Elev-8 Performance

The fourth (and final) Gartner priority for CHROs in their 2026 report was/is "Address culture atrophy to power performance".

Important topic (albeit worded weirdly). But we’d argue something slightly different - a nuance, a build...

Culture matters, sure. But culture is slow.

Team climate is where performance actually lives.

Culture is the organisation’s long-term personality.

Climate is the daily experience of working in a team. It is the mood. And climate can change much faster.

It’s shaped by things like:
• how leaders behave in meetings
• how feedback is handled
• whether accountability exists
• how psychological safety shows up (or doesn't)
• what behaviours actually get rewarded

Change those things and performance shifts quickly.

Which is why at Elev-8 we often say "team climate eats company culture for breakfast."

If you want culture change… Start by changing the day-to-day behaviours leaders model inside teams.

That’s where actual, real leverage sits.

Gartner just published their 2026 priorities for CHROs....

Top of the list?? Harness AI to revolutionise HR.

Fair enough.

But there's an elephant in the room here... Most organisations don’t have a technology problem. They have a behaviour problem.

AI won’t 'magically' improve performance if:

• Leaders still skirt around tough conversations
• Teams still operate in silos
• Managers still default to JFDI over empowerment
• Accountability is a word on the wall vs. a lived behaviour

Technology can accelerate things, for sure... But what 'it' accelerates depends on the team climate you’ve already created.

Good climate → AI amplifies performance.
Poor climate → AI amplifies dysfunction.

That’s why we talk about 'Augmented Humans' at Elev-8.

AI should make great leaders even better, not try to replace the human capability organisations never properly built in the first place.

The future of HR isn’t human OR machine. It’s humans who know how to lead working brilliantly with machines.

Quick one on inclusive leadership.

We believe in it. Properly. Fundamentally.

For many reasons - definitely not as a slogan - and absolutely as a performance differentiator!

And if your eyes roll at anything “DE&I” right now (apparently its a trending topic for L&D in 2026) … that's your choice.

It may be a hot potato in some organisations with the political influence, pariticularly from the US, around it making it harder to talk about without people 'picking sides'.

So let’s strip the labels off and talk about one of our simple meanings / translations when we talk about inclusive leadership:

-people feel safe to challenge
-different perspectives get surfaced early
-decisions get better (and faster)
-teams don’t waste energy in “meeting after the meeting” mode

And in our mind, that’s team climate.

Which links to a phrase we first heard in a team that couldn’t move forward:

“100% support.”

Not “100% agreement”.
100% accountability once the call is made.

Healthy teams debate hard before the decision.
High-performing teams commit hard after it.
Toxic teams nod… then quietly undermine later.

And here’s the nuance - you only get full commitment when people feel safe to disagree first.

Try this:

The 4C Close - 60 seconds at the end of any decision:

1. Challenge: “What have we not said that needs saying?”
2. Call: “What’s the decision, in one sentence?”
3. Commit: “What does 100% support look like in behaviour this week?” (name 2 actions)
4. Course-correct: “What signal/data would make us revisit?”

You get candour and momentum. Inclusion and ex*****on.

Call it inclusive leadership, call it performance hygiene ... either way, it’s worth championing. No judgement on labels. Big judgement on outcomes. 💪