Why 2026 Is the Year of Organizational Endurance
The New Year always brings a burst of energy. We set goals to get healthier, to work out more, to pay closer attention to our habits, our finances, and our well-being. We talk a lot about strength—strength training, becoming stronger leaders, building stronger teams. But strength, on its own, has never been the full story. I was reminded of that recently while listening to a former Los Angeles Lakers trainer talk about what people get wrong about strength training. He said strength is simply about whether you can generate force. Power is how fast you can generate it. But endurance? Endurance is how long you can sustain that force over time. And that, he said, is what really changes people’s bodies and lives.
That idea hit me hard, because the same thing is true in organizational culture. So many workplaces spend their time trying to generate force—bursting with activities, events, campaigns, surveys, and quick motivational pushes. They lift heavy for a moment. They show power in short bursts. They update the website. They launch a committee. They host a lunch. And all of that is fine, but none of it gets you through a full year of cultural transformation. None of it builds endurance. If a team wants real, sustainable change—change that still matters in month twelve, not just month one—they need more than quick wins. They need the ability to keep going long after the excitement fades.
And let’s be honest: many people aren’t entering 2026 with a full tank of energy. Lyra’s 2025 State of Workforce Mental Health Report shows that 28 percent of U.S. workers named work-related stress and burnout as one of the top three factors harming their mental health last year. The biggest drivers? Excessive workloads, inadequate staffing, and lack of recognition. And HR leaders echoed the urgency—burnout rose 42 percent from the previous year. That means most organizations are already starting the year behind. People are tired. People are stretched. People don’t need more force. They need more endurance.
Endurance doesn’t show up in a moment; it shows up in a rhythm. It’s not in the kickoff meeting—it’s in the follow-through. It’s not in the elegantly worded mission statement—it’s in whether that mission actually guides behavior on a random Tuesday in August. Endurance is the discipline to live your values every day, not just when it’s convenient. It’s the commitment to ensure that every person on your team feels their somebodiness—feels seen, feels valued, and feels like their contributions matter—not just during Heritage Month or a team retreat, but all year long.
When organizations focus on endurance, things start to shift. Meetings become clearer. Priorities become simpler. Leaders make fewer promises and keep more of them. Teams stop swinging from initiative to initiative and start building a steady, sustainable culture. Endurance is what helps a company stay aligned with its mission when the workload spikes, when staffing is tight, when recognition slips, and when real life tests the values written on the wall.
That’s why, this year, I’m going to the gym of building better environments—but I’m going differently. I’m not lifting for force. I’m training for endurance. That means committing to clarity, consistency, and accountability. It means focusing not on the flash of cultural energy, but the long burn of cultural habits. It means walking with leaders and teams as they build systems—not slogans—that honor people’s humanity and support their work.
And here’s the hopeful part: endurance is a choice. It’s a discipline that organizations can develop. It shows up in how leaders set expectations, how teams communicate, how conflict is handled, how hiring decisions are made, and how recognition is given. Every workplace has the chance this year to trade quick fixes for steady progress, to swap momentum for maturity, and to build cultures that don’t just look good—but live good.
So as we step into 2026, my challenge to every leader and every team is simple: don’t just start strong. Stay strong. Build the endurance that will carry your culture through all twelve months, not just the first few weeks. Because when we train for endurance in our workplaces, we don’t just transform our organizations—we transform the people who show up in them every day.