Reducing Factors That Limit Personal Performance
For over 25 years, we have utilized the Kolbe System™ to optimize team performance. We have been able to double team efficiency and productivity by demonstrating how conative stress can be minimized.
Too many times, we see team members mistakenly identify real conative stress for personality conflict. In fact, understanding how a team member naturally problem-solves differently from you can reduce stress and actually maximize synergy and division of labor among teammates.
Here are some pointers that Kolbe has provided for identifying and reducing conative stress.
Conative stress occurs when there is a significant difference (four points or more) in any Action Mode between two Kolbe Indexes. Unlike emotional stress, conative stress arises from attempting to take action that falls outside one's natural strengths. While it can lead to negative feelings, the actual cause is not a person's attitude, but rather a lack of awareness and an inability to be who they naturally are.
Kolbe A™ (individual) and A™ (teammate) => Conflict (between two team members)
Kolbe A™ and B™ => Strain (self-induced)
Kolbe A™ and C™ => Tension (between you and the person(s) who define(s) requirements)
Strain: A Condition where a person’s sense of how a task needs to be performed is substantially different from his/her own natural methods of problem solving.
Ways to Reduce Strain
Redirect talent: Use your Initiating mode to reshape how you do the job. Initiating Fact Finder can redefine the role. Initiating Follow Thru can plan more structure. Initiating Quick Start can add alternatives or deadlines. Initiating Implementor can include more tangible methods.
Use underutilized talents: Volunteer for special projects that align with your mode of operation (MO). They will energize you and highlight your strengths to others.
React rather than Initiate or Counteract: A valuable response is also an essential contribution to an endeavor. If you React in a mode where you feel you should Initiate or Counteract in your job, work to draw on the energies of others, responding to support them.
Don’t create false expectations: Don’t promise to function through a natural mode of resistance (Counteract). If you make a situation where others rely on you to perform contrary to your instincts, not meeting their expectations will multiply the adverse effect.
Barter: Trade your strengths for input from others when you're in a stressed-out mode. By exchanging your talents with others, everyone benefits.
Choose the right competitions: Select those that utilize your natural strengths. This improves your odds of standing out from the crowd.
Find other creative outlets: Explore ways to utilize your conative talents outside of your job, such as through arts or sports activities.
Tension: A Condition where an external evaluator’s sense of how a task needs to be performed is substantially different from the job holder’s methods of problem solving.
Ways to Reduce Tension
Negotiate a redefinition of requirements: Negotiate the approach to the old job without significantly affecting the desired outcome.
Remove the need to satisfy incompatible standards: Negotiate to eliminate requirements that are not germane to the job.
Seek a substitute: Find someone who is better equipped conatively for the role.
Declare a truce: Agree to complete a task if you can stop being responsible for this type of task in the future.
Put the end in sight: By paying attention to the light at the end of the tunnel, stress becomes more manageable. Anything is survivable in the short run.
Change the requirement: Changing the format to suit your MO (e.g., provide a written report instead of a speech).
The article from Insight Strategic Concepts emphasizes the use of the Kolbe System™ to optimize personal and team performance by reducing conative stress, which is often misinterpreted as personality conflicts. By identifying and leveraging individual Kolbe talents—natural strengths in how people take action—organizations can double team efficiency and productivity. The article highlights the importance of aligning tasks with innate conative strengths, such as Fact Finder, Follow Thru, Quick Start, and Implementor, to enhance workplace performance. It provides practical steps for individuals to recognize their unique talents through Kolbe assessments, align their roles with these strengths, and manage stress by avoiding tasks that conflict with their natural tendencies. This approach fosters a symbiotic work environment, improving both individual satisfaction and organizational outcomes.
© 2008-2015 Kathy Kolbe and Kolbe Corp. All rights reserved.