What Is The 12 Driving Forces Assessment?
There are all kinds of valuable assessments for workplace use, but if you want to understand motivation, you need to use The 12 Driving Forces.
The 12 Driving Forces assessment measures why a person does what they do. It measures the motivation (and strength) behind behaviors, using 6 different motivators.
Those motivators are...
- Knowledge
- Utility
- Surroundings
- Others
- Power
- Methodologies
These 6 motivators are each divided into two distinct sides, measuring each factor. Based on a continuum, these 12 drivers make up a person’s cluster of Driving Forces.
Read more about the basics of The 12 Driving Forces here.
How Is Knowledge Defined in The 12 Driving Forces?
The focus of the Theoretical motivator continuum is knowledge — specifically how a person values knowledge, learning, and discovery. The two ends of this continuum are Instinctive and Intellectual.
This driver also does not indicate intelligence— Instinctive people aren’t less smart than Intellectual people. Both ends of the spectrum value knowledge. They just value it in different ways.
What Does Instinctive Mean in The 12 Driving Forces Assessment?
People with an Instinctive Driver use past experience, intuition, and real-time research to solve an immediate need.
An Instinctive person wants only the knowledge necessary to accomplish the task at hand. They pursue knowledge on a “need to know” basis.
What Do Instinctive People Need in the Workplace?
Instinctive People have very specific needs in the workplace. One of the most important is access to well-organized resources, like Knowledge Bases or project briefs. Having the information they need on hand without having to guess at it will help them stay efficient and save time. It also allows them to solve problems on their own, rather than seeking out assistance from others, which lets them keep a brisk schedule.
Speaking of brisk, Instinctive people usually prefer a fast pace. Being able to set their own standards and work according to them will be a huge boost in terms of their productivity. Instinctive people want to get the information they need, execute the task, and move on to the next one as efficiently as possible.
Another thing that’s important for Instinctive people is support for their other drivers when they do end up needing to do research. If you’re asking an Instinctive person to dig into data or more information, make sure you have a reason to back up that work. If they’re Altruistic, for example, explain how this particular project brings good into the organization, or if they’re Collaborative, make the project a joint venture with their teammates. Supporting those other drivers will strengthen their effort overall.
What Does Intellectual Mean in The 12 Driving Forces Assessment?
People with an Intellectual Driver acquire knowledge, discover, and find opportunities to learn wherever they are.
The Intellectual person wants all available knowledge on the subject, simply to understand it, regardless of the direct application. They like learning for the sake of learning!
What Do Intellectual People Need in the Workplace?
Intellectual people have a very different set of needs in their work environment. One of the most important elements to their success is working in an environment where they are able to pursue continuous learning opportunities. If an Intellectual person stagnates in their role, their productivity will plummet and they will become at high risk for experiencing burnout, When they get access to the right depth of information, they will continuously improve their procedures and abilities in their position.
Professional development is a great way to make sure that this happens. Giving Intellectually driven people opportunities to attend conferences, workshops, and training will help them build their skills and open their minds up to different avenues of thinking and problem-solving. Intellectual people thrive with new information, so training gives them a bonus and you a bonus by developing your internal talent pipeline.
A last and practical suggestion is to make sure that people with Intellectual drivers have solid boundaries in place in their positions. They need room to move around and grow in their roles but they also need an established hard stopping point when it comes to researching and digging into new info. It’s easy for Intellectual people to get carried away in their work and that can be impractical and slow down progress, so make sure a balance is clearly established for their success and the overall success of your team.
Intellectual Drivers, Instinctive Drivers And You
No matter where you fall on the Theoretical motivator continuum, it’s important to understand and appreciate the value that Instinctive and Intellectual people bring to your team.
If you want to harness the power of The 12 Driving Forces for your team, TTI SI can help. Contact us here to get started revealing human potential.
