The Four Drives

Four Drives Theory is a theory based on human evolutionary biology and research on the human mind that answers the question: What drives human behavior?

Our research found that all human behavior is guided by four innate drives:

The Drive to Acquire (D1)

Humans have a fundamental need to seek and acquire objects and experiences they value.
Given the general scarcity of desired objects and experiences, this drive draws humans into competition with each other.

The Drive to Bond (D2)

Humans have a fundamental emotional need to seek and develop mutual social commitments.
This drive draws humans into collaboration with each other.

The Drive to Comprehend (D3)

Humans have a fundamental emotional need to develop understandings of their environments and themselves.
This drive draws humans into collecting information, building new knowledge, exploring new possibilities, and finding meaning if their activities and life.

The Drive to Defend (D4)

Humans have a fundamental emotional drive to defend our accomplishments in fulfilling our other three drives.
When such accomplishments are threatened, humans experience fear or anger and respond by “fight or flight.”

Our survey and reports clearly illustrate how these four drives explain the four dimensions of employee motivation:

Work Engagement
–Engagement captures the energy, effort, and initiative employees bring to their jobs
Organizational Commitment
–Commitment captures the extent to which employees engage in corporate citizenship
Work Satisfaction
–Satisfaction reflects the extent to which employees feel that the company meets their expectations at work and satisfies the implicit and explicit contract it has with its employees
Intention to Leave
–Intention to quit is the best proxy for employee turnover

Benefits of Using Four Drives Method for your team:

Provides an assessment of the level of motivation, engagement, commitment, and potential for turnover in your organization
Provides a powerful diagnostic of the 4-Drives and related organizational factors that explain important employee outcomes
Provides managers with useful data on their leadership in terms of their ability to meet their employees’ 4-Drives
Allows organizations and their managers to pinpoint the specific changes they need to make to improve employee well-being and reduce employee turnover
Can be used to monitor improvements in performance over time