Capacity

After a period of steady growth, there has been a notable decline in the number of leaders who feel they have enough project professionals for effective project delivery over the next five years. The net ‘agree’ rate plummeted from 83% in October 2025 to 64% in January, whilst the net ‘disagree’ rate almost doubled between October 2025 and January 2026, highlighting that a rising number of business leaders are becoming concerned about project professional shortages.

The decline may suggest that emerging pressures are beginning to impact the workforce for project delivery. These may include technological upheaval (specifically the rise and integration of AI into the workforce), which has resulted in project roles and the skills required evolving. Furthermore, the retiring workforce is having a knock-on effect to this issue, as senior expertise is lost and creating a knowledge gape which cannot be immediately filled by junior professionals. These factors are widening the existing skills gap.

A more positive interpretation, however, could be that businesses that are reassessing long-term plans are more aware of the need to strengthen their capacity for delivering projects.

How easy or difficult is your organisation currently finding it to recruit project professionals with the right skills? (Net results)

[Diagram]

Throughout 2025, the trendline for this data was on a positive trajectory. The percentage of those finding it easy to recruit project professionals with the right skills steadily increased, while those finding it difficult decreased. However, the first results of 2026 show a significant fall in those finding it easy, and a noticeable increase in those finding it difficult. The drop from October 2025 to January 2026 is particularly notable, suggesting there has been a serious increase in recruitment difficulty.

Recruiting project professionals with the right skills is vital for project success, which in turn enables strategic success. This data offers a potential wider picture of recruitment in the industry: the operating environment has become so volatile and unpredictable that many business leaders are finding it difficult to know what skills are needed for success.

What skill, if any, do you currently regard as most important for project professionals?

Overall

 Most-chosen responses across the year

By sector

Most-chosen answers by industry sector

*Sectors with a minimum of 20 survey respondents per quarter

Most-chosen responses `by quarter in 2025/26

Time management has remained the most valued skill for project professionals across both years, according to senior leaders. Yet there has been a notable change in the rankings of the secondary skill, with adaptability/flexibility usurping risk management. This could indicate that the ability to pivot and respond to challenges is now viewed as more important than simply mitigating predicted risks. This may even reflect the volatile project environment that business leaders are operating in. It should be noted, however, that risk management remains highly valued as a skill.

In January 2026, for the first time, data literacy was cited as the most important skill for project professionals. This reflects the role of AI and its increasing importance in the workplace (In 2023, just 36% of project professionals said their organisation was using AI in projects. By autumn of 2025, that had almost doubled to 70%).

“‘Data literacy is now a core leadership capability for project managers. As data volumes grow, value depends not on access to information, but on the ability to translate accurate data into timely, actionable insight.

“Project managers uniquely influence data quality at the source - what is measured, how it is interpreted, and what reaches decision-makers. Business leaders value this because decision quality determines delivery outcomes, risk exposure, and realised business value.”

Rob Windle, Managing Director of technology company Focus HQ