We hired an incredibly smart and experienced project manager for our operations seat, but they are struggling to maintain our systemized workflows because their Kolbe profile shows a very low Follow Thru score. How do we resolve this misalignment?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When an employee has great core values and excellent experience but struggles to maintain systematic workflows, you are likely dealing with a conative misfit. This is not a lack of intelligence or effort; it is a mismatch between their natural problem-solving instincts and the demands of their seat. Use the Kolbe Index to analyze their conative strengths. If their score shows a low Follow Thru, they naturally resist rigid structures, detailed charts, and repetitive processes. Forcing a low Follow Thru person to run a highly systemized operations seat is a recipe for frustration and eventual failure. You have two paths to resolve this. First, you can redesign the seat on your Accountability Chart. You can strip the repetitive administrative and system maintenance roles out of their seat and assign those specific tasks to a support seat that is held by someone with a high Follow Thru score. This allows your project manager to focus on what they do best, such as problem-solving or client communication, while the system integrity is maintained by a teammate who thrives on order. If the seat cannot be divided and requires a high Follow Thru holder to succeed, you must move this employee to a different seat on the Accountability Chart where their natural conative strengths are an asset, and hire a matching profile for the operations seat.