Engagement surveys measure sentiment — how people feel about their work and environment. CQ measures behavior under pressure — Initiative, Follow-Through, and Learnability. Sentiment is worth tracking, but it doesn’t tell you who follows through when it’s hard. A team can score high on engagement and still miss deadlines and dodge ownership. A CQ result reflects observed behavior during a defined window and is valid for twelve months. Anyone assessed receives their own result and may request re-assessment at any time.
Global engagement has fallen for three straight years while the economy kept growing. If engagement scores captured what actually drives results, that gap couldn’t persist. It can — because feeling engaged and behaving in ways that deliver are different things. Use engagement to improve your environment. See the 2026 State of Engagement →
The point isn’t to abandon engagement surveys. It’s to stop asking a sentiment tool to answer a behavioral question.
See how a Prove cycle scores the behaviors behind follow-through — so you know where to coach and build over the next cycle.
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