What really drives behavior: The levels in the workplace
What we see in our everyday work—decisions, results, behavior—is just the tip of the iceberg. Beneath it lie several layers that determine our actions:
Behavior: Visible actions in everyday work.
Motivations & preferences: Short-term, changeable driving forces that determine how people approach tasks and interact with others.
Beliefs & values: Guidelines that shape long-term decisions.
Personality: Relatively stable characteristics such as introversion or conscientiousness.
Identity: A person's fundamental self-image.
Motivations and preferences are particularly relevant in practice. They can be influenced, change with context and experience – and managers can actively work with them.
Sariio MAPS Motivations and Preferences Analysis.
Understand how you work best in under 10 minutes. Sariio MAPS is a free reflection that shows what energises you at work and where collaboration feels smooth or draining. No pass or fail. No right or wrong profile. You receive clear, practical language tailored to your work style that supports career decisions, interviews, and everyday teamwork.
Why personality models alone are not enough
Tools such as Big Five, MBTI, and DiSC provide valuable insights into stable characteristics. They are useful for recruiting and team development—but they do not answer the question of what motivates or hinders people in a specific situation.
Personality traits remain largely constant over the years. Preferences, on the other hand, react directly to external conditions:
Workload
Team structure
Leadership
Remote or hybrid setup
Personal circumstances
In hybrid working, it is precisely this flexibility that becomes crucial. Personality models explain the “who.” Preferences explain the “how right now” – and that is what makes them so valuable for leadership and collaboration.
Motivations and preferences: The decisive factors in modern working
Motivations
Motivations determine why people act. Dan Pink describes three key intrinsic drivers:
Autonomy – the freedom to shape one's own work
Mastery – the desire to develop oneself further
Meaningfulness – the feeling of contributing to something greater
These factors become particularly important in a remote setting, because employees have to organize themselves more, make decisions, and take on responsibility.
Preferences
Preferences show how someone prefers to work – for example:vvvv
Communication style (synchronous vs. asynchronous)
Need for structure (lots of freedom vs. clear guidelines)
Decision-making (individual vs. collaborative)
These preferences change more quickly than personality traits – and managers can adapt their working methods accordingly.
Why “focusing on strengths” is no longer sufficient
Knowing your strengths is helpful—but as a sole approach, it falls short.
Example 1:
An employee with strong problem-solving skills likes to work independently. However, if they are forced into a role that requires constant coordination, their motivation declines—despite their clear strength.
Example 2:
A person with strong communication skills may lose energy in a remote setting if the role offers little real interaction.
It is therefore crucial to align strengths with current preferences.
Only then can people truly play to their strengths.
How companies leverage preferences and motivations in hybrid working
Studies—e.g., by Gallup—show that when preferences are taken into account, productivity increases by 17%.
Managers can support this by:
Flexibility: Enabling autonomy in work design
Clear communication: Adapting communication to individual preferences
Competence development: Aligning development opportunities with motivations
This creates work environments that motivate people – whether in the office, at home, or in hybrid structures.
Conclusion: Focus on what drives people
If you want to lead employees successfully, you need more than personality profiles or a focus on strengths.
Motivations and preferences provide a much more accurate, practical picture of what really drives people in their daily work.
Tools such as Sariio MAPS help to make these factors visible and align work environments accordingly—for greater engagement, better collaboration, and sustainably higher productivity.
Sources:
- Gallup. “State of the Global Workplace: 2021 Report“. Gallup, 2021.
- Pink, Daniel H. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. Riverhead Books, 2009.
- McKinsey & Company. “The Hybrid Workplace: Making It Work“. McKinsey & Company, July 2020.
- “Why Autonomy in the Workplace Leads to Higher Engagement.” Harvard Business Review, 2019.
- DiSC. “What is DiSC?“. DiscProfile, 2022.
