12 Driving Forces®:
The Why Behind Behavior
12 Driving Forces® is a workplace motivators assessment that measures why a person does what they do. Where a behavioral assessment shows how someone works, a motivators assessment explains what energizes them, what drains them, and what will keep them engaged in a role six months from now.
The instrument measures six motivators, each on a continuum with two distinct expressions — producing the twelve driving forces the assessment is named for. It has been published by TTI Success Insights since 2015 and is used in more than 100 countries.
Key Takeaways
- Six motivators, twelve drivers. Each of the six motivators has two opposing expressions, and a person sits somewhere along each continuum rather than in one box.
- Motivation explains retention; behavior does not. Two people with identical DISC profiles can leave for completely different reasons, and only motivator data shows why.
- The model traces to Eduard Spranger's 1928 work on human values, which TTI operationalized into a measurable, report-ready instrument.
- It is not a selection screen. Driving Forces is ipsative — it ranks drivers within a person, not against a population — so it should never be used as a pass/fail hiring cutoff.
What is a motivators assessment?
A motivators assessment measures the values and drivers that determine what a person finds rewarding at work, rather than measuring skill or behavior. It answers why someone engages with one task and disengages from another, which makes it the primary instrument for retention, engagement, and role-fit questions.
Most organizations already have behavioral data. They know a manager is direct, or that an analyst is methodical. What they usually cannot explain is why a strong performer suddenly disengaged when nothing about their behavior changed. Motivator data answers that, because the change was rarely in how the person works — it was in whether the work still returned what they value.
12 Driving Forces measures that directly. The output is a ranked profile showing which drivers are primary, which are situational, and which are indifferent, along with the practical implications for how that person should be managed, developed, and rewarded.
The 12 Driving Forces, defined
Six motivators sit at the core of the assessment. Each one splits into two opposing expressions, and those twelve expressions are the driving forces.
| Motivator | Driving force | What drives this person |
|---|---|---|
| Knowledge | Intellectual | Opportunities to learn, acquire knowledge, and discover what is true |
| Instinctive | Past experience and intuition, seeking specific information only when a situation calls for it | |
| Utility | Resourceful | Practical results and a return on invested time, talent, energy, and resources |
| Selfless | Completing the task for its own sake, with little expectation of personal return | |
| Surroundings | Harmonious | Balance, subjective experience, and the feel of the environment |
| Objective | Functionality and practical utility in their surroundings over atmosphere | |
| Others | Altruistic | Helping people for the satisfaction of being useful and supportive |
| Intentional | Helping people toward a specific purpose or defined outcome | |
| Power | Commanding | Status, recognition, and control over their own position and direction |
| Collaborative | Contributing to a team or mission without needing individual recognition | |
| Methodologies | Structured | Proven systems, tradition, and a defined approach to work |
| Receptive | New ideas and unconventional methods that sit outside an established system |
You can see how this looks in practice before committing to anything: download a sample 12 Driving Forces report (PDF) and review the actual pages a participant receives.
Why six motivators produce twelve driving forces
The distinction between six and twelve is the part most summaries get wrong, and it changes how the results should be read.
Each motivator is a continuum, not a category. Utility, for example, runs from Resourceful at one end to Selfless at the other. A person is not simply "high Utility" — they sit somewhere along that line, and which end they sit closest to produces opposite management implications. A Resourceful team member disengages when effort produces no measurable return. A Selfless team member disengages when the work is cut short before completion. Both are Utility-driven. Neither wants the same thing.
Commanding vs. Collaborative
Both are driven by Power. Commanding people want visible ownership and authority over their direction. Collaborative people want the group to succeed and can find individual spotlighting uncomfortable. Promoting the second into a role built for the first is a common and expensive mistake.
Structured vs. Receptive
Both are driven by Methodologies. Structured people want a proven system and consistency. Receptive people want room to try methods that have not been tried. Change programs fail when they are announced the same way to both.
This is why the report ranks all twelve rather than scoring six. A six-factor summary tells you which area matters; the twelve tell you what to actually do about it.
DISC and Driving Forces: behavior compared with motivation
Behavior and motivation answer different questions, and using one where the other is needed is the most common misapplication of assessment data.
| Question | DISC (behaviors) | 12 Driving Forces (motivators) |
|---|---|---|
| What it measures | How a person approaches tasks and people | Why a person does what they do |
| Best used for | Communication, conflict, team dynamics, interview structure | Engagement, retention, role fit, reward design |
| Explains a strong performer disengaging | No — behavior often looks unchanged | Yes — a driver is no longer being met by the role |
| Separates two candidates with the same style | No | Yes |
| Answers "how do I talk to this person" | Yes | Partially — it tells you what they care about |
Because the two answer different questions, they are most often bought together. TTI combines them in multi-science reports including Talent Insights and TriMetrix, which present behavior and motivation in one integrated document rather than two separate PDFs a manager has to reconcile. See the DISC assessment for the behavioral half, or the full assessment suite for all five sciences.
How organizations use Driving Forces data
- Retention and engagement — identify which drivers a role actually satisfies, then compare that against the drivers of the people in it. Mismatches predict disengagement before exit interviews do.
- Hiring and role fit — benchmark what a job rewards, and use the results to structure interview questions rather than to screen candidates out. See hiring and selection solutions.
- Leadership development — a leader's own drivers shape what they unconsciously reward in others. Read more on Driving Forces and effective leadership.
- Team and succession work — surface why two capable people repeatedly stall on the same project, and identify who is motivated by the next role rather than only capable of it.
For a deeper walkthrough of each driver, read the 12 Driving Forces: what you need to know.
Where the model comes from
The six motivators are rooted in the work of German philosopher and psychologist Eduard Spranger, whose 1928 study of human value types set out the categories the assessment still uses. Spranger described the value orientations; he did not build a measurement instrument.
TTI Success Insights operationalized that framework into a scored, report-ready assessment, extended each motivator into a two-ended continuum, and validated the instrument through its in-house research team. Supporting studies are published on the TTI Research portal. TTI has been building and validating assessments since 1984 and delivers them through its own Internet Delivery Service platform.
An honest limitation, stated plainly: 12 Driving Forces is an ipsative instrument. It ranks drivers within an individual rather than comparing that individual against a population norm, which makes it well suited to development and coaching and unsuitable as a standalone selection cutoff. Any assessment influencing a hiring decision in the U.S. must be job-related and monitored for adverse impact under EEOC guidance; professional practice standards from SIOP take the same position. TTI's validation documentation and compliance statements are on the compliance page.
Two ways to work with TTI
Whether you are a leader bringing motivator data into your own organization or a coach or consultant who wants to use it with clients, the starting point is the same conversation.
Organizations: book a 20-minute consultation to scope where Driving Forces fits alongside the decisions you are already making.
Coaches, consultants, and trainers: join the TTI partner network of more than 7,000 experts and get certified to debrief these reports under your own brand.
Prefer to talk now? Call 800.869.6908, or see learning and certification programs.
12 Driving Forces: frequently asked questions
What is the 12 Driving Forces assessment?
12 Driving Forces is a workplace motivators assessment published by TTI Success Insights that measures why a person does what they do. It scores six motivators — Knowledge, Utility, Surroundings, Others, Power, and Methodologies — each on a two-ended continuum, producing twelve ranked driving forces. It is used for engagement, retention, role fit, and development rather than as a hiring screen.
What is the difference between DISC and 12 Driving Forces?
DISC measures observable behavior — how a person approaches tasks and interacts with others. 12 Driving Forces measures motivation — why they do it. Two people can share an identical DISC profile and be motivated by opposite things, which is why the two are frequently used together in a single Talent Insights or TriMetrix report.
What are the 9 motivators?
The nine-motivator model is a different framework published by another provider and is not the same as 12 Driving Forces. TTI's instrument measures six motivators expressed as twelve driving forces, drawing on Eduard Spranger's value types. Different motivator frameworks use different category counts, so results from one are not interchangeable with another.
Can motivators be used to screen job candidates?
They should not be used as a pass/fail screen. 12 Driving Forces is ipsative, meaning it ranks drivers within a person rather than against a normed population, so it does not support a cutoff score. Used appropriately, motivator data informs interview questions, onboarding, and how a role is framed — and any assessment influencing a U.S. hiring decision must still be job-related and monitored for adverse impact.
How long does the assessment take to complete?
12 Driving Forces is a short online questionnaire delivered through TTI's Internet Delivery Service, and most participants complete it in a single sitting. Reports are generated immediately and are typically debriefed by a certified TTI partner or an internal practitioner who has completed TTI certification.
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