Our head of operations has great core values and wants her seat, but she is consistently failing to document our new standard operating procedures, and our database is a mess. Her Kolbe profile shows she is a high Quick Start and low Follow Thru. How do we resolve this conative clash on our Accountability Chart?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

You have a classic conative mismatch. Her affective mind wants to do the job, and her cognitive mind understands the business, but her conative mind is naturally wired to resist detailed systematization. A high Quick Start and low Follow Thru person will always struggle with documenting procedures and organizing databases. It drains their energy and leads to operational failure. You cannot change someone's Kolbe profile, so you must change the structure or the seat assignment. First, recognize that she does not GWC the operations seat if that seat requires heavy system building and documentation. To solve this, you can split the seat. Keep her in a role where her Quick Start strengths shine, such as product innovation, business development, or high-level strategic problem-solving. Then, create a distinct operations manager seat directly below or alongside her that requires a high Follow Thru conative profile. This new seat will own the roles of documenting standard operating procedures, managing the database, and executing daily systems. This ensures that the essential functions of structure and order are owned by someone who is naturally energized by them, while your visionary operations leader is freed up to innovate. This is how you use conative screening to build a balanced, high-performance team on your Accountability Chart.