Q1 2026 didn't feel like a normal quarter. AI adoption accelerated. Org structures flattened. New terms entered the workplace like "workslop", "burn-on" and "coffee-badging". Underneath all of this sits the same pattern: organizations making big moves without a plan behind them. The Flattening of Middle Management Gartner's 2024 predictions report estimated that by the end of 2026, 20% of organizations will use #AI to flatten their structures and cut more than half of their m