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CONGRATULATIONS Seneca
You Got a Perfect Score on the Kolbe A™ Index!
You’re terrific when juggling rapidly changing priorities. You are known for taking risks that are grounded in practical realities. You don’t mess around with what has always been done, but temper your trial-and-error approach by strategizing options.
Kolbe Action Modes®
How do we know this? You told us when you completed the Kolbe A™ Index which revealed your 4-number MO (Mode of Operation).
Hear Kathy Kolbe describe your strengths at kolbe.com/login
Seneca Schurbon
Kolbe Action Modes are behaviors driven by your striving instincts.
Fact Finder: How you gather and share information.
Your way of doing it is to Explain.
Follow Thru: How you organize.
Your way of doing it is to Maintain.
Quick Start: How you deal with risk and uncertainty.
Your way of doing it is to Innovate.
Implementor: How you handle space and tangibles.
Your way of doing it is to Envision.
You can count on your Kolbe result being constant over time.
What's so different about the Kolbe Index?
Your Kolbe result doesn’t have anything to do with your personality or how smart you are. Kolbe adds a new dimension—the conative. How you take action when you are free to be yourself is one of the most important things to know about yourself. It includes how you will naturally:
- Solve problems
- Make decisions
- Take purposeful action
The conative (doing) part of the mind is defined as: Action derived from instinct; purposeful mode of striving, volition. It is a conscious effort to carry out self-determined acts.
Based on teachings going back to Plato and Aristotle, conative is one of three parts of the mind.
These three parts of the mind work together to form your greatest contributions to the world.
Conables® Tips
Without an understanding of the power of conation, you may have learned ways of taking action that won't work well for you. Look for Conables Tips throughout your Kolbe A result. Individualized for you, they will help you Do More, More Naturally and achieve what matters to you most.
Kolbe Strengths
You have a natural strength in each Action Mode that helps you make better decisions.
| Action Modes | ||
Fact Finder
|
Your best way of gathering and sharing information is to Explain. | |
|
For instance, you might: Paraphrase reports Review data Rewrite and edit Work within priorities Fact-check |
Highlight what's important Reference documentation Add context Clarify details Get essential information |
|
Follow Thru
|
Your best way of organizing is to Maintain. | |
|
For instance, you might: Sustain systems Follow processes Adjust procedures Reorder steps Coordinate schedules |
Accommodate structure Reduce redundancies Identify inconsistencies Meet the need for closure Maintain order |
|
Quick Start
|
Your best way of dealing with risk and uncertainty is to Innovate. | |
|
For instance, you might: Initiate change Drive experimentation Promote ideas Create a sense of urgency Generate alternatives |
Brainstorm possibilities Originate solutions Thrive under deadline Seek challenges Improvise and ad-lib |
|
Implementor
|
Your best way of tackling space and tangibles is to Envision. | |
|
For instance, you might: Prevent overbuilt solutions Imagine outcomes Use preassembled products Portray conceptually Reduce manual effort |
Use intangible methods Make temporary fixes Deal with the abstract Envision circumstances Describe without having to demonstrate |
|
Fact Finder: How you gather and share information
Conables® Tips
Gather and share information in a way that works for you:
Follow Thru: How you organize
Conables® Tips
Organize in a way that works for you:
Quick Start: How you deal with risk and uncertainty
Conables® Tips
Deal with risk and uncertainty in a way that works for you:
Implementor: How you handle space and tangibles
Conables® Tips
Handle space and tangibles in a way that works for you:
TIME AND ENERGY
Everyone runs out of time and energy. You can’t get time back – once it’s used, it’s gone – but energy can be renewed.
Your Pyramid of Mental Energy
Your 100 units of conative energy are equal to the energy available to every other human being. Your MO of 6-4-8-2 gives you the same potential power as any CEO or rock star. Turn this potential into greatness by using your available energy according to your strengths.
Pyramid of Energy
Explain
30%
Maintain
20%
Innovate
40%
Envision
10%
Conables® Tips
A lot of your time is spent trying to come up with ideas. The good news for you is that you naturally edit out the really goofy ones. You may leap toward a goal with uncertain complications, but your Fact Finder strength quickly ascertains whether you can live with the results and makes sure you’re not wasting time on low-priority tasks. Your other conative strengths kick in to polish the process.
Don’t let anyone stereotype you as contributing or “being” just one of the Action Modes. Your contribution begins with innovating and continues until you envision the solution.
Self-manage your use of these limited, but renewable, resources. Use them purposefully and they will bring joy to your life.
Your Problem-Solving Sequence
The ideal way for you to use your time is according to your MO of 6-4-8-2. So, forget time management advice that doesn’t take your striving instincts into consideration.
When free to be yourself, you will use your strengths in the following way:
Quick Start
40%
Fact Finder
30%
Follow Thru
20%
Implementor
10%
1. You’ll start the problem-solving process by brainstorming.
2. Next, you review data.
3. Then, you look for ways to fit the pieces into the system.
4. Finally, Seneca, you visualize solutions.
If you work against your strengths, you’ll never have enough time. You will squander it by taking non-productive paths.
Get Conative, Seneca!
We can’t give you more time, but we have proven that leveraging your conative strengths can dramatically improve your productivity.
Conables® Tips
Here are some ways you can get the multiplier effect from your MO of 6-4-8-2:
- Commit–but to very little. Target your top priorities. Because you have limited mental energy, determine what deserves your best efforts.
- Save time by doing a reality check before going all out with an idea.
- Protect your energy by cutting your losses when your instincts tell you something isn’t working.
Get More Done in Less Time
Conables® Tips
A good way to start your day is to check and adjust priorities.
Give yourself a deadline, guess if you must, and decide to beat the odds.
You’re likely to procrastinate if you don’t have a system or format to follow.
Ultimately, you need to avoid spending time on physical tasks – instead, find someone to do it for you.
Self-Provoke to get where you want to go. You’re responsible for goading yourself to initiate necessary action.
You may be working against your grain without even knowing it. When we take action outside of our strengths zone, we are not only unhappy but also unproductive, wasting our time on things that require too much energy. Instead of robbing yourself of your valuable time and energy, modify how you do things so that you can accomplish them in your own way.
Don't just take our word for it; try it! You may surprise yourself with how much you can get done, and by how natural it feels.
Pinpoint Potential Stress
The Kolbe B™ Index measures an individual's perception of their own job responsibilities. Comparing your Kolbe B Index result with your MO (in this Kolbe A Index report) will reveal if and where you may be working against your natural way of doing things.
COMMUNICATION AND RELATIONSHIPS
There are two main factors that drive success when you’re working with others—communication and the interplay between each person's conative strengths.
Seneca, Communicate Your Way
Communication is at the heart of every relationship and involves all three parts of the mind. Emotions cause the desire to communicate while thoughts provide the content. However, your conative instincts also drive how it plays out.
We’re taught that there is a “right way” to do things, and often only certain types of communication are valued. If you don’t communicate according to your conative strengths, you are likely to seem inauthentic and may not get the results you seek. Be true to who you are to get your message across effectively without alienating others.
Communication involves all three parts of the mind.
It’s Not Just What You Say, It’s How You Say It
Conables® Tips
If everyone around you knew who you are, you could get three times as much done. You have moments with rapid-fire tossing out of ideas (some you’ve never heard until you said them out loud), and your immediate action is to sell them. Your explosions of “what ifs” need to be understood as starting points. It’s not until you’ve had time to step back and consider the consequences of them that you begin to pick the practical ideas.
You need the freedom to speak up and shout out, yet the time to write it down and read it back. People who only see one side of your conative process may stereotype you – to everyone’s detriment.
It’s important for you to know the conative strengths around you, just as it’s important for them to know yours. Build a team around you that understands the way you work and let ideas simmer without judgement for at least a little while.
Win-Win Relationships
There is no perfect combination of Kolbe results for relationships. You can improve both personal and professional relationships by understanding how everyone’s conative strengths interact.
Collaborating with others can be challenging, whether you have similar or differing instinctive strengths. You need to act according to your instincts while allowing others to act according to theirs.
Conables® Tips
In situations with a person who has very different conative strengths than you do, you can benefit from the resulting diversity of strengths, but those differences could cause conflict and frustration.
- For you, togetherness may mean doing different things in the same room.
- Don’t expect the other person to work toward shared goals the same way you do.
Conables® Tips
In situations with someone who has similar strengths, you might be able to finish each other’s sentences, but you could struggle to make forward progress.
- Find people with different approaches to fill some of the gaps to avoid getting stuck.
- Avoid competing with one another by tackling different tasks while working toward shared goals.
Summary and Share
Seneca, the information in every section of this report was individualized for you, whether you remember it by:
However you visualize your MO, it's important to keep your conative strengths in mind as you make life-empowering decisions.
You have many strengths that could contribute to your career, family, or community.
Now that you know the power of your MO, it's up to you to use it for good purposes.
The world needs your conative strengths!
Worksheet
Refer to your Kolbe A Result and answer the following questions.