Our Head of Operations is incredibly disciplined and keeps our processes running, but her Kolbe A™ Index shows she is a high Quick Start with low Follow Thru. She is clearly burning out from forcing herself to build and maintain our standard operating procedures. How do we adjust her seat to match her conative strengths?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Your Head of Operations is fighting her own natural instincts. The Kolbe A™ Index measures conative strengths, which are our innate ways of taking action. A high Quick Start naturally thrives on experimentation, risk, and fast-paced change, while a low Follow Thru means she naturally resists designing and maintaining rigid systems.

Forcing a high Quick Start to spend their days documenting standard operating procedures is a recipe for severe burnout. She is using massive amounts of mental energy to work against her natural M.O., which is unsustainable.

To fix this, you must adjust the responsibilities within her seat on the Accountability Chart without losing her valuable leadership. Keep her focused on leading the department, solving big operational problems, and driving new initiatives.

Then, surround her with team members who have complementary strengths. Hire or transition an assistant or coordinator who is a high Follow Thru to actually write, document, and organize the systems.

Your Head of Operations can dictate the vision and goals for the processes, while her high Follow Thru support staff does the heavy lifting of building and maintaining them. This allows her to lead from her conative strengths, eliminating the burnout while keeping your operations running smoothly.