The Most Powerful Business Skill
Putting the right person in the right seat, the first time, almost every time, makes business management simpler. This single business skill contributes more to human productivity and business profits than any business tool, system, philosophy, or automation technology.
That’s why the Core Values Index holds the key to extraordinary business success. It provides the scientific foundation for matching people’s unchanging inner nature with the tasks they’re asked to perform.
The Musical Chairs Approach
Most organizations approach staffing like a game of musical chairs—people end up in seats somewhat randomly, based on who was available when a position opened. The result is predictable: some people thrive while others struggle, even with similar skills and experience.
The Core Values Alignment Protocol takes a different approach. Instead of forcing people into available seats, it asks: “What seat would allow this person to make their highest and best contribution?” And for each seat, it asks: “What kind of person would naturally excel here?”
Why Alignment Matters
We have demonstrated that the combination of who you are (the unchanging inner self) and what you are (your personality, skills, competencies, and talents) prescribe where you will find work that is fully engaging, and ultimately fulfilling—work that causes you to get into the flow of things as you perform the tasks required to make the contributions inherent in your job.
This leads to working with a sense of purpose, being fully engaged in work, doing work that uses your most important personal talents and skills. This work puts into service your greatest learning. And, in the performance of this work, you are called upon to learn your next most essential lesson about who you are.
The Cost of Misalignment
When people are in wrong seats, the costs multiply. They spend enormous energy trying to perform tasks that don’t align with their nature. They become frustrated, disengaged, and eventually leave—or worse, stay and underperform.
Managers spend their time trying to motivate, train, and coach people who would thrive if only they were in different positions. The organization pays for this misalignment in reduced productivity, increased turnover, and missed opportunities.
Less than 15% of employees in most companies are truly poor workers. Most are simply in the wrong job. Moving them to aligned positions often transforms them into A or B performers rapidly.
Matching Core Values to Tasks
Builder Alignment
Put Builders in seats requiring decisive action, leadership, results focus, and forward momentum. They excel when they can make things happen quickly and see tangible outcomes from their efforts.
Merchant Alignment
Put Merchants in seats requiring relationship building, communication, team cohesion, and inspiring others. They thrive when connected to people and purpose, bringing vision to life through human connection.
Innovator Alignment
Put Innovators in seats requiring problem-solving, strategic thinking, and creative solutions. They excel when given complex challenges and the autonomy to find better ways of doing things.
Banker Alignment
Put Bankers in seats requiring accuracy, systematic processes, quality control, and thorough analysis. They thrive when given the time and resources to do things right, building on solid foundations.
The Alignment Process
- Assess Core Values: Have everyone complete the Core Values Index to understand their inner nature and contribution style.
- Analyze Positions: For each role, identify what core values combination produces top performance based on task requirements.
- Map Current State: Compare each person’s profile against their current position’s optimal profile.
- Identify Opportunities: Look for people who would excel in different seats and seats that need different people.
- Reposition Strategically: Make changes that align nature with tasks, often through simple job swaps rather than new hires.
- Hire for Fit: When bringing in new people, select for core values alignment with the position’s requirements.
Abraham Maslow’s Central Conclusion
Abraham Maslow called the innate self the unchanging real self, which contains your natural tendencies—your preferred ways of seeing, feeling, reasoning, deciding, and participating in your society. He proposed that your inner nature is unchanging from childhood until death.
Maslow’s central conclusion was that it is this unique self, this real you, that inscribes where in this world you fit best. The Core Values Alignment Protocol puts this insight into practical business application.
The Six Contributor Types in Action
The CVI reveals not just primary core values but contributor types—combinations of dominant and secondary values that define how people naturally contribute:
- Intuitive Contributors (Merchant/Builder): Excel in entrepreneurial, sales, and leadership roles requiring vision and action.
- Independent Contributors (Builder/Innovator): Excel in roles requiring autonomous problem-solving and getting results.
- Practical Contributors (Banker/Builder): Excel in operational roles requiring systematic execution and efficiency.
- Creative Contributors (Merchant/Innovator): Excel in roles requiring innovation, design, and connecting ideas with people.
- Community Contributors (Banker/Merchant): Excel in service roles requiring both accuracy and human connection.
- Cognitive Contributors (Banker/Innovator): Excel in analytical roles requiring research, strategy, and thorough thinking.
Results of Alignment
When organizations align people with seats, remarkable things happen. Productivity increases without working harder—because people are doing work that energizes rather than drains them. Turnover decreases because people feel valued and engaged. Quality improves because people naturally excel at their tasks.
This dramatic shift happens because the performance bell curve moves. Instead of the typical distribution of 10% A performers, 15% B performers, 50% C performers, and 25% D performers, aligned organizations see the curve shift significantly toward higher performance.
The Competitive Advantage
Companies that choose to adopt these technologies experience higher profitability than has been previously thought possible. The power offered by the Core Values Index and the Taylor Protocols creates an extraordinary competitive advantage.
While competitors struggle with the same old hiring challenges, turnover problems, and productivity issues, aligned organizations operate with dramatically higher human capital efficiency—translating directly to the bottom line.
Align Your Organization
Ready to put the right people in the right seats? The Core Values Alignment Protocol provides the scientific framework for matching inner nature with tasks—creating engaged employees and extraordinary business results.