This year we’ve seen Adaptability transform from a buzzword into a measurable business imperative. From AI disruption to workforce upheaval, 2025 made one thing crystal clear: organizations that can’t adapt won’t survive.
As we explored throughout the year, CEOs increasingly recognize that agility and Adaptability have become the most important currency for business success. Yet many companies still struggle to pivot when circumstances shift. Meanwhile, employee engagement remains critically low, with disengagement costing businesses trillions globally in lost productivity.
The disconnect was striking. Leaders recognized they needed adaptable teams but lacked systematic ways to build that capability. That’s where our work in 2025 became essential.
The 4Es Framework: Our Core Contribution
This year, we introduced the 4Es Framework, a comprehensive system for understanding and optimizing the interconnected elements that drive organizational performance. Like a well-maintained vehicle, all four components must work in harmony:
- Energy Management (measured through DISC) reveals how people show up behaviorally and whether they’re operating in energizing natural states or draining adapted modes.
- Engagement Activation (measured through Motivators – uncovers what truly drives people: economic reward, knowledge pursuit, power and autonomy, aesthetic harmony, structure and tradition, or humanitarian impact.
- Event Response (measured through AQ) assesses how individuals and teams navigate change, uncertainty, and disruption i.e. the organizational “suspension system” that absorbs shocks.
- Emotional Regulation (measured through EQ) examines how people manage emotions and interpersonal dynamics under pressure; in essence, the steering system that keeps everyone on course.
When these four elements align, organizations don’t just survive change, they accelerate through it. But when even one breaks down, the entire system suffers.
Making the Invisible Visible: The True Cost of Disengagement
We spent considerable time this year quantifying hidden losses that leaders couldn’t ignore. Our Cost of Disengagement Formula demonstrated that even a mid-sized company with 100 employees could be losing $840,000 or more annually in lost productivity, and that’s not counting turnover costs, rework, or innovation delays.
We introduced the Employee Engagement Lifecycle, showing how people move from “Liftoff” (motivated but learning) to “Peak Orbit” (competent and motivated) to the “Danger Zone” (skilled but disengaged) and finally “Crash and Burn” (checked out completely). The breakthrough insight: most organizations obsess over the Crash and Burn quadrant while ignoring the enormous ongoing cost of the Danger Zone, where competent people are quietly coasting and at risk.
We also explored burnout’s opposite: Boreout. While burnout stems from too much challenge, Boreout emerges from too little. When growth opportunities disappear and work becomes monotonous, even high performers disengage. They’re not exhausted; they’re stagnant. And stagnation costs just as much as overwhelm. We highlighted the growing phenomenon of “job hugging“ characterized by employees who stay physically present but mentally checked out, clinging to stability while their engagement evaporates. Unlike burnout, job hugging is often reversible when caught early with the right interventions.
Adoption vs. Adaptation: A Critical Distinction
One of our most important contributions to the Adaptability discussion was distinguishing between adoption and adaptation:
- Adoption is akin to compliance: employees going through the motions of new systems or processes. Organizations mistake high adoption rates for success, measuring training completions and system logins instead of impact and effectiveness.
- Adaptation is about evolving: truly accepting and acting in response to change, building capability from it, and emerging stronger. As CEO Krista Sheets noted, “Adaptability is transformational—it’s about internalizing change, connecting the dots, and using the experience as a springboard to thrive in new conditions“.
This matters enormously. Organizations can spend millions on change initiatives that achieve perfect adoption rates but zero lasting impact because people never truly adapted.
When the Organization Is the Problem
Perhaps our most critical message: before assuming employees aren’t a good fit, leaders must examine whether the environment supports success.
The AQ Environment dimension measures five critical factors: Company Support, Emotional Health, Team Support, Work Environment, and Work Stress. These organizational conditions either fuel or suffocate individual Adaptability.
When good people struggle, it’s often because the system is working against them. A high-performing analyst forced into constant firefighting will burn out. A creative innovator in an environment that punishes experimentation will shut down. The solution isn’t replacing the person, it’s fixing the conditions.
HR’s Evolution: Strategic Fleet Manager
We challenged HR professionals to rethink their role; moving from back-office administrators to strategic fleet managers who actively optimize organizational human systems through data-driven insights.
With access to DISC, Motivators, AQ, and EQ assessments, HR has unprecedented diagnostic capability. Like a master mechanic with sophisticated tools, HR can identify friction points, predict performance risks, and design interventions before problems escalate.
This shift transforms HR from a transactional, reactive function to a proactive, strategic one, which can help organizations anticipate challenges and build resilience before cracks appear.
Five Critical Questions for Leaders
We challenged leaders to assess whether they’re inadvertently stifling the very Adaptability they claim to want:
- Are we constantly putting out fires instead of leading proactively?
- Do our people fear failure and default to conservative strategies?
- Do we struggle to get people on board with new initiatives?
- Does every initiative hit roadblocks?
- Are people leaving, or worse, staying but checking out?
Each question points to measurable, addressable root causes in one or more of the 4Es.
Understanding Why Employees Disengage
We provided a comprehensive framework for understanding the root causes of disengagement. The 4Es assessments (DISC, Motivators, AQ, and EQ) work together as a diagnostic dashboard for workforce health, revealing where Energy is draining, Engagement is deactivating, Event Response is breaking down, or Emotional Regulation is failing.
2025 Milestones
Pivot Point Documentary: CEO Krista Sheets served as both featured contributor and executive producer for Pivot Point: Navigating Work in the Age of Acceleration, presented by AQai. This groundbreaking film, now streaming on YouTube, explores how AI and automation are reshaping work and why Adaptability Intelligence has become essential.
Candid Convos Podcast: Krista discussed her nearly three decades helping organizations unlock their competitive advantage through people development, her philosophy of Return on People™, and why Adaptability Intelligence is more critical than ever.
AQ Certification Partnership: As the Certification Delivery Training Partner for AQai, we expanded our ability to equip HR professionals, coaches, and organizational leaders with tools to apply Adaptability Intelligence at scale.
Looking Ahead to 2026
As we enter 2026, several forces will shape the Adaptability Intelligence landscape:
- AI Acceleration: Organizations face a choice: help people adapt and complement AI capabilities, or watch talent become obsolete and anxious. Winners will invest in uniquely human skills: creativity, empathy, complex problem-solving, and Adaptability skills.
- Multigenerational Dynamics: With five generations in the workplace, understanding different adaptation styles becomes critical. Success requires honoring these differences while building shared Adaptability capacity.
- Economic Uncertainty: Whether facing recession, inflation, or geopolitical instability, organizations must develop the capacity to pivot quickly without losing core talent or burning people out.
- Measurement Mandate: Leaders increasingly demand ROI on people investments. Adaptability Intelligence offers what traditional engagement surveys can’t: predictive insights, targeted interventions, and measurable outcomes.
Going forward, we anticipate three major trends:
- Adaptability as Core Competency: Like digital literacy, Adaptability Intelligence will become a non-negotiable baseline skill. Job descriptions will explicitly seek high-AQ candidates. Performance reviews will evaluate adaptation capacity.
- Preventative Workforce Management: Organizations will shift from reactive crisis management to proactive system optimization, investing in regular diagnostics and early interventions.
- Integration of the 4Es: Leaders will recognize Energy, Engagement, Event Response, and Emotional Regulation as interconnected systems requiring holistic management.
Our Commitment
As we move into 2026, Competitive Edge remains committed to:
- Expanding AQ Certification programs
- Deepening the 4Es Framework through research and application
- Building practitioner communities for shared learning
- Advancing thought leadership on the future of work
- Supporting organizational transformation through Adaptability
The Bottom Line
2025 taught us that Adaptability isn’t a personality trait; it’s a vital and buildable skill. The organizations that will thrive aren’t those with the most sophisticated technology or the best perks. They’re the ones that understand how to systematically build adaptable, engaged, resilient workforces.
They measure Energy, activate Engagement, strengthen Event Response, and support Emotional Regulation, treating them not as separate initiatives but as an integrated system.
They understand that disengagement and burnout aren’t inevitable. They’re measurable, preventable, and when caught early, reversible.
Most importantly, they recognize that in an era where change is the only constant, Adaptability Intelligence is the ultimate competitive advantage.
As we enter 2026, we remain committed to helping organizations build that advantage—one assessment, one insight, one adapted team at a time.
Ready to build a more adaptable organization in 2026?
- Explore our AQ Adaptability Certification
- Discover the 4Es Framework
- Calculate your Cost of Disengagement
- Watch the Pivot Point Documentary
- Contact us to learn how behavioral assessments can transform your workforce strategy
Here’s to a year of adaptation, growth, and thriving through all that 2026 brings!