Our Head of Customer Success is a great culture fit and passes the gets it and wants it tests, but her Kolbe score shows she has a very low Follow Thru and high Quick Start. She keeps starting new client retention initiatives but never completes them. Is this a GWC capacity issue, or can we solve this by restructuring her seat?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When an employee is a great culture fit and passes the gets it and wants it tests, but fails on execution, you are likely facing a conative misalignment rather than a lack of effort. In this case, your Head of Customer Success has a high Quick Start but very low Follow Thru on her Kolbe profile. She is naturally wired to brainstorm and launch new ideas, but she lacks the instinct to build systems to sustain them.

Do not fire her, and do not try to force her to change her innate wiring. Kolbe strengths are stable and unchanging over time. Instead, you need to restructure how that seat is supported on your Accountability Chart.

You have two options. First, you can redefine the roles of her seat to focus strictly on relationship building, client retention strategy, and high-level problem solving, which leverage her Quick Start. Then, hire or promote an execution-focused specialist with high Follow Thru to sit directly beneath her and handle the tracking, documentation, and system maintenance.

Second, if you cannot afford another hire, you must help her structure her week. Force her to partner with an operations team member who has high Follow Thru to build the processes she initiates. Do not let her start a new project until the previous one is fully documented and running smoothly. Adjust the structure to fit the human wiring.