Your 2026 Leadership Roadmap: Plan the Year That Moves Your Career Forward

Most of us start the year full of good intentions, but by February, the meetings, the emergencies, the team issues, they've taken over. Suddenly, your career is something that just happens to you, not this year, not in 2026. Today, we're building the leadership roadmap that puts you back in the driver's seat

of your career, because here's the truth. Your calendar won't create clarity for you. Your company won't magically prioritize your development and hoping that this year's things change is not a leadership strategy or a career strategy.

If there's one thing I've seen again and again with the extraordinary women I coach, whether they're directors, senior ICs, emerging leaders or sitting in the C-suite or the CEO suite already, it's this. Without a clear leadership roadmap, the year becomes reactive.

With a clear leadership roadmap, the year becomes transformational. So if you ended 2025 feeling overworked and under-recognized, stuck in execution instead of growth, constantly proving your worth but not moving up and maybe being the only woman in the room carrying more emotional labor than your title reflects,

or just quietly frustrated that you should be further along. You are exactly who this episode of Leading Woman in Tech is for. Because today isn't about resolutions, it's not about setting 47 goals, you'll forget by March. And it's definitely not about pushing yourself harder. You've done enough of that. Let's stop that. This is about power, clarity,

intention and designing a year that supports the leader you're becoming, not the role you've outgrown. And when I say leader you're becoming, that might be a new job, but it might be just becoming a better leader in the role you're in. Sometimes I work with CEOs just to help them become better. They've already reached that top level, but it's about really embracing their

leadership and being the person who is ready for that next step. If you listen to my last solo episode of 2025 on Mindset, you've already started laying the foundation for this because Mindset is what opens the door and a roadmap is what moves you through that door. So today I'm going to walk you through a step by step simple 2026 leadership roadmap exercise. It's super simple. It's the

same process I use inside my coaching programs to help women shift from invisible to influential, from overwhelm to in control and from plateaued to promotable. So by the end of this episode, you're going to have a clear North Star for 2026, a high focus area to develop that will actually move your career forward. The habits, the boundaries that are going to protect your energy

and a simple structure plan for how to grow as a leader this year intentionally, strategically, sustainably. We're here for all of it. No more hoping the year is going to be different. We're making it different. So let's dive on in. Welcome to the Leading Women in Tech podcast, the show that celebrates women in technology

leadership. I'm your host, Toni Collis, and this podcast is the result of my passion for building Better Tech by diversifying the leadership of the technology sector. Join me on this journey as I discuss all things leadership, what it takes to be innovative, breaking through the the glass ceiling, be a great leader, and how to navigate the unique experiences we face

as women in tech. So sit back, grab your headphones, and get ready to be inspired to become a better leader. Before we map out your 2026 leadership roadmap, we need to use something that most of us skip. And it's one of the biggest reasons they repeat the same career patterns year

after year. We need to look back now. This is not about judging yourself. It's not about reliving the stress. I'm not here for that. But we need to look back to extract data. Leadership, great leaders always self reflect and that leadership self reflection that's going to shape the decisions you make moving forward. So this is not about judgment. It's about curiosity. It's about

interest. It's about what went well, what didn't go well, what would I do differently next time? I love those three questions. Great leaders ask those every day. We're going to ask it on a bigger scope in terms of the whole of last year.

So when you take a deep breath, maybe grab your notebook and walk through this quick audit with me. So here's some questions to ask yourself. And by all means, pause as you go, listen to the question.

I quite often have some prompts after the question as well. Pause the episode. Write down what you think, right? This episode is doing a whole plan in a few minutes and really you need a bit longer than that.

So here we go. Here are the questions. What actually worked in 2025? Where did you lead well? What did you feel proud of? Where did you create momentum? That's the first question. What actually worked for you last year? Question number two, what drained you? Which projects, people, habits, expectations? What pulled you into burnout patterns? And if you are

overextended, this one is especially for you. So what drained you last year? Question Question number three, what did you learn about yourself as a leader last year? Where did you show confidence? Where did you have self-doubt sneaking in?

Where did your leadership mindset shift? That's question number three. And question number four, where did you grow last year? Where did you disappear instead of growing last year?

If you are one of those invisible leaders, this is a big moment for you. If you have been the leader but you've not been recognized, what happened there? Where did you hold back? What was in your control around that everybody else's control?

Where did you allow yourself to be overlooked? That is you about taking agency. This is not telling you that you've done something wrong. Take agency here.

Where do you allow yourself to be overlooked because it felt easier in that moment? That doesn't mean you're gonna necessarily do something different, but let's just be honest

with where did you go? I'm just gonna allow that to go because it's easier than pushing.