Part 2: 6 Squiggly Careers Trends in 2026 – Redundancy, Accountability & Why Learning Matters More Than Promotions

Squiggly Careers

AmazingIf

Business, Management, Careers

4.9 • 838 Ratings

🗓️ 30 December 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

🦞 Join our Learn Like a Lobster Sprint: https://bit.ly/4oZzJ3F In this episode, Helen and Sarah share part two of their career trends and themes for 2026, focusing on what’s most likely to shape how you work, grow, and stay resilient in the year ahead. This conversation tackles some of the tougher (but very real) topics at work — from restructures and redundancies, to the tension between autonomy and accountability, and why learning needs to be recognised as real career progression. This episode is all about practical, proactive actions you can take now — so you feel more prepared, more confident, and more in control of your career, whatever 2026 brings. Whether you’re an individual contributor, a manager, or a leader, Helen and Sarah share questions, tools, and real examples to help you future-proof your career and your team. Episode 522 🦞 Pre-order Learn Like A Lobster 🇺🇸 PRH US – https://bit.ly/3KxTeBn 🇬🇧 Amazon UK – https://amzn.to/3KcRZaR ⏱️ Timestamps 00:00 Why career uncertainty is rising in 2026 05:16 Trend #4: Restructures and redundancies 08:10 What to do now so your future self thanks you 11:14 Staying resilient when things feel out of your control 13:01 Trend #5: Autonomy vs accountability at work 15:36 Why clarity matters more than control 16:34 A practical tool to improve accountability in teams 19:49 How to assess autonomy and accountability in your role 21:41 Trend #6: Learning that gets recognised and rewarded 23:05 Why learning should count as progression 26:14 Learning loudly and leading by example 28:30 Making learning visible in 2026 🎯 What You’ll Learn - How to prepare for restructures and redundancies without panicking - Why autonomy and accountability don’t have to be in conflict - How clarity creates better performance in teams - Why learning should be recognised as progression — not just promotion 📚 Resources Mentioned Free Redundancy Reset Toolkit: https://www.amazingif.com/redundancy-reset-2/ For questions about Squiggly Careers or to share feedback, please email helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com More ways to learn about Squiggly Careers: 📩 Download our free career tools: https://www.amazingif.com/toolkit/ 🏃‍♀️ Join the Skills x AI Sprint: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNQl9gsac8BXnWe2qoGuHkLKwsygjP_Ma&si=l7kODG3JpopH0Irz 📮 Get Squiggly Careers in Action in your inbox: https://bit.ly/SquigglyCareersInAction 📚 Read our books: The Squiggly Career and You Coach You: https://www.amazingif.com/books/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	We're really excited that we are back again with another Squiggly Careers Skill Sprint. Over 25,000 people have learnt with us on our sprint and we'd love you to come and learn with us in January. We are going to be learning like lobsters. And the reason this matters is because learning has never been more important at work, but it's also never felt harder to do. And we think that lobsters are the
0:22.5	role models that we've all been missing. So sign up for the sprint at squiggly sprint.com and you'll
0:27.4	join a community of people who all get to learn like a lobster and overcome those barriers
0:31.4	that are getting in the way of their growth. Hi, I'm Helen and I'm Sarah. And this is the Squiggly Careers podcast, a show where we talk about the ins, outs, ups and downs and work and give you some insights, ideas and tools to help you take control of your career development. And this is our very last episode of 2025. How are you feeling, Sarah, towards the end of the year in a word?
0:55.8	Well, it's not one word, but I think I said to you, On the Edge was...
0:59.8	And then I started singing that song.
1:01.5	You did.
1:02.4	What is that song?
1:03.7	I'm on the edge.
1:04.6	Is that from like...
1:05.6	I feel like it's a Lady Gaga thing.
1:07.5	Maybe.
1:09.5	But yes, that's how I would describe how I am feeling.
1:12.6	But we are recording part one and part two of this podcast together.
1:18.0	And I always feel better after a podcast recording.
1:20.4	Is it my thinking?
1:21.9	Is it that?
1:22.9	No.
1:23.4	I mean, the last episode, we did have some quite funny interruptions that made me... Like, laughing is always quite good. And it's funny. I often find when we record our podcast together, I will feel worse at the start, you know, because you and I are like, oh my God, we've not done all these things. And I don't know, you have to vent and, like, you and I will share, I don't know, some frustrations or things that we're finding hard. And then you sort of do the podcast and then you're like, I think I always just feel better after doing it. Me too. I hope people feel better after listening as well. I hope that kind of people get to the end and they're like, ah, I'm having a nightmare day or I don't know what to do about that. And then they get to the end of an episode. They're like, okay, well, at least I've spent 30 minutes and I feel a bit clearer and, you know, maybe. I wonder if anyone, I'd love to know, emailers if you do, Helen Sarah at squigglycareers.com. I wonder if anyone uses these episodes as like an excuse to escape over Christmas.
2:18.4	You know, when you're like...
2:19.1	The Christmas escape.
2:19.9	The Christmas escape.
	...

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