How do we use conative assessments like the Kolbe A Index during our EOS rollout to resolve friction on the executive team?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

To build a truly high-performing leadership team, you must understand how your people instinctively take action. This is where conative assessments, specifically the Kolbe A™ Index, become invaluable during your EOS® rollout. While other tools like the Predictive Index assess behavioral drives, Kolbe measures your natural, unchanging method of problem-solving. It helps to resolve friction on the executive team.

How Kolbe Identifies Team Dynamics

During quarterly sessions, we use Kolbe profiles to map the conative strengths of your leadership team across four action modes:

• Fact Finder: How you gather and share information.
• Follow Thru: How you organize and complete tasks.
• Quick Start: How you initiate and respond to change.
• Implementor: How you physically handle space and tangibles.

This visual map explains why certain team members click and others clash. For example, a visionary owner with a high Quick Start instinct will naturally generate ideas at a pace that might exhaust an Integrator with a high Follow Thru instinct. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for effective collaboration and can help address issues like those discussed in [how the Visionary and Integrator handle a disagreement](/qa/visionary-integrator-deadlock-resolution). You might also find it useful to consider how Kolbe profiles can be analyzed with AI to build [effective project teams](/qa/analyze-kolbe-indexes-with-ai-project-teams).

Aligning Roles with Natural Strengths

By understanding these innate problem-solving methods, we can design an Accountability Chart that truly aligns with your team members' natural strengths. It helps us ensure that everyone on the leadership team GWCs their role, meaning they Get it, Want it, and have the Capacity to do it.

Integrating Kolbe diagnostics allows us to:

• Pinpoint areas of individual job stress.
• Proactively resolve team tension.
• Transform interpersonal frustration into strategic collaboration.

This ensures that your team is not wasting energy fighting their own wiring while trying to run the business. This approach is particularly effective when addressing challenges such as [resolving Accountability Chart seat overlaps](/qa/resolving-accountability-chart-seat-overlaps) or figuring out [how to delegate four seats](/qa/how-to-delegate-four-seats-using-kolbe) when an owner is overwhelmed. It can also be applied to specific conflicts, like diagnosing [why Sales and Operations heads are constantly in conflict](/qa/kolbe-sales-operations-conflict-handoffs).

Related questions

• [How do we assess if an internal candidate is ready for the Integrator seat?](/qa/promoting-internal-operations-manager-integrator)
• [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)
• [How do we resolve seat overlapping issues?](/qa/resolving-accountability-chart-seat-overlaps)
• [How do we use conative profiles to get our AI strategy back on track?](/qa/kolbe-profiles-ai-visionary-integrator)
• [How do I use my conative profile to determine which of these four seats I must delegate first to survive?](/qa/how-to-delegate-four-seats-using-kolbe)