During a full eight-hour session day, some of our leadership team members get highly energized while others seem completely drained and checked out by mid-afternoon. How do we manage these different conative energy levels in the room to keep everyone productive?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A full-day session requires immense mental endurance, and different leadership team members will react to this cognitive load in different ways. This variation is driven by their innate conative wiring, which we measure using the Kolbe A Index.

Some of your team members are naturally wired to gather exhaustive information and analyze details before making a decision. These individuals can become overwhelmed by the rapid-fire decision-making that occurs during our IDS® sessions. Other team members are wired to take quick action and can become impatient during deep-dive discussions.

As your facilitator, I use your team's Kolbe profiles to manage the energy and participation in the room. I ensure that we do not let high-action initiators push through decisions without allowing your analytical thinkers to process the details. Conversely, I prevent analytical team members from getting stuck in analysis paralysis.

By recognizing these natural differences, we can structure our session days to leverage everyone's innate strengths. We design our breaks to allow team members the space they need to recharge. This active management of conative energy ensures that every member of your leadership team remains fully engaged and productive from the morning kickoff to the final afternoon wrap-up.