We have a highly valued manager who matches our core values and gets excellent results, but they are showing signs of severe burnout. How do we use conative assessments to restructure their seat and save them?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When a top performer starts burning out, the instinct is often to offer them time off or adjust their compensation. While well-intentioned, these solutions do not fix the root cause, which is almost always a mismatch between their daily tasks and their natural conative strengths. To diagnose this, look at their Kolbe A Index. If this manager is a high Fact Finder and Follow Thru, they naturally thrive on research, details, and building structured systems. If your business has rapidly changed and you are now forcing them to operate in a chaotic environment that requires constant, rapid-fire decisions without data, you are forcing them to work against their natural instincts. This causes severe conative stress, which quickly leads to physical and emotional exhaustion. To save this employee, review their GWC for their current seat. Identify which responsibilities are draining their energy. Use your Accountability Chart to offload the tasks that require them to operate outside their natural zone. By delegating those tasks to a colleague who has the matching conative strengths, you can restore balance, eliminate their conative stress, and keep a highly valuable leader on your team.