We have an open seat for a Head of Operations on our leadership team. How do we use the Kolbe A Index during our hiring process to find someone who conatively balances our high vision, low detail founder?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Hiring a Head of Operations who matches your conative needs is critical for stabilizing your business. A high vision founder typically has a high Quick Start score, meaning they thrive on ideas, change, and risk, but often lack the follow through to finish what they start. To balance this, you need an operations leader who can translate those ideas into structured systems. During the hiring process, administer the Kolbe A™ Index to your final candidates. You are looking for an individual with a high Follow Thru score, typically in the seven to ten range. This conative strength indicates a natural instinct to organize, design systems, create schedules, and bring order to chaos. They will build the infrastructure necessary to support your growth. You also want to look for a moderate to high Fact Finder score, which ensures they will gather the necessary data and analyze the details before executing operational changes. This prevents them from being swept up in your constant stream of new ideas and ensures they only greenlight initiatives that make operational sense. Remember that the Kolbe A™ Index measures how a person takes action, not their intelligence or personality. It tells you if they have the conative energy to do the job without burning out. Use the results to compare candidates against the specific conative requirements of the operations seat, and do not hire someone with a high Quick Start score for this role.