Here’s the short answer: 12 Driving Forces reveals why people do what they do, and DiSC reveals how they behave. One maps motivation. The other maps behavior. They answer fundamentally different questions about your team. If you need to understand what drives someone’s decisions, values, and energy, 12 Driving Forces is your tool. If you need to understand communication style, pace, and observable behavior, DiSC is your tool. Most teams benefit from using both, because motivation and behavior are two sides of the same coin. This guide breaks down exactly what each assessment measures, how they differ, and when to choose one over the other.
Key Takeaways
- 12 Driving Forces measures motivation — the why behind actions — across six core motivators, each with two clusters (12 total driving forces).
- DiSC measures behavior — the how of communication and action — across four style dimensions.
- The two assessments are complementary, not competing. They fill in different parts of the same picture.
- Choose 12 Driving Forces when motivation misalignment, values conflicts, or hiring fit are your primary concerns.
- Choose DiSC when communication breakdowns, team dynamics, or behavioral clashes are the problem.
- Using both assessments together gives you the most complete view of any individual or team.
- Neither assessment is a label — they’re tools for understanding, not boxes to put people in.
What 12 Driving Forces Actually Measures
12 Driving Forces is built on one core idea: behavior makes more sense when you understand the motivation behind it. The assessment maps what energizes and drains a person across six core motivators, each split into two clusters — giving you 12 distinct driving forces.
Here are the six motivators and their two clusters each:
| Motivator | Cluster A | Cluster B |
|---|---|---|
| Knowledge | Instinctive (past experience, intuition) | Intellectual (learning, discovery, truth-seeking) |
| Utility | Selfless (serving others, giving back) | Resourceful (return on investment, efficiency) |
| Surroundings | Objective (function over form, practical) | Harmonious (beauty, environment, aesthetics) |
| Others | Intentional (selective relationships, depth) | Altruistic (helping and serving others broadly) |
| Power | Commanding (authority, control, leadership) | Collaborative (shared influence, teamwork-driven) |
| Methodology | Receptive (flexible, open to new approaches) | Structured (order, process, predictability) |
Each cluster exists on a continuum. A person might be strongly Intellectual in Knowledge but only mildly Structured in Methodology. The result is a nuanced portrait of what lights someone up and what drains them dry.
This matters because two people can display the exact same behavior for completely different reasons. A team member who works late every night might be driven by Resourceful Utility (ROI thinking) or by Altruistic Others (wanting to help the team). Same behavior. Entirely different motivation. Entirely different way to support and retain that person.
What DiSC Actually Measures
DiSC focuses on observable behavior and communication style. It maps how people act, communicate, and respond to their environment across four dimensions:
- D (Dominance): Direct, results-oriented, fast-paced, assertive
- i (Influence): Enthusiastic, people-focused, outgoing, optimistic
- S (Steadiness): Patient, reliable, team-oriented, consistent
- C (Conscientiousness): Analytical, detail-oriented, accurate, systematic
Everyone has some blend of all four styles, with one or two typically dominant. DiSC tells you how someone is likely to show up in meetings, handle conflict, respond to deadlines, and prefer to communicate.
What DiSC doesn’t tell you is why. A high-D person might be driven by Commanding Power or by Resourceful Utility. A high-S person might be driven by Altruistic Others or Structured Methodology. DiSC shows you the outside. 12 Driving Forces shows you the inside. Both perspectives matter.
12 Driving Forces vs DiSC: Comparison Table
| Factor | 12 Driving Forces | DiSC |
|---|---|---|
| Core question | Why do people do what they do? | How do people behave? |
| What it measures | Motivation, values, driving forces | Observable behavior, communication style |
| Framework | 6 motivators × 2 clusters = 12 driving forces | 4 behavioral dimensions (D, i, S, C) |
| Depth of insight | Internal drivers and energy sources | External patterns and preferences |
| Best for | Hiring fit, values alignment, motivation, retention | Communication, team dynamics, conflict, collaboration |
| Time to complete | ~15–20 minutes | ~10–15 minutes |
| Primary use case | Understanding what energizes or drains someone | Understanding how someone prefers to act and interact |
| Complementary? | Yes — pairs well with DiSC for full picture | Yes — pairs well with 12DF for full picture |
| Risk of misuse | Judging someone’s values as “wrong” | Stereotyping someone as “always a D” |
| Reveals | Hidden drivers behind decisions | Preferred pace and communication style |
The Critical Difference: Motivation vs Behavior
This is the heart of the 12 Driving Forces vs DiSC comparison, so let’s make it concrete.
Imagine two team members, Alex and Jordan. Both are high-D on DiSC. Both are direct, fast-paced, results-oriented. On paper, they look identical.
Now look at their 12 Driving Forces:
- Alex scores high in Commanding Power and Resourceful Utility. Alex wants control and ROI. Alex drives results to win and to prove competence.
- Jordan scores high in Collaborative Power and Altruistic Others. Jordan wants shared influence and to help people. Jordan drives results so the whole team succeeds.
Same behavior profile. Fundamentally different human being. Different manager needs. Different retention risks. Different conflict triggers.
If you only use DiSC, you’d manage Alex and Jordan the same way — and you’d be wrong about half the time. That’s the cost of measuring only behavior. You miss the why.
Conversely, if you only use 12 Driving Forces, you’d know what drives Alex and Jordan but not how they’ll actually communicate those drivers. A deeply Altruistic person who’s also high-i will express care very differently than a deeply Altruistic person who’s high-C. Motivation without behavior is incomplete too.
The best teams use both. Behavior tells you what’s happening. Motivation tells you why.
When to Choose 12 Driving Forces
12 Driving Forces is the right call when your challenge is about motivation, values, or fit. Here are the specific scenarios where it shines:
1. Hiring and Role Fit
When you’re bringing someone onto your team, understanding their driving forces tells you whether the role will energize or drain them. A highly Intellectual person in a rote, repetitive role will burn out. A strongly Structured person in a chaotic startup environment will feel constant anxiety. Research shows that misaligned motivation is one of the top predictors of early turnover — above and beyond skill mismatch.
2. Values Conflicts on the Team
When two team members clash, the surface behavior is often just the tip of the iceberg. The real conflict is usually about values. One person prioritizes efficiency (Resourceful Utility). The other prioritizes thoroughness (Intellectual Knowledge). Neither is wrong. But without 12 Driving Forces, they’ll just keep bumping into each other and calling it a “personality clash.”
3. Motivation and Retention
If your team’s engagement scores are dropping, 12 Driving Forces can reveal whether people are in roles that align with what actually energizes them. Gallup reports that only 33% of U.S. employees are engaged at work. A big chunk of that disengagement comes from motivation misalignment — people doing work that doesn’t connect to their core drivers.
4. Leadership Development
Leaders who understand their own driving forces make better decisions under pressure. When the stakes are high, motivation drives behavior more than style. Our leadership development workshop uses 12 Driving Forces to help leaders recognize when their own motivators are biasing their decisions.
When to Choose DiSC
DiSC is the right call when your challenge is about communication, behavior, or team dynamics. Here are the scenarios where it leads:
1. Communication Breakdowns
When your team can’t seem to get on the same page, DiSC cuts through the noise. It gives people a shared language to say, “I need more detail” or “I need faster decisions” without making it personal. Teams using DiSC report up to 30% fewer communication-related conflicts after the first workshop.
2. Team Dynamics and Collaboration
DiSC maps the behavioral landscape of your team. You can see where you have gaps (no high-C means no one’s naturally checking details) and where you have clusters (four high-Ds in a room means four people trying to drive). This is gold for team formation and project staffing.
3. Onboarding and Quick Integration
DiSC is faster to complete and easier to interpret on the surface. For new teams or onboarding, it gives people actionable insight almost immediately. “Oh, my manager is a high-S — I should give her time to process, not spring ideas on her five minutes before a deadline.” Our DiSC workshop is designed to get teams to this level of awareness in a single session.
4. Conflict That’s About Style, Not Values
Not every conflict is a deep values clash. Sometimes it’s just a high-D talking over a high-S, or a high-C bogging down a high-i with too many details. DiSC resolves style-based conflict fast.
When to Use Both
This is where the magic happens. When you combine 12 Driving Forces and DiSC, you get a complete picture — the inside and the outside of each person on your team.
Consider these scenarios where using both assessments changes everything:
Scenario 1: The “difficult” team member. Sarah seems resistant to change. DiSC shows she’s high-S — she prefers stability. But 12 Driving Forces reveals she’s also strongly Receptive in Methodology. She’s not resistant to new ideas. She just needs them introduced in a way that respects her pace. Without both pieces, you’d write her off as “stuck in her ways.”
Scenario 2: The burned-out high performer. Marcus crushes every deadline. DiSC shows high-D, high-C. He’s driven and detail-oriented. But 12 Driving Forces shows he’s extremely Resourceful in Utility and barely Altruistic in Others. He’s been running on output metrics, not meaning. He doesn’t need more challenging work. He needs work that matters to him. Without 12 Driving Forces, you’d keep piling on projects until he left.
Scenario 3: The team that agrees on everything and still can’t move forward. Everyone’s on the same page behaviorally (lots of high-S, high-i). But 12 Driving Forces reveals a split: half the team is Commanding in Power, half is Collaborative. They agree on the what but can’t align on the how — who decides, who leads, who owns. Without the motivation data, this looks like a behavioral problem. It’s actually a power and influence problem.
Research from TTI Success Insights shows that teams using both motivation and behavior assessments see 25% higher team effectiveness scores compared to teams using only one framework. The dual lens works.
Stats That Make the Case
Here are the numbers that matter:
- Only 33% of U.S. workers are engaged at work (Gallup, 2024). Motivation misalignment is a major driver of disengagement that behavior assessments alone can’t address.
- Teams using both motivation and behavior frameworks report 25% higher team effectiveness (TTI Success Insights research). The combination is more powerful than either alone.
- 72% of hiring failures are attributed to cultural or motivational misfit, not skill deficits (Leadership IQ study). 12 Driving Forces directly targets this problem.
- Up to 30% reduction in communication-related conflict is reported by teams after a DiSC workshop. Behavior awareness alone moves the needle.
- Employee turnover costs 50–200% of the person’s annual salary (SHRM estimates). Understanding motivation before and after hiring is one of the highest-ROI investments a team can make.
- 68% of employees say they’d work harder if they felt better recognized for their contributions — but recognition only works when it aligns with what actually motivates the person (Gallup). A Commanding Power person wants different recognition than an Altruistic Others person.
Our Tool-Agnostic Position
Here’s something important: we don’t believe there’s one “right” assessment. The best tool is the one that answers the question you’re actually asking.
12 Driving Forces is not better than DiSC. DiSC is not better than 12 Driving Forces. They’re different tools for different questions. Sometimes the right answer is to use both. Sometimes one is enough.
We also want to be clear: no personality or motivation assessment should ever be used as a label. A person is not “a High-D” or “a Resourceful Utility type.” They’re a whole human being with a rich, complicated interior. These assessments are tools for understanding — conversation starters, not conversation enders. They create shared language. They don’t create categories to put people in and leave them there.
The moment an assessment becomes a box instead of a window, it’s being misused. We train teams to use these tools with that principle front and center.
Which One Should Your Team Start With?
If you’re deciding where to begin, here’s a simple framework:
Start with DiSC if:
– Your team’s main pain is communication and collaboration
– You need quick wins and shared language fast
– You’re onboarding new members and need rapid integration
– Your conflict is about style, not deep values
Start with 12 Driving Forces if:
– Your team’s main pain is motivation, engagement, or retention
– You’re hiring and need to assess role fit more deeply
– Values conflicts keep surfacing under different disguises
– You need to understand why someone is behaving a certain way
Use both if:
– You’re doing a full team development initiative
– You want the most complete picture of your people
– Your team has both behavioral clashes and motivation gaps
– You’re investing in long-term culture building, not just a quick fix
Our communication workshop integrates DiSC as its foundation, and our leadership programs layer in 12 Driving Forces for deeper self-awareness. The right starting point depends on your team’s real, actual problem — not the problem you think you should have.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you take 12 Driving Forces and DiSC at the same time?
Yes. They measure different things, so there’s no overlap or contradiction. Many teams complete both assessments in a single workshop session. The combined results give you a more complete picture than either one alone.
Is 12 Driving Forces more accurate than DiSC?
Neither is “more accurate” — they measure different dimensions. DiSC accurately measures observable behavior and communication style. 12 Driving Forces accurately measures motivation and values. Comparing their accuracy is like comparing the accuracy of a thermometer and a barometer. They’re both right. They just tell you different things.
How long does each assessment take to complete?
DiSC typically takes 10–15 minutes. 12 Driving Forces takes 15–20 minutes. Both are quick enough to complete during a workshop without eating into discussion time.
Can 12 Driving Forces predict job performance?
No assessment directly predicts job performance, and we’d be wary of anyone claiming otherwise. What 12 Driving Forces can do is reveal whether someone’s core motivators align with the demands and culture of a role. That alignment — or misalignment — strongly affects engagement, retention, and satisfaction. But performance also depends on skill, experience, management quality, and countless other factors.
Do these assessments put people in boxes?
Only if you use them that way. Used properly, these tools open up understanding — they don’t close it down. We train teams to treat assessment results as starting points for conversation, not final verdicts on who someone is. People are more complex than any assessment. The point is to improve understanding, not to label.
Which assessment is better for hiring?
12 Driving Forces adds more value at the hiring stage because motivation-role alignment is a stronger predictor of retention than behavioral style. That said, DiSC can help you understand how a candidate will interact with existing team members. The strongest hiring processes reference both.
What if someone’s 12 Driving Forces and DiSC results seem to contradict?
They probably don’t contradict — they just reveal that motivation and behavior don’t always line up in obvious ways. A person who’s highly Collaborative in Power (motivation) but high-D in DiSC (behavior) might drive hard on behalf of the team. That’s not a contradiction. That’s a nuanced human being. These moments of apparent tension are usually where the richest insights live.
Ready to See What Drives Your Team?
Understanding behavior is essential. Understanding motivation is essential. Understanding both is transformational.
Book a DiSC workshop if your team needs to crack communication and collaboration — fast, practical, and immediately actionable.
Book a leadership development workshop if you want to go deeper — mapping both motivation and behavior to build leaders who truly understand themselves and their people.
Either way, you’ll walk away with more than assessment results. You’ll walk away with a team that sees each other more clearly — and works together more effectively because of it.
Dr. Rachel Cubas-Wilkinson, former VP at The Myers-Briggs Company and former Head of Learning Consulting at Pearson, our lead facilitator, holds a Doctorate in Organizational Psychology with over 15 years of experience guiding teams through personality and motivation assessments. She’s certified in both DiSC and 12 Driving Forces and has delivered workshops for more than 200 teams across industries.
