Kolbe

The Kolbe System is a very useful tool that gives you an insight into another dimension of your colleagues - how they prefer to take action. This is something you should be aware of sooner rather than later. It is especially helpful when hiring.

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What It Is The Kolbe System
The Kolbe System is similar to personality or intelligence tests that we have all taken. However, Kolbe measures something completely different, Conative Ability - your instinctive method of operation (MO). 

Different roles in a design firm require you to solve problems in different ways. This is a large part of why two smart people with pleasant personalities and similar experience cannot do the same job equally well. Their instinctive method of operation is the difference.
 
None of us do everything really well. Kolbe explains why you might be very good at some things and not others. 

The Kolbe System seems like a well-kept secret. I never hear about it, but I used it for over 15 years - and so have a lot of big companies. Kolbe is not just for designers, it is for everyone. And it is not crazy expensive. The ’A’ Index, which is the main tool you would be interested in, is just $50 per person.  Check it out at www.kolbe.com 

The main thing that Kolbe helps with is hiring. However, by measuring each member of your design team, you will learn each member’s instinctive method of operation. This gives you a basis for building teams that really work. You can also avoid assigning the ‘wrong’ type of tasks to team members. 

An Overview
The index (exam) is just 36 questions.  You mark two choices for each question, your most likely and your least likely response to a situation. From your responses results are available right away. 

You can take the questionnaire to see what it is like without cost. However, you are charged to see your results. 

Your results are your personal index expressed in four areas. Those areas are:

• Fact Finder - how you gather and share information
• Follow Thru - how you arrange and design
• Quick Start - how you deal with risks and uncertainty
• Implementor - how you handle space and tangibles

Everyone lies on a scale of 1-10 for each of these four instincts. Usually you have one instinct that is dominant, and your index for that instinct is the highest. The higher your ranking in one of the four measurements, the more likely you are to operate in that way. The lower your ranking, the more likely you are to resist operating in that way.

How Kolbe Worked For Us
Kolbe applies to a typical architect’s office like this:

• High Fact Finder combined with high Follow Thru makes for a good administrative assistant. 
• High Quick Start will be comfortable with sales and design. 
• High Follow Thru with medium Fact Finder and medium Quick Start makes a good project manager. 
• High Implementor with medium Quick Start is comfortable with field work. 
• All indexes in the mid range is a chameleon - they can adapt to whatever needs to be done.
• A combination of high Follow Thru with mid-to-high Fact Finder and mid-to-high Quick Start but with low Implementor also makes a good all-around person.
• High Follow Thru is never a problem. 

Potential Problem Profiles

• High Implementor with high Fact Finder and low Quick Start is someone who likes to research, especially in person. Design can take forever. Specs can take forever.
• Low Quick Start likes the status quo: very conservative designer, good at following procedure, not comfortable in off-the-cuff situations. 
• Low Fact Finder means the last thing that occurs to them is to do research. Codes tend to bite them in the ass every time.

You can see how teams can make sense.

Next Steps
Visit the Kolbe website.  You can explore the 'A' Index questions there.

Download this 2007-era 'A' Index Report to see the kind of things you will learn about yourself and your team mates.