The Science

THE SCIENCE

Grounded in Research

The DRiV is rooted in reputable research on what drives human behavior. Integrating streams of research from motivation, leadership, social psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral economics, the DRiV offers highly predictive insights into what people do, and why they do it. It sheds light on motivation and behavior by considering not only what people tend to do (their habits), but what they want to do (their motives), and what they think they should do (their values).

When people’s “do, want, and should” are all aligned around a particular behavior, they are strongly driven to engage in that behavior. They do it almost automatically. It feels natural and energizing. That is what the DRIV measures – the drivers that motivate and energize human behavior.

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Rigorous Development

The DRiV was developed by Drs. Chris W. Coultas and Myranda Grahek, researchers at Leadership Worth Following, a Dallas-based leadership consulting firm. The intense research and development process leveraged partnerships with top-tier universities and a rich pool of data from individuals from various industries, organizational sizes, and levels of leadership. This research resulted in an intuitive, insightful 6-factor model of drivers. The model is broken down further into 28 drivers, giving an accurate, specific, and highly reliable understanding of why people do what they do.

Highly Predictive

In developing the DRiV, the goal was to create a tool that was highly predictive of outcomes that matter to individuals and organizations. By leveraging cutting-edge research in psychometrics and behavioral prediction, the DRiV can provide two to three times the predictive power of standard assessments on key outcomes such as: leadership performance, teamwork behaviors, ethical decision-making, critical-thinking ability, leadership emergence, career paths, and career success.

National research and presentations:

Coultas, C. W., Brancu, M., & Mason, C. (2020). Driving insight, driving change: Case studies with an innovative 360-degree feedback tool for emerging and entrepreneurial leaders. Symposium presented at Society for Consulting Psychology.

Coultas, C. W., Barcelona, R. J., & Long, J. (2019). Driven consulting: Using the DRiV in your leadership and team coaching. Symposium presented at Society for Consulting Psychology.

Coultas, C. W. (2018). Motive profiles and role emergence in global virtual teams. In Fresh thinking on forgotten issues: Critical issues in dynamic team composition. Symposium presented at Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

Grahek, M., & Coultas, C. W. (2018). Return on value: Addressing business challenges with values assessments. Symposium presented at Society for Consulting Psychology.

Ness, A. M., Connelly, S., Turner, M., & Torrence, B. (2018). The relationship between motives and values and ethical sensemaking. In Identifying and developing ethical leaders: Challenges and solutions. Symposium presented at Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

In a sea of ‘copycat’ assessments, the DRiV is an exciting advance in leadership assessment. By contrasting values, motives, and habits it provides a robust assessment of the things that drive us and the things that drain us. The insights afforded by this unique approach increase the accuracy of talent decisions and help identify leaders with the potential to grow and develop – along with those who can’t or won’t. Built on solid science and well validated, the DRiV is truly impressive. I highly recommend this tool for use in developing leaders and building teams.

– Bruce Sevy, Ph.D., Managing Director and Chally Center of Expertise Leader,
GrowthPlay, Chicago, Illinois

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