Which drives analysis or personality test suits you?
The best choice depends on what you want to know: how someone behaves, or why. This decision aid lays the best-known methods side by side, fairly.
If you mainly want to make behavioural styles discussable quickly, DISC or Insights Discovery fit, because they are based on Carl Jung and describe how someone behaves. If you want to understand why someone does what they do, you choose a drives method based on Clare Graves, such as Management Drives, Profile Dynamics or MyDrives. MyDrives works with 7 colours, which gives more nuance than models with 4 or 6 colours, and goes beyond the analysis: MyDrives takes the snapshot of your drives, with MyHabits you develop behaviour further through micro-triggers, and with MyMatch you apply drives and aptitudes for selection.
First the key question: behaviour or drive?
Behavioural models (based on Jung)
DISC and Insights Discovery mainly describe how someone behaves and communicates. They are accessible and quickly recognisable, and help teams to make differences in style discussable.
Drives models (based on Graves)
Management Drives, Profile Dynamics and MyDrives look at the drive underneath the behaviour: why someone does what they do. That is valuable when you truly want to understand motivation, development and selection.
The snapshot of behaviour helps with communication. The snapshot of drives helps when you want to know what sets people in motion.
A few methods in one overview
| Method | Basis | What it measures | Structure | From insight to behaviour | Recruitment and selection | AI analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DISC | Marston and Jung | Behavioural style | 4 colours | Not built in | Limited suitability | Unknown |
| Insights Discovery | Jung | Behavioural preference | 4 energies, 72 types | Separate training | Advised against by its makers | Unknown |
| Management Drives | Graves | Drives | 6 colours | Training and consultancy | Not as a separate product | Unknown |
| Profile Dynamics | Graves | Drives | 7 colours | Analysis and training | Yes, separate product | Unknown |
| MyDrives | Graves | Drives | 7 colours | MyHabits, micro-triggers | MyMatch, incl. aptitude test | Analytics AI and Team DNA |
More colours, more nuance
Each colour gets a preference and an opposition, both in whole percentages, and the difference between them is your energy balance. The more colours, the more possible combinations of those scores, and so the more fine-grained and personal the profile.
With DISC the difference is not in the number of colours, but in the layer: DISC measures behaviour, MyDrives the drive underneath.
Substantiation and external validation
A good test must do what it promises. That is why independent substantiation matters in your choice. On this point the methods differ.
Profile Dynamics
Profile Dynamics has been assessed by COTAN, the committee that reviews the quality of psychological tests in the Netherlands. That is a strong and recognised quality mark.
MyDrives
MyDrives has been externally validated by an independent consultant. In addition, we make anonymised data available, so the substantiation can also be checked independently instead of having to take our word for it.
What briefly characterises each method
DISC
An accessible model that maps behaviour into four styles. Strong when you want to set up a shared language about behaviour quickly and with a low threshold. Difference with MyDrives: DISC describes the visible behaviour, MyDrives measures why someone shows a particular behaviour.
Insights Discovery
A widely adopted model with four colour energies and a fine-grained typology. Strong for making communication styles discussable within teams. Difference with MyDrives: Insights looks at behavioural preference, MyDrives at the underlying motivation.
Management Drives
An established international platform based on Graves, with a large partner network. Strong when international standardisation matters a lot. Difference with MyDrives: 6 colours versus 7, MyDrives links the analysis to behavioural development and selection, and offers a more favourable value for money.
Profile Dynamics
A Dutch drives analysis based on Graves, with 7 colours just like MyDrives, and with its own products for teams and recruitment. Difference with MyDrives: the further development from insight to behaviour with MyHabits, the thinking-feeling-doing triangle and the AI analysis (Analytics AI and Team DNA).
MyDrives
A drives method based on Graves with 7 colours, including turquoise for systemic and holistic thinking. MyDrives takes the snapshot of your drives, and with MyHabits and MyMatch you develop behaviour and improve selection.
Preferred roles: thinking, feeling and doing
MyDrives maps not only your drives, but also your preferred roles with the thinking-feeling-doing triangle. It shows how you naturally switch between thinking, feeling and doing, and how your drives interplay along the axes of interaction, logic and imagination.
This interplay of roles and axes makes visible where someone's natural contribution lies in a team, and is an element you will not find quite like this in other methods.
Choose based on your goal
I want to make communication styles discussable within a team.
DISC is a simple way to make behaviour visible, in four recognisable styles. If you want a more fine-grained picture, Insights Discovery offers that.
I want to understand what really motivates people.
Choose a drives method based on Graves: Management Drives, Profile Dynamics or MyDrives.
I want not only insight, but also to develop behaviour and select better.
Then MyDrives is the logical choice. MyDrives takes the snapshot of the drives, with MyHabits you develop behaviour through micro-triggers, and with MyMatch you use drives and aptitudes for recruitment and selection.
What makes MyDrives different?
Seven colours for more nuance
With 7 colours, including turquoise for systemic and holistic thinking, MyDrives gives more possible profiles than models with 4 or 6 colours. More colours means a sharper snapshot and more recognition.
From snapshot to behaviour
Where many methods end at the report, MyDrives sees it as the starting point. With MyHabits you develop behaviour further through micro-triggers: small, targeted nudges at the right moment, so that new behaviour sticks.
Drives and aptitudes
For recruitment and selection, MyMatch combines drives with aptitudes. Aptitudes are one of the strongest predictors of success at work, and the built-in aptitude test maps them objectively.
One continuous method
Insight with MyDrives, behaviour with MyHabits, selection with MyMatch and pattern recognition with Analytics AI belong together, instead of standing apart.
MyDrives as an alternative to Management Drives or Profile Dynamics?
Are you currently using Management Drives, Profile Dynamics or another method based on Clare Graves? Then we convert all your existing profiles to MyDrives free of charge, so you do not lose any insight and can continue straight away with behavioural development and selection.
Do you already know the Graves theory well enough? Then you do not need to complete the certification again. We deliver tailored solutions and think along with you.
A good test takes a sharp snapshot. But a snapshot does not yet change behaviour. That is why MyDrives does not stop at the report: we translate insight into behaviour and into the right person in the right place. For me, that is the difference that counts.
Marc Stijfs Founder MyDrives MyHabits MyMatch
Experience it yourself?
Take the free miniscan and get a first impression of your own drives.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a behavioural test and a drives test?
A behavioural test such as DISC or Insights describes how someone behaves. A drives test such as MyDrives, Management Drives or Profile Dynamics looks at the drive underneath: why someone shows that behaviour.
Why do 7 colours say more than 6?
Each colour gets a preference and an opposition in whole percentages. The more colours, the more possible profiles. A model with 7 colours therefore allows well over 300 times more possible profiles than a model with 6 colours, and so more nuance and recognition.
What exactly does MyMatch measure?
MyMatch combines drives with aptitudes. Aptitudes are one of the strongest predictors of success at work, and with the built-in aptitude test you map them objectively alongside the drives.
Is MyDrives scientifically substantiated?
MyDrives has been externally validated by an independent consultant, and we make anonymised data available so the substantiation can be checked independently. Of the comparable methods, Profile Dynamics has been assessed by COTAN, the Dutch quality mark for test quality.
I already work with another drives method. Can I switch?
Yes. If you already work with a method based on Clare Graves, such as Management Drives or Profile Dynamics, we convert your existing profiles to MyDrives free of charge, so you do not lose any insight.
Can I do a drives analysis for free?
Yes, through the free MyDrives miniscan you get a first impression at no cost.
Which test is best for recruitment and selection?
DISC and Insights are less suited to that. With MyMatch, MyDrives offers an approach that specifically applies drives and aptitudes for selection, including an aptitude test.