Three ways to use Kolbe now
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Finding the right person for the right job challenges almost all small businesses. Are instincts a solution to your staffing
quandaries? Don't shrug them off.
There is solid evidence suggesting that defining an employee's or candidate's natural instincts will often provide the information
you need to make your best job placement decision. While employers can choose from many assessment tools, the Kolbe Index
is a simple and accessible tool to outline and reveal a person's initiating and supporting instincts.
Facts on Kolbe
Kolbe Corp. began 30 years ago when Kathy Kolbe set out to help elementary and high-school students navigate the educational
system, learn more and achieve personal goals no matter their abilities. After several years the information and expertise
Kolbe Corp. had developed working with children became the basis upon which the Kolbe Index was developed for use with adults.
The Kolbe Index is the first-ever devised tool that measures "the instinctive action and problem-solving styles of individuals."
This tool focuses on the conative dimension of the mind, which determines how a person is most comfortable and successful
when performing a particular task.
Kolbe is more than theory; it returns positive results — enough positive results to warrant implementation in companies like
Intel, Volkswagen, Honeywell, Accenture, Pfizer and IBM. Fortune 500 companies are not the only businesses employing Kolbe
methods; an increasing number of landscape firms are too.
Jason Cupp, CLP, COB and co-founder of Highland Outdoor, a landscape design/build firm near Kansas City, MO, was proud of
his staff's skills and the evident passion it showed for the company and its customers. But he didn't know how to implement
them properly to rise to the level of success he felt that his team could achieve. He felt the team was misaligned with respect
to job responsibilities, resulting in forced and unreal expectations on each teammate.
Frustrated, he investigated Kolbe as a way to harness employees' natural instincts for better job performance and satisfaction.
What he learned led Highland Outdoor management to begin a process of identifying each team member's natural instincts so
that it could rework the company's organizational chart with the goal of giving each team member the freedom to act naturally
in his/her position day in and day out.
Cupp says the results have been startling. Efficiency is at an all-time high, resulting in higher sales with less payroll
expense.
It works for landscapers
Michael Becker, CLP, CEO and president of Estate Gardeners, Inc. in Omaha, NE, felt his company "had hit a ceiling." It seemed
that company leaders had taken on too many roles. Frustrated, he turned to the Kolbe Index early this year.
He said it revealed how he and his partner, Patricia Burleson, each were "wired" and in what capacities they could most strengthen
their company. The knowledge let them focus their specific roles within their business. It also gave them confidence to identify
the right people to fill gaps in their management team.
To his mild surprise, Becker also discovered that practicing Kolbe principles improved his problem-solving skills. He feels
he now better recognizes and anticipates how each key team member will operate under duress. He feels he is now better able
to identify the same tendencies in new hires.
This newfound knowledge helps him identify the root causes of workplace stress, he says, and helps he and Burleson communicate
more effectively with each other and other team members.
Employees that feel out of place generally do not perform well and often become apathetic in their positions. They may feel
that they are in "over their head" or that they're just wasting their time because the job does not allow them to use their
instinctive talents.
