Personality is generally described as the unique and stable pattern of psychological and behavioral traits that sets one person apart from another. Put simply, the way in which someone deals with different situations or the characteristic behavioral pattern that someone displays in different situations is personality.

Personality is a dynamic and organized set of characteristics (feeling, thinking, doing) that can be attributed to a person. This set of traits describes the way a person will react in different situations. The term personality is derived from the Latin persona (mask), which also gives rise to the connotation that personality has to do with the outer behavior, that what the environment of someone sees. The difference with character is that personality is influenced by upbringing and environment and only takes shape during adolescence, while character is often seen more as the biological predisposition, the (innate, quite unchanging) nature of that person.

The Big Five personality model is a model to investigate how people differ from each other and why we behave as people the way we do. The Big Five personality traits were extensively researched between 1970 and 1985 by several researchers (including Costa & McCrae and Norman & Goldberg). They independently came up with the same five human personality traits (dimensions), regardless of language or culture. The studies took years and many thousands of people answered hundreds of questions. The following five personality traits repeatedly came back from several statistical studies. The Big Five is the most accepted and used model of personality among psychologists and in broader scientific circles.

The Big Five charts the differences between people in five personality traits, namely:
-Extraversion
-Openness
-Emotional stability
-Agreeableness
-Conscientiousness
The third and last characteristics in particular are considered to be the best predictor for functioning in work situations.

Motives provide insight into people’s (un) conscious motives and beliefs. This shows how people think and will be able to act in our environment. In daily behavior, the values ​​that we find important largely determine our preferred behavior in both rational and emotional processes, in other words: the way of thinking and our behavior.

The theoretical model on which the drivers scan is based is the value system of Professor Clare W. Graves. This psychology professor lived from 1914 to 1986 and, after years of scientific research, has devised a system that provides an enlightening explanation of people’s behavior. This system has been further developed by Beck and Cowan into a method in which people’s motives are mapped (Spiral Dynamics). The basis of this method is the urge to survive or develop that is built into people, as it were. Our drives largely determine the way in which we deal with this urge.

Graves’ system and theory offer us seven different drives, each with its own color. These seven dynamics explain human behavior in different circumstances. Every person has their own combination of and preferences for certain drives; on the one hand we will be attracted to certain drives and on the other we shudder from different elements of other drives.

The motivation theory of the American psychologist David McClelland looks at the way in which people satisfy their needs. What motivates people? What needs have been learned? The McClelland motivation theory is the result of his many years of research on this. His conclusion? Everyone, regardless of age, gender, culture or race, has an intrinsic motivation that is directly linked to personal need. David McClelland distinguishes four human needs in his theory:
– Need for achievement
– Need for power
– Need for affiliation (need for affiliation)
– Need for avoidance

Above the iceberg’s waterline, his iceberg model revolves around knowledge, skills and behavior. That is what others see us doing, we also look at others. Below the waterline is the mixture of ‘thinking’ and ‘wanting’, a combination of norms, values ​​& beliefs and one’s own image.

McClelland links needs to what someone does, thinks and wants. And that makes the model directly applicable in our daily work life: if we know what the motivations of fellow team members are, looking at their behavior, we can ask or deduce what their underlying needs are in the end.

PersonalityDrives® & Motivation Theory
The PersonalityDrives® method brings a large part of the submerged part to the surface and thereby directly confirms the value of the instrument and the report.
How? In the individual PersonalityDrives® report we see to what extent the personality profile and the motivation profile confirm each other. If both profiles deviate from each other, we can immediately identify the underlying cause.

Would you like to know more how PersonalityDrives® can help you in your situation? Please contact us !