In my projects I often use Management Drives as a method to start personal and team development. Below I explain more about the method and why it is such a powerful tool.
What is Management Drives?
The Management Drives method measures and provides insight into what motivates a team or person. The Management Drives method thus offers a communal language to enable behaviour to be discussed and to use the strength of the team and each individual. Management Drives uses a language with six colours, uniquely presented in a matrix. Each colour stands for a style of leadership or organisational culture.
Drives are motivators that predict how a team or person uses their knowledge, skills and competences. The theory of Management Drives is based on the studies of Clare W. Graves (1914 – 1986). Graves based his theory on Jung and Maslow. The six colours each have their own meaning at organisation and team level and for someone’s personal leadership.
Thanks to Management Drives we discovered that we had a lack of Green in the Management Team. This drive values communication and the involvement of other people. This insight made us understand why the teams below us had difficulty adopting the strategy and vision we formulated with the Management Team: We did not spend enough time communicating our strategy and involving our Sr. Managers. During our management drives training we formulated an action plan to work on this blind spot as a team.
Management Drives is unique because it makes a connection between:
- Organisational development and culture
- Team development
- Individual Leadership
Achieving your objectives more effectively using Management Drives
Great leaders know that you cannot change the drives of people. However, you can develop people’s behaviour. Great leaders also know which leadership style resonates with specific drives and they motivate people in line with their dominant drives. In this way you truly empower people and you will be able to achieve objectives or necessary changes in the organisation more quickly. Management Drives helps individuals and teams to improve their effectiveness and their performance.
We have a dominant Orange drive in our team. So to motivate and energize our team it is important to celebrate our successes and results. However, our day-to-day operations are so hectic that we never really took the time to reflect on our achievements and enjoy them. During our leadership coaching we introduced several practical tools, such as and action and decision list in meetings and a Strategy Map on which we reflect monthly, so we realize the progress we make as both individuals and a team. The result is that we are more aware of our achievements and that boosts our energy!
Do you want to know more about Management Drives? Contact me! As a certified trainer I’d love to tell you more about it and discover what it can bring you and your team.