We have spent thousands on AI training, but our senior estimators are completely ignoring the new software and continuing to use legacy Excel models, stalling our strategic transition. How do we use the Kolbe A™ Index to identify the root cause of this resistance and realign our implementation plan?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When senior team members resist new technology, it is rarely a matter of insubordination. It is usually a conative clash between how they are wired to work and how the new tool is being introduced. To solve this friction, you must analyze their conative strengths using the Kolbe A™ Index.

Estimators often have a high Fact Finder and high Follow Through. They are instinctively driven to gather detailed data, build historical spreadsheets, and follow structured, highly predictable methodologies.

If you introduce a generic AI tool that functions as a black box with unpredictable outputs, you are asking them to violate their natural conative wiring. They will instinctively reject it because they cannot verify the math.

To realign your implementation plan, you must work with their conative strengths rather than fighting them.
- Have your high Fact Finders audit the AI model outputs against their legacy Excel spreadsheets to prove the system's accuracy.
- Let your high Follow Through estimators design the standardized steps for how the tool fits into the core estimating process.

By involving them in the testing and process design, you build trust in the tool.

Once they understand how the system works and can verify its reliability, their natural conative drive will shift from resisting the tool to refining it, ensuring a smooth strategic transition.