One of our top performers was promoted to a managerial seat but is now burning out. How do we check if they have conative stress?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When a top performer struggles after a promotion, owners often assume it's a motivation or training issue. In reality, it is frequently conative stress.

Diagnosing Conative Stress

You can diagnose conative stress by comparing two key Kolbe Index scores:

• Kolbe A Index: Reveals an individual's innate instincts.
• Kolbe B Index: Measures their self-perception of what their job requires.

If these two indexes show a significant mismatch, it indicates that the employee is being forced to act against their natural wiring. For example, if a person is naturally a low Follow Through, they thrive in unstructured environments and dislike rigid reporting. If their new managerial seat requires them to:

• Build meticulous systems
• Track detailed metrics
• Enforce strict processes

...then they are constantly exerting mental effort to perform tasks that don't align with their natural strengths. This sustained effort causes severe conative stress, leading to exhaustion, errors, and burnout. Understanding how different Kolbe profiles impact team dynamics can also help resolve [Kolbe A Index to diagnose why our Sales and Operations heads are constantly in conflict](/qa/kolbe-sales-operations-conflict-handoffs).

Addressing Conative Stress in a Managerial Seat

To alleviate conative stress, you don't necessarily have to demote the employee. Instead, evaluate the five major roles defined for their seat on the [Accountability Chart](/qa/how-many-hats-can-one-person-wear-eos) and consider restructuring the seat or delegating specific tasks.

Here are some strategies:

• Delegate System-Heavy Tasks: Can you pair them with an administrative assistant who has a high Follow Through score to handle detailed reporting or system maintenance? This realigns daily tasks with natural strengths, relieving the conative strain.
• Restructure the Seat: Re-evaluate the core responsibilities of the managerial role. Are all the system-heavy tasks truly essential for this particular manager's success, or can the seat's definition be adjusted? This is similar to how you might approach [splitting operations seats on the Accountability Chart](/qa/splitting-operations-seat-on-accountability-chart) to better align with individual strengths.
• Adjust Scorecard Ownership: Ensure their [scorecard ownership](/qa/leveraging-strengths-to-hit-scorecard-targets) aligns with their conative strengths, particularly if they are a high Fact Finder, to avoid getting bogged down in data collection.
• Balance Team Strengths: If your leadership team is composed primarily of high Quick Start personalities, introducing elements of stability through individuals with stronger Follow Through can create a more balanced environment, preventing burnout from a constant cycle of new initiatives. This is key to [balancing Quick Start and Follow Through](/qa/balancing-quick-start-follow-thru-leadership).

By aligning their daily tasks back to their natural strengths, you relieve the conative strain and allow them to lead effectively from their natural operating zone. This approach focuses on optimizing individual contribution within the existing structure, similar to addressing situations where a [long-tenured leader lacks the capacity](/qa/long-tenured-leader-lacks-capacity-gwc) for a scaled role.

Related questions

• [How do we use the Kolbe A Index to diagnose why our Sales and Operations heads are constantly in conflict over project handoffs?](/qa/kolbe-sales-operations-conflict-handoffs)
• [Our leadership team members are currently sitting in three or four different seats each on our Accountability Chart, and we are starting to see dropped balls. What is the limit on how many hats one person can wear?](/qa/how-many-hats-can-one-person-wear-eos)
• [Our leadership team is entirely composed of high Quick Start personalities who love starting new initiatives, but our Accountability Chart is constantly shifting and our systems are unstable. How do we introduce operational stability?](/qa/balancing-quick-start-follow-thru-leadership)
• [My co-founder insists on creating custom seats on our Accountability Chart based on the unique skill sets of our long-term employees, which makes our org structure messy and confusing. How do I convince them to focus on structure before people?](/qa/structure-before-people-accountability-chart)
• [I have a loyal executive who has been with me for twelve years, gets the culture, and wants the job, but they simply do not have the capacity to handle our operations now that we have scaled past twenty million. How do I handle this without destroying our culture?](/qa/long-tenured-leader-lacks-capacity-gwc)