Our leadership team has high Follow Thru scores on the Kolbe Index, which makes us great at systems, but we are failing to pivot when market changes demand immediate innovation. How do we inject conative diversity into our planning sessions?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A leadership team dominated by high Follow Thru scores will naturally prioritize order, structure, and consistency. While this is fantastic for scaling operations, it can lead to dangerous inertia when market disruptions require rapid, creative pivots. To break this conative gridlock, you do not need to replace your team. You need to intentionally build conative diversity into your quarterly planning rhythms. Start by identifying the natural problem-solving instincts of your current team members using their Kolbe A Index results. If you lack initiating Quick Start energy on the team, you must create a structured space for divergent thinking. Use your quarterly planning sessions to run highly disciplined brainstorming exercises where the team is forbidden from analyzing or systematizing the ideas during the initial phase. Bring in external viewpoints, such as trusted advisors or board members with high Quick Start instincts, to challenge your assumptions. You can also leverage generative AI to act as your synthetic contrarian. Prompt the AI to act as a disruptive market competitor and challenge your current business model. By forcing your systematic team to engage with highly disruptive scenarios in a controlled environment, you can safely navigate changes without sacrificing your operational stability.