Making sure everyone on your team takes a Kolbe A™ Index to understand their instinctive needs is a critical first step to a successful strengths-based business.
But the most effective strengths-based organizations make Kolbe a key part of their culture.
It’s honestly not that hard, but it pays off in myriad ways. To make it even easier, Stephanie Clergé, VP of People and Product Development at Kolbe Corp, recently sat down with Shara Wokal to discuss how Shara’s team has beautifully infused Kolbe into the culture at Riff Agency (where she is CFO and CRHO) and how she has helped her clients do the same.
“Whether you know about it or not,” Shara explained, “Your MO (modus operandi) is real. Your instincts are real. And so, understanding what they are is power. Knowledge is power.”
When you understand that about not only yourself, but your teammates as well, it helps everyone work better as a team. And so, Riff uses that power from the start. They use Kolbe as part of the interview process, using RightFit™ and also doing a full debrief with each candidate. They use the Kolbe C™ Index to identify and leverage what they need in a position.
“Once we’ve hired,” she continued, “then we do spend time with the new hire going through their interpretation more as well as Comparisons: A to A™ reports to help them understand who their teammates are as well.”
A focus on instinctive strengths doesn’t stop after onboarding.
Riff infuses Kolbe into conversations in their weekly All-Team meetings. They invite people to share stories on how they’ve seen Kolbe MOs show up. They discuss how to best use their energy relative to how they naturally execute.
If an employee’s immediate family members are interested in taking the Kolbe A, they’ll pay for the assessment. They use a Kolbe assessment for a friend as a prize for anniversaries or competitions.
“We’re very intentional from a leadership perspective about consistently talking about Kolbe Strengths™, using examples as a way to illustrate them,” Shara shared. “And then, it does not take long before someone recognizes the impact Kolbe has on their work because they can be free to be themselves and communicate what they need.”
There are many small, physical ways to infuse Kolbe into your culture as well. It’s good to have Kolbe reference materials readily available in the office, as well as “Mind Menus”, which are a physical representation of the Kolbe bar chart. All of this is important, but it’s not enough by itself.
“We’ve got Kolbe cards, we’ve got an Activate Your A™ Guide, we’ve got free webinars, we’ve got team sessions you can do,” Stephanie explained. “But really it comes from your leadership team choosing to make Kolbe a priority, to have those conversations on a daily basis and often link it to what individuals are doing naturally and how they can be free to be themselves.”
“In my experience,” Shara added, “the way to be successful in infusing such an important piece into your culture is consistency. It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day tasks of what needs to be done. Connecting everything back to the core of what Kolbe offers is extremely important. That’s what’s going to give you that longevity.”
