Where Next? Entering 2026 with clarity, intention and a guiding framework
Like many of you, I’ve spent the final stretch of this year willing it to end— as if when the clock strikes midnight on 31 December, something will shift, the weight will lift, and the grinding uncertainty will loosen its grip.
It has been a year marked by disappointment. A year of political regression, fractured movements, shrinking budgets and exhausting uncertainty. A year where the social sector—the ecosystem many of us have dedicated our lives to—has been in recession: not just financially, but emotionally, spiritually, and imaginatively. For many it has felt like holding the line rather than moving it.
Many have turned inward this year as an act of survival to recover, recalibrate, re-strategise and generally bide time, preserving energy as the world figures its shit out.
People are exploring whole new paths, and wondering if the career they built was ever really the one they wanted — or whether it simply evolved around them, pulling them further and further away from other passions, other parts of themselves. I’ve had countless conversations with leaders, activists, founders, creatives, practitioners, and friends who are wrestling with the same questions:
What do I do now? Where do we go from here?
For me— and for Comotion—this has been the year that forced us to make sense of everything we’ve witnessed, everything we’ve built, and everything we believe about how change actually happens. In the face of seismic shifts in the social, political and funding landscape, we returned to our purpose—both personal (as a team of activists at heart) and organisational (to turn passion and purpose into social change) —and asked ourselves: What world are we trying to build, what role do we play in getting there, and how does the work evolve so that progress still happens, even as the conditions around us change?
That process led us to distil everything we’ve learned into a framework that doesn’t rely on who has the biggest budget or the loudest platform, but one that anyone—across any industry, role, or level of influence—can use to play an active, intentional role in driving social progress.
Making it make sense
Over the past decade, we’ve worked in contexts that have stretched across cultures, crises, political divides, philanthropic shifts, gender justice movements, global health battles, and DEI debates. Across all of them we have seen the same patterns repeat—in boardrooms, community meetings, organising spaces, and across countries.
We’ve seen well-intentioned leaders stay silent because of the politics around speaking up
We’ve seen organisations with huge influence unable to translate their values into action.
We’ve seen individuals who care deeply, scared to use their voice for fear of getting it wrong.
And we’ve seen the opposite too—moments where a leader steps up; where a partnership shifted the course of a campaign; where small shifts in policy and practice made significant change in an organisation in ways strategy alone never could.
Somewhere inside this messiness, a pattern formed.
A logic. A framework. A way to describe the gap we’ve been helping people close for years—the gap between intention and impact.
This year, we finally named it.
Introducing: The 5Ps of Social Change
The 5P Framework is a distillation of everything we have learned from working across movements, philanthropy, policy, advocacy, business, organising and community.
The 5Ps answer a simple question:
How do people and organisations move from wanting to make a difference to actually doing it?
Purpose – your grounding. The “why this, why now” that steadies you when structures fail. Power – the influence you already hold, mapped honestly and used deliberately. Presence – how you show up, speak up, and build trust in a world saturated with noise. Partnerships – the relationships that expand your impact because no one changes the world alone. Practice – the daily habits, decisions, and behaviours that make social change real, sustained, and as natural and integrated into daily life as health consciousness and financial planning.
Individually, they are the forces we all navigate in our personal and professional lives—whether we’ve named them or not.Together, they’re a roadmap for shaping your impact with clarity, confidence and intention.
They’ve been sitting beneath our work for years. This year gave us the urgency and honesty to articulate them clearly.
Why This Matters for 2026
2025 asked a lot of us. It stretched our sense of certainty and forced many of us to question where we stand and what we’re here to do.
As we move into 2026, if we accept that the world around us is not going to get any easier, the opportunity for us all is in becoming clearer, more grounded and intentional in how we move through it. A call for us all:
- To figure out our purpose, anchoring us when the world feels unstable.
- To look honestly at the influence we each hold, even in small pockets of our lives.
- To show up with clarity and confidence in ways and spaces that feel authentic to who we are.
- To surround ourselves with relationships that invigorate us and expand what’s possible.
- To determine daily practices that turn actions into habits, and intention into impact.
No matter your job title. No matter your sector.
The 5Ps are for you.
And as we step into 2026, the 5Ps will sit at the heart of everything Comotion offers—from our consulting work to our campaigns to our individual learning programmes. They are our theory of change made visible, shareable and practical.
Where Next?
I am sharing a video that I love, which asks a simple question: What is it that you desire? And speaks to what happens if you follow it, master it, and offer it to the world.
As this year closes, I hope you give yourself permission to ask that question too.
To redraw your path with intention.
To step into the work that energises you rather than depletes you.
To let your purpose, power, presence, partnerships and practice guide you into the year ahead.
We’ll meet you there.
— Rachel
