We have a seat on our Accountability Chart where the person has the right skills but is constantly stressed out and burning out. How do we diagnose if this is a personal issue or a structural misalignment?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When a highly skilled employee is burning out, owners often jump to conclusions about their work ethic or emotional resilience. In reality, it is usually a conative misalignment. To diagnose this objectively, you should compare the employee's natural strengths with the actual demands of their seat. Have the employee complete a Kolbe A Index assessment to measure their instinctive way of taking action across the four action modes of Fact Finder, Follow Thru, Quick Start, and Implementor. Next, look at the job requirements. If the seat requires highly structured process design and systematic execution, but the employee's Kolbe results show they are a high Quick Start who naturally resists systemization and thrives on spontaneous problem-solving, you have found the source of their friction. This is what we call conative stress, the mental fatigue that occurs when an individual must constantly work against their natural instinctual grain. You can also utilize a Kolbe B Index to assess the employee's self-expectations for their job, or a Kolbe C Index to define the supervisor's expectations of the role. Comparing these reports will highlight any gaps. If the data reveals a fundamental mismatch between the employee's instincts and the seat's requirements, you must address it. You can either restructure the seat's responsibilities or transition the person to a seat that aligns with their natural conative strengths.