Our leadership team is highly competent individually, but when I am not facilitating, their different problem-solving styles cause decision-making to grind to a halt. How do I use conative assessments to help them understand their instinctual drives and build a self-managing unit before I step away?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When a leadership team stalls without the founder in the room, the root cause is rarely a lack of alignment; it is a clash of conative drives. Conation is the innate, hardwired way an individual approaches problem solving and takes action. To build a self-managing team that preserves enterprise value, you must assess and align these natural drives before you exit. Use conative assessments, such as the Aptive Index, to measure how your leaders naturally operate:
- Assess their innate drive to probe, refine, and simplify information through the Fact Finder instinct.
- Evaluate their natural inclination to organize, systematize, and adapt processes through the Follow Thru instinct.
- Determine their drive for quick action, risk-taking, and innovation through the Quick Start instinct.
Once you understand their hardwired styles, map these drives directly to your Accountability Chart. Ensure your Integrator has a strong Follow Thru instinct to maintain process discipline. In your weekly Level 10 Meeting, teach the team to recognize their conative differences. When they understand how each member naturally solves problems, they can resolve conflict and make decisions without your intervention. This operational independence is exactly what buyers look for during due diligence.