Industry Trends
Unlocking Franchise Success with Kolbe: Hiring for Fit, Not Just Skill
By Karen Powell, Certified Kolbe Consultant
Talent and Strengths Advocate (FSBI)
Brian K. Miller, Business Strategist
Great teams don’t succeed because everyone thinks alike. In his book Topgrading: How Leading Companies Win by Hiring, Coaching, and Keeping the Best People, Bradford Smart makes it clear: if you stack a team with people who operate the same way, you’re setting yourself up for blind spots. The best teams are built on complementary strengths—people who challenge each other, see things differently, and fill the gaps. When that happens, clarity kicks in and amazing things unfold. You get more than just collaboration—you get momentum.
Tom Rath echoes this in StrengthsFinder 2.0: high-performing organizations thrive not on sameness, but on a blend of unique strengths. It’s in that combination—those natural, complementary abilities—that real performance happens.
StrengthsFinder helps you identify what people are good at, while
Topgrading helps you spot high performers.
Conative Strengths
Tools like StrengthsFinder and Topgrading offer great insights, but they miss something critical—conative strengths. Kolbe uncovers how people take action instinctively, revealing their natural approach to tasks and problem-solving. It taps into the “doing” side of the mind, which stands apart from thinking (cognitive) or feeling (affective).
Diverse Strengths
Let’s be real: research consistently shows that hiring managers tend to hire people like themselves. Hiring people wo are like you can feel like sinking into an easy chair—its comfortable and familiar. However, this approach is also a trap. Because it deprives the organization of the natural, yet complimentary strengths essential to survive and thrive.
StrengthsFinder and Kolbe both help leaders break out of the habit of hiring clones of themselves. Instead, they push you to build a team with broad strengths. Kolbe takes it a step further by dialing in on conative strengths—how someone naturally takes action. That insight? Total game-changer.
Let’s go on this journey together. You’re a hard-charging CEO. You lead with Quick Start—so you innovate and act boldly. All day, every day. I call it the “idea of the minute” club—not the “idea of the month” club! That’s your strength… you innovate.
You don’t want your CFO operating the same way as your founder. You want them to bring stability—organize the data, manage the systems, and forecast where things are headed. Their job is to dig into the numbers and make sense of the trends so you can make strategic decisions.
You see where I’m going with this. Even the best Presidents surround themselves with cabinet members who have different strengths—and different ways of taking action. Your leadership team is no different.
If you want to truly grow EBITDA in a franchise system, you create a team that balances your strengths. That might mean hiring an initiating Fact Finder—someone who questions, researches, and ensures the foundation is solid before you scale.
Kolbe reveals those instinctive strengths so you can build a team that’s complete and will thrive. Without that balance, even high performers can end up “spinning”—working hard but going nowhere. We’ve seen it firsthand in our own business. A few years ago, everyone was “busy” on worthwhile endeavors, but not gaining ground. Then we introduced Kolbe and did a team analysis—and the light bulb went off. We made the strategic adjustments, and now the team hums. I promise you—this works!
The 4 Kolbe Action Modes (Franchise-Style)
Here’s a quick refresher on the four Kolbe Action Modes—framed for franchising. When someone initiates in:
- Fact Finder: Fosters growth by digging into data and asking key questions.
- Follow Thru: Brings structure and consistency to operations with systems and processes.
- Quick Start: Fuels innovation and early growth by acting on bold ideas.
- Implementor: Improves physical environments with hands-on, practical solutions.
When the right roles are matched with the appropriate zones of operation in the Action Modes, everything becomes clearer and more focused.
Download full PDF here: Explore Now
Let’s refer back to the KOLBE graph again. To summarize, there are Three Parts to the Mind:
- Cognitive – Thinking. Thinking can change as you learn more!
- Affective – Feeling-Values and Beliefs can change over time.
- Conative – Doing—That does not change. That is naturally who you are!
There are Four, Conative, Instinctive- Action Modes:
- Fact Finder
- Follow Thru
- Quick Start
- Implementor
Within each Action Mode are Zones of Operation, measured on a continuum from 1–10:
- CounterActions (1–3)
- ReActions (4–6)
- Initiating Actions (7–10)
As the graph explains, we each operate a little differently. When looking at the Four Action Modes, there are three strengths associated with each. There are 12 ways people approach problem solving, determined by their MO (Modus Operandi). Each individual possesses 4 of the 12 strengths.
Pay close attention to the Kolbe Strengths Chart.
Strengths by Action Mode & Zones of Operations:
- Fact Finders – Simplify, Explain, Specify
- Follow Thrus – Adapt, Maintain, Systematize
- Quick Starts – Stabilize, Modify, Innovate
- Implementors – Envision, Restore, Demonstrate
As we previously stated, every individual possesses strengths across all four Action Modes. But here’s where the magic comes in: When you combine the Zones of Operation with the Action Modes, you start to see what people lead with. Let’s explain it like this. Have you ever been to the eye doctor getting a prescription for new glasses? They flip between two different lenses—one is okay, but then they hit the right one, and suddenly everything gets clearer. “Better or worse” becomes “better or best.” That’s how things work in a Kolbe environment.
We all have diverse strengths. We’re all uniquely made. What we lead with tells us how we naturally initiate action—and to what degree. In our upcoming article we’ll learn more how to apply this using KOLBE’s RightFit™ hriing process.
Up next: How to use Kolbe’s RightFit™ Hiring process to power up your franchise system!