I always look for ways to understand how I tick, and how to better understand this about others I interact with. I recently learned about Kolbe A. The Kolbe A Index is a personality assessment tool that measures an individual's instinctive method for solving problems and dealing with stress. It is based on the theory that people have natural strengths in 4 key action modes:

Fact Finder - The instinct to probe and analyze data and details.

Follow Thru - The instinct to organize data and create order and systems.

Quick Start - The instinct to act quickly and make intuitive leaps without needing all the facts.

Implementor - The instinct to build and craft physical solutions.

The assessment consists of 36 sentence stems that you complete according to instinct. Based on your responses, you receive ratings on a scale of 1-10 for each of the 4 action modes, indicating your strengths and weaknesses.

The goal of the Kolbe A Index is to provide insight into our natural talents and decision-making styles. When people operate in roles and on tasks that align with their strongest action modes, they will be more engaged, creative, and productive.

Some key aspects of the Kolbe A Index:

It focuses on conative strengths (how you instinctually take action) rather than personality traits.

It suggests you will be most successful when you leverage your highest-rated modes.

No modes are inherently better, they are just different methods of problem-solving. Understanding your own style, and perceiving others can also help you work with others more harmoniously. Striving goes against your natural instincts and leads to stress. Balancing your modes is not the goal - the goal is to utilize your strengths. And to complement this with the strengths of others you collaborate with!