Our sales director has incredible product knowledge but is completely resistant to our new automated CRM pipeline updates. Their Kolbe score reveals a very high Follow Thru but almost zero Quickstart. How do we address this Right Person, Right Seat issue when our sales systems are changing weekly?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When a key leader resists operational upgrades, it is easy to assume they have an attitude problem. However, this resistance is often a conative clash, meaning their natural way of solving problems is misaligned with the new demands of their seat.

Your sales director has a high follow thru and low quickstart score. This means they naturally thrive on stability, order, and structured systems that do not change. In the past, this was a massive strength. But now, with your sales systems and automated CRM pipelines changing weekly, their natural instinct is to resist because the constant change causes them cognitive drag and exhaustion.

You must address this right-person-right-seat issue before it stalls your revenue growth. First, recognize that you cannot change their Kolbe profile. It is a stable, unchanging measure of how they take action.

You have two choices. You can adjust the roles of their seat to shield them from the constant system updates, perhaps by assigning the CRM system administration role to an operations seat or an AI specialist. This allows your sales director to focus entirely on what they do best: building relationships and closing deals.

If that is not possible, you must realize that the seat has evolved into a role that requires a high quickstart individual who thrives in a fast-changing environment. If the seat requires constant system pivots, your sales director no longer fits the seat, and you must transition them.