Chase, she served as Vice President of Human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer at WETA-TV, where she built a strategic HR function aligned with the organization’s mission and led the DEI Council as a member of the senior leadership team. Iris holds a master’s degree from George Washington University and certifications from SHRM, HRCI, and the Society of Diversity as a Certified Diversity Executive.  

Christian Ehl is a Partner at Stanton Chase Düsseldorf and serves as the Global Functional Leader for Sustainability and ESG. Since 2004, he has worked extensively with international corporations and medium-sized businesses, specializing in executive search for sustainability, ESG, and financial leadership roles. His expertise in sustainability began with his thesis on Corporate Social Responsibility, and he has since built extensive knowledge and a strong network in this field. Christian holds a degree in International Business Administration from Accadis Business School and completed his coaching certification in systemic and change coaching in 2008.