When it comes to imagining your future, it's an effective exercise to identify what is truly motivating you.
Often the first answer people provide doesn't go deep enough. Though many people instantly respond that 'money' or 'helping others' drives them to do the work they do, when you peer below the surface, you see something much larger at play. It's how having money or helping others makes them feel that they're truly after.
Your 'Drive' is all about emotion, and your need for it was likely formed a very long time ago.
Identifying the Drive that's your primary source of motivation will help you better understand what you need to feel successful.
You can then design your professional life to deliver the most of what you desire to be satisfied in your work. You will save yourself a lot of time, frustration, and heartache by clearly grasping what you're trying to accomplish on a deeper level.
We have identified 6 Drives as the most relevant in motivating leaders.
The following assessment aims to determine which of the 6 Drives is your DOMINANT source of incentive for your professional goals.
There are no right, wrong, superior, or inferior answers.
Accept your results to the following assessment without judgment, and do not get hung up on the terminology.
Take your time and think about your answers.
Belonging is the Drive for companionship with others as part of a peer group. The satisfaction of this Drive produces feelings of acceptance, whereas frustration produces feelings of alienation.
This Drive creates a psychological need for friends or close colleagues in a professional setting.
People who want many friends learn social graces and skills to attract and keep them. The desire to socialize is so highly valued that withholding opportunities to socialize are a form of punishment.
People with a Drive for Belonging are friendly.
They may show mannerisms and habits that attract others. They may be fun-loving and upbeat. Personality traits that may describe them include affable, charming, cheerful, engaging, extroverted, friendly, fun-loving, gracious, gregarious, outgoing, playful, prankster, sociable, vivacious, and warm.
People with a weak Drive for Belonging enjoy solitude.
They dislike parties, small talk, and socializing, and they may show little interest in most people they meet. They may have few friends. They often seem to be in a serious mood. Personality traits that may describe them include quiet, private, serious, introvert, aloof, brusque, detached, distant, and possibly withdrawn.
Accept the fact that professional connections will come and go and that they won’t ALL love you (though you’re going to shoot for that target!).
Humans are complicated and setting unrealistic expectations for always being accepted by everyone will derail you.
List five tangible things you can add and five tangible things you can eliminate to better tap into your drive at work.
By doing so, you are much more likely to remain motivated through the inevitable ups and downs of both building and sustaining success.
Keep revisiting the list you created since the specifics will change.
What won’t change is your need to remain motivated in order to continue to progress!
Wisdom is the basic Drive for understanding.
The satisfaction of this Drive produces a feeling of wonder, whereas frustration produces boredom or confusion.
People with a Drive for Wisdom embrace intellectual pursuits such as thinking, reading, writing, and conversing.
Their ideas and theories mean a great deal to them. They show a wide range of intellectual interests even though they may focus on a particular area of expertise. Personality traits that may describe them include contemplative, deep thinker, inquisitive, intellectual, reflective, and thoughtful.
People with a weak Drive for Wisdom like to keep their intellectual activity to a minimum.
They become easily frustrated when they try to think. They rarely read books, debate ideas, or enjoy intellectual conversations. They may have little patience with intellectual matters and even may view intellectuals in a negative light. They may like to speak with actions rather than words. Personality traits that may describe them include action-oriented, nonintellectual, and practical.
Watch that you don’t alienate others with big words or abstract concepts in communicating to them.
If your colleagues have to work hard to understand you, they will immediately disengage.
Loyalty is the Drive that motivates people to embrace moral codes of conduct. The satisfaction of this Drive produces feelings of devotion, whereas frustration produces feelings of guilt and shame.
Loyalty motivates fidelity to one's clan or group.
People with a strong Drive for Loyalty often focus on issues of character, morality, and principle.
Personality traits that may describe them include dependable, genuine, honest, principled, scrupulous, sincere, steadfast, trustworthy, truthful, and upright.
People with a weak Drive for Loyalty are overly expedient.
They are inclined to do whatever it takes to get an important job done. Personality traits that describe them include impulsive and opportunistic.
Don’t be disheartened when professional connections, including customers or clients, come and go.
Loyalty is not a drive for everyone, and their departure does not necessarily mean that they did not get value out of their interaction with you.
Justice motivates people to support social causes, pay attention to current affairs, or give to charities. The satisfaction of this Drive produces feelings of compassion, whereas frustration produces feelings of outrage.
People with a strong Drive for Justice may care deeply about such social causes as world peace, uplifting the downtrodden, or world health.
Personality traits that may apply to them include altruistic, compassionate, do-gooder, dreamer, fair, humanitarian, idealistic, involved, volunteer, philanthropic, volunteer, and perhaps martyr.
People with a weak Drive for Justice are focused on the events in their lives rather than on larger issues facing society.
They may think that injustice is part of life and there is little one should do about it unless it directly affects oneself or loved ones. Personality traits that may apply to them include hard-nosed, pragmatic, worldly, realistic, and possibly looks the other way.
Justice is an effective Drive when it is closely aligned with the mission of the organization you own or work for.
Do keep in mind that this Drive exists on a spectrum. If you are too extreme in your views and approach you will push people away. If you are too relaxed in your views and approach you may not have a strong enough voice to attract people.
The key will be in experimenting to find the right balance that feels right to you while also serving the needs of your organization.
Autonomy is the Drive for self-reliance.
It motivates people to make their own decisions and to value their personal freedom. The satisfaction of this Drive produces joy, whereas frustration produces feelings of dependency.
Autonomy motivates how much we want to stand out as individuals. It's especially strong during adolescence. Many teenagers who are strongly motivated by independence find ways to call attention to their individuality, such as wearing unusual clothes.
People with a strong Drive for Autonomy are self-reliant.
Their personal freedom may be everything to them; they may dislike being in need of others. It may be very important to them that things be done their way (“my way, or the highway”). They may not “go along, to get along.” Personality traits that may describe them include autonomous, independent, self-reliant, and perhaps proud or stubborn.
People with a weak Drive for Autonomy trust others to meet their needs.
They value psychological support, especially when making decisions. They may devalue displays of individuality. Personality traits that may describe them include humble, interdependent, and perhaps needy.
Those with a drive for Autonomy can overcompensate and cut themselves off from receiving help, collaboration, and feedback.
All of these three things are vital in your work as a leader, so ensure that your independent streak doesn’t cause your growth to suffer.
Harmony is the Drive for structure.
It motivates people to plan, schedule, and organize. The satisfaction of this Drive produces a sense of comfort, whereas frustration produces feelings of anxiety.
People with a strong Drive for Harmony are organized.
Tidiness and punctuality are often important to them. Typically, they pay attention to details, rules, and schedules, and they may be comfortable with predictable and relatively unchanging situations. They tend to embrace rituals. Personality traits that may describe them include careful, inflexible, methodical, neat, organized, orderly, precise, prepared, punctual, thorough, and tidy.
People with a weak Drive for Harmony are flexible.
They may have a high tolerance for ambiguity. Typically, they dislike structure and hate following rules and schedules. They often change their mind or their plans. They focus on the “big picture” to the extent of perhaps missing key details. Personality traits that may describe them include disorganized, flexible, hates planning, spontaneous, tardy, and untidy.
Though planning and organization are extremely important, not everyone has the same drive or skill in those areas as you do.
Ensure that you do not become inflexible to the ideas or processes of others.
Which of the below BEST describes you? (Choose one)
Which of the below LEAST describes you? (Choose one)
Which of the below BEST describes how you think about the individuals you lead in your organization? (Choose one)
Which of the following quotes MOST resonates with you? (Choose one)
Which of the below frustrates you MOST when you see it in someone who reports to you? (Choose one)
Which from the below BEST describes what a close colleague would say about you? (Choose one)
Which of the below is MOST important to you? (Choose one)
Which of the following quotes do you believe in the MOST? (Choose one)