Inclusive Innovative Analytical Pragmatic

Introduction

Employee engagement worldwide is heading South.

Gallup’s 2025 State of the Global Workplace report shows global engagement dropping from 23% in 2023 to 21% in 2024. This is only the second fall in twelve years and is linked to an estimated $438 billion in lost productivity in 2024 alone.

Most employees are not thriving in this picture.
Globally, only 21% feel engaged with their work; 62% report they are “not engaged”; and 17% say they are actively disengaged. Quiet quitting, more sick days, waiting out the week and feeling stuck in roles that drain energy have become common experiences in many organisations.

A clear pattern sits underneath these numbers.
Gallup’s long-term research suggests that about 70% of the difference in engagement between teams links back to the manager. Separate studies show that around one in two employees have left a job at some point in their career to get away from a manager and improve their life, even when they still cared about the work.

This does not place blame on managers.

Managers themselves sit under intense pressure. Manager engagement has dropped to around 27%, and young and female managers show some of the steepest declines. Many feel caught between demands from above, expectations from their teams and little support or training. In that context, both managers and employees experience rising stress, lower well-being and higher turnover.

The hopeful side of this picture is influence.
The same data that highlight the problem also show that engagement improves when people know what is expected of them, receive regular, useful conversations about their work and feel trusted to use their judgement. Research on motivation, including Daniel Pink’s work, points towards three core drivers: meaningful goals, a sense of progress and mastery, and autonomy – genuine freedom to decide how to approach work within clear outcomes.

People join organisations with energy and hope.
They leave managers, systems and cultures that ignore how they work best.

Many organisations have turned to personality tools in search of answers. Personality tends to remain stable across adulthood and does not shift in response to training or new slogans. Labels based on fixed types often leave people feeling boxed in, while expectations around behaviour still change little.

Preferences behave differently.

They respond to awareness, environment and intent. When you understand your preferences, you start to notice how you approach relationships, thinking, decisions and delivery. You also gain language to express the conditions that help you give your best. When managers understand those preferences across a team, they adjust communication, role design and expectations in ways that lift engagement and reduce friction.

Sariio MAPS (Motivations And Preferences Survey) exists for this purpose.
It focuses on four workplace factors:

• Connecting
• Thinking
• Deciding
• Implementing

Connecting and Implementing are the parts of you that others notice first. They shape how you come across in meetings, conversations and day-to-day delivery. Thinking and Deciding sit more in the background. They influence how you process information, weigh options and form judgments before you act or speak.

This report acts as a mirror.

It reflects how you tend to relate to others, organise your thinking, make decisions, and deliver work. It links these patterns with Daniel Pink’s ideas on autonomy, mastery and purpose, and with Alfred Adler’s focus on contribution and social interest – the belief that work matters when it supports something beyond the self.

If you manage others, this report offers a practical framework for understanding what drives different people, so you can work with their preferences rather than push against them.
If you are not a manager, it gives you clear language to express how you prefer to work and what helps you contribute at your best.

The purpose is straightforward: more transparent communication, better alignment and healthier working relationships.

Sariio MAPS gives you the insight to play to your preferences – so that work feels more sustainable, and you feel more engaged and aligned with the contribution you want to make.

Your Sariio MAPS Reflection At A Glance

Your profile brings together Inclusive in Connecting, Innovative in Thinking, Analytical in Deciding and Pragmatic in Implementing.

You focus on people, ideas, evidence and practicality. You involve others, rethink how things work, test assumptions and then deliver in a way that fits the real world.

You look for shared purpose, scope for improvement, sound reasoning and outcomes that work in practice, not only on paper. You dislike exclusion, rigid habits, decisions based on opinion or rank and plans that ignore time and capacity. You prefer open discussion, thoughtful challenge, clear logic and realistic delivery.

Others often experience you as warm and engaging in meetings and calm, grounded and solution-focused in execution. Your pattern usually feels like “bring people in, rethink, test, then do what works here”.

The upside is engagement, improvement and practical results.
The risk, if you do not manage it, is lower stretch than the role needs, slow movement on some topics and friction with more Cautious, Methodical, Prudent, Decisive, Thorough, Pragmatic and Driven colleagues at the other poles.

How You Tend To Show Up At Work

What others see: Connecting and Implementing

In everyday work, people mostly notice your Inclusive and Pragmatic preferences.

To others, you often appear kind, open and steady. You notice who speaks, who stays quiet and who feels close to the edge of the group. You draw people in, share context and try to keep everyone aligned.

In delivery, you bring realism and flexibility. You weigh goals against time, budget and capacity. You adapt plans, trim scope and adjust approach so that work still lands. You dislike waste, empty promises and targets that ignore constraints.

Under pressure, these visible patterns intensify. You invest more effort in supporting people and explaining changes while also reshaping plans to keep them achievable. Some colleagues value this and see you as the person who holds both people and reality in view. Others may react differently:

• Cautious colleagues may feel you welcome people before reliability is clear.

• Driven colleagues may feel you lower their ambition in the name of “being practical”.

• Thorough colleagues may feel you accept “good enough” more often than they like.

• Other Inclusive colleagues may lean on you and leave you carrying the group load.

If you ignore these reactions, you risk being labelled “nice but soft” or “sensible but not bold enough”.

What others do not see immediately: Thinking and Deciding

Behind this visible presence sit your Innovative and Analytical preferences. They shape how you process information and reach decisions before anyone sees your actions.

Your thinking searches for better ways to reach goals. You look at processes, products, and habits and ask where they could shift to have more impact. You dislike change for show, yet you question “we always do it this way”.

Your decisions lean on evidence and logic. You test claims, look for data, check assumptions and want a line from facts to conclusions. You feel uneasy when decisions rest on impulse, politics or mood.

From the outside, people may mainly see your inclusion and your pragmatism. They may miss how much creative thinking and analysis sit underneath. In reality, you combine relationship focus, idea generation, critical evaluation and grounded delivery.

The risk is that you do much of that thinking in your head, then present conclusions and compromises without showing the path that led there.

Deep Dive Into Your Preferences

Inclusive (Connecting)

You approach relationships with a strong pull towards inclusion and belonging. You notice who is present, who holds the floor and who stays silent. You want people to feel that they matter and that work is not something done to them.

At your best, this strengthens trust and engagement. People feel seen and less isolated. You build bridges across functions or levels and help groups act more like teams.

Under stress, this preference strengthens. You spend more time listening, explaining and checking how others are coping. You try to shield colleagues from poor behaviour and from decisions that ignore their reality.

You feel more engaged when people treat each other with respect, when leaders consider the impact on people, and when outcomes do not depend on fear.

Where this pattern may hold you back

With Inclusive and Pragmatic together, you often protect people by lowering demands.

• You shape goals and plans based on what you believe the group can handle.

• Driven colleagues may feel that you narrow their ambition too early.

• Thorough colleagues may feel you accept lighter standards to keep the peace.

• Cautious colleagues may feel you open the circle before trust and reliability are proven.

You also risk avoiding direct challenge, especially on behaviour. You soften messages to keep relationships smooth, then feel frustrated when nothing shifts.

You need more precise lines:

• Where support means listening, and where it means simple, firm feedback.

• Which requests you accept, and which you redirect.

• Where you stand alongside people, and where you expect them to step up.

Inclusion without boundaries drifts into over-protection and hidden resentment.

Innovative (Thinking)

You think in possibilities and improvements. You look at how things work and ask where they could shift for a better impact. You question stale routines and feel drawn towards change with substance behind it.

At your best, this fuels useful progress. You see options where others see fixed walls. You suggest new routes, designs or sequences that remove friction and open better outcomes.

When pressure rises, your Innovative preference intensifies. You search harder for ideas that protect results under constraint, shortcuts that save effort or changes that match the scale of the challenge.

You feel more engaged when leaders show interest in improvement, when ideas receive a fair hearing and when curiosity is not treated as trouble.

Where this pattern may hold you back

With Innovative, Analytical and Pragmatic together, you raise the bar on change.

• You generate ideas, then test them hard and filter them through practicality.

• Driven colleagues may feel you want to “put the brakes on” their bold moves by asking many questions.

• Methodical colleagues may feel unsettled if you change the route before existing processes bed in.

• Pragmatic colleagues who lean more towards short fixes may feel you aim for improvements that the system will struggle to absorb.

You also risk holding back ideas until they feel entirely defensible and feasible. By the time you share them, windows of opportunity may have narrowed.

You need two modes:

• An exploratory mode, where you share emerging ideas without full evidence and invite others to shape them.

• A decision mode, where you apply your Analytical and Pragmatic filters and choose what to attempt.

If you bring only the second mode, others experience challenge and caution more than creativity.

Analytical (Deciding)

You prefer decisions that rest on clear reasoning. You look for data, patterns and logical links. You feel uneasy when choices rest on opinion, hierarchy or mood.

At your best, this protects quality and reduces avoidable mistakes. You test assumptions, challenge weak arguments and help teams avoid repeating errors from the past.

Under stress, this preference tightens. You look for more information, more checks and more robust logic. You notice flaws that others step past and struggle to ignore what you see.

You feel more engaged when leaders value evidence, when claims receive scrutiny and when logic carries at least as much weight as rank.

Where this pattern may hold you back

With Analytical, Innovative and Pragmatic together, you hold decisions to a thoughtful but complex standard.

• Decisive colleagues may feel you delay closure.

• Prudent colleagues may still feel cautious, even after deep analysis, and push for further delay.

• Driven colleagues may feel you over-think issues that need movement.

You also risk treating medium-stakes decisions as if each one deserves complete analysis. Time and attention then spread across many topics, and big questions compete with small ones for space.

You need a simple decision ladder:

• High impact, high risk: deeper analysis and debate.

• Medium impact: enough information to feel sound, then a clear call.

• Low impact: a quick choice, with permission to adjust later.

If you expect high-certainty logic everywhere, frustration rises for you and for others.

Pragmatic (Implementing)

You approach delivery with a focus on what works. You weigh quality, speed and effort against context. You tailor scope, method and timing to fit the limits and pressures you see.

At your best, this reduces waste and frustration. You highlight gaps between ambition and capacity, steer away from empty theatre, and design delivery that people can sustain.

When pressure rises, your Pragmatic preference grows stronger. You trim non-essentials, simplify where possible and protect the core. You often give voice to “here is what we are actually able to do”.

You feel more engaged when people speak honestly about constraints, when leaders back realistic plans and when achievement means progress that counts, not mere appearance.

Where this pattern may hold you back

With Inclusive, Innovative and Analytical in the mix, Pragmatic sometimes pulls you towards “safe and workable”.

• You see risk and limits, so you narrow bold ideas to what feels manageable.

• Driven colleagues may feel you take the edge off ambition.

• Thorough colleagues may feel you accept “good enough” where they see risk.

• Innovative colleagues at the more radical end may feel your practicality dampens bigger shifts.

You also risk handling unrealistic demands through quiet compromise rather than open negotiation. You reduce scope internally, work harder yourself or lower standards inside your own head, while outwardly keeping the plan intact.

You need visible trade-offs:

• Which standards and outcomes you treat as non-negotiable.

• Where you are willing to flex.

• When you escalate rather than smoothing issues on your own.

Pragmatism without explicit lines looks like routine compromise, even when you are trying to protect people and results.

Conditions And Triggers

What energises you

You draw energy from environments where:

• People feel included and able to speak up.

• Ideas receive interest, not instant dismissal.

• Evidence and logic influence decisions.

• Plans reflect constraints as well as ambition.

You respond well to roles that involve:

• Coordination and collaboration.

• Improving how things work.

• Analysing information and options.

• Delivering outcomes that need both sense and realism.

You like knowing:

• The purpose and success measures.

• The main assumptions and risks.

• The limits on budget, time and scope.

• Who decides what and how those decisions are made.

You feel more engaged when you see that your inclusion lifts morale, your ideas open better options, your analysis improves decisions and your pragmatism keeps work sustainable.

Autonomy matters in shaping your day, exploring improvements, and negotiating trade-offs between standards, speed, and scope.

Patterns to watch

Several patterns deserve attention.

Lowering the “ask” to protect people.
You adjust ambition downwards so that workloads feel humane. This protects the team, yet the role or business may require more challenge.

Heavy analysis on mid-level topics.
You bring Analytical depth to decisions that do not merit it. Energy drains away from bigger questions.

Quiet compromises.
You adjust scope and standards privately to keep unrealistic plans alive. Leaders see delivery and repeat the pattern, while you feel tired and under-valued.

Support plus critique without precise framing.
You include people, then question ideas and outputs in detail. Colleagues feel both welcomed and under the microscope.

You do not need to drop care for people or realism.
You do need more open discussion of limits, risks and priorities.

Working Better With Others

How to work well with your manager

You work best with managers who recognise that you bring inclusion, improvement, analysis and practical delivery. They involve you in shaping work and rely on you to spot what will and will not land.

You benefit from clear and honest briefs. You need:

• Defined outcomes and priorities.

• Context and reasons behind the work.

• Key assumptions, risks and constraints.

• A sense of where ambition sits and what success looks like.

Once those are clear, you involve the right people, explore ideas, test them and then deliver in a way that fits the setting.

You add strong value when your manager involves you:

• Early in scoping and problem definition.

• In checking logic and feasibility of plans.

• In shaping realistic expectations for stakeholders.

You appreciate managers who listen to your reasoning, support adjustments when reality diverges from plans and notice the thinking behind your recommendations.

Where this pattern may hold you back with your manager

If you keep smoothing gaps between ambition and reality on your own, your manager assumes expectations remain workable.

• You trim and reorder tasks quietly.

• You accept more work to avoid disappointing others.

• You feel responsible when something goes wrong, even though the setup was flawed.

Managers with Driven preferences push for more and faster.
Managers with Thorough preferences push for more depth.
Managers with Pragmatic preferences who are further towards speed push for quicker, lighter fixes.

If you respond each time with extra effort or quiet compromise instead of clear trade-offs, you become the invisible buffer.

You need sentences such as:

• “With this time and resource, here is what we deliver and here is what drops.”

• “If we want this level of quality, we need more time or fewer other tasks.”

• “Here is the risk profile of this plan and here are safer alternatives.”

That shifts responsibility for risk and stretch into shared decisions rather than sitting on your shoulders.

How others can get the best from you

Colleagues gain more from you when they understand that you bring inclusion, fresh thinking, critical analysis and realistic delivery.

They support you when they:

• Share context, not only tasks.

• Bring you into discussions early enough for your input to shape the plan.

• Provide data and background, not only opinions.

• Stay honest about constraints instead of hiding problems.

You help them when you:

• Explain your reasoning step by step, not only your conclusions.

• Signal when you are exploring options and when you are recommending a call.

• Distinguish between must-haves and preferences in quality or scope.

• Share concerns early and invite joint problem-solving.

Where this pattern may hold you back with colleagues

Colleagues at other poles notice friction.

• Cautious colleagues may feel you include people before safety is clear.

• Methodical colleagues may feel unsettled if you adjust processes mid-flight.

• Prudent colleagues may feel you still accept too much risk, even after analysis.

• Decisive and Driven colleagues may feel you slow down momentum with questions and caveats.

• Thorough colleagues may feel you accept “good enough” when they see an important detail.

• Other Pragmatic colleagues may feel you question quick fixes too often.

If you respond by softening your views, you feel under-used.
If you respond by pushing harder, resistance shifts into passive behaviour.

You need more explicit, direct conversations:

• “Here is why I think this level of analysis or adjustment matters.”

• “Here is what your preferred route gives us and what it risks.”

• “Here is the balance between ambition and realism that I recommend.”

That keeps you in the role of thoughtful partner rather than quiet fixer or blocker.

Everyday Checklist: How To Explain Your Preferences

Use these suggestions as prompts to start conversations, so you play to your preferences with your manager and colleagues rather than working to someone else’s default style.

What to say to your manager

• I do my best work when the outcome, priorities and constraints are clear. Once those are set, I involve the right people, explore options, test assumptions and then deliver in a practical way.

• At the start of a project, a short run-through of background, key risks, success measures and non-negotiables helps me focus ideas and analysis on what matters most.

• I tend to ask questions about logic, evidence and impact on people. That is my way of protecting quality and sustainability, not an attempt to resist change.

• I value agreement on where we aim high and where a “good enough” outcome is acceptable. That helps me target effort and avoid over-working lower-risk tasks.

• When priorities or scope shift, a brief explanation of why, what moves up or down the list and what success now looks like helps me adapt plans without losing track.

• If you need more pace, it helps to agree on what to simplify, drop or accept more risk on, rather than expecting the same level of analysis and care in less time.

What to say to your colleagues

• I try to include people and share context. If I bring you into a discussion, it is because your view matters, not to burden you.

• I like us to be clear on who is doing what, by when and to what level. Even a simple outline helps me stay organised and keep things moving.

• If I challenge assumptions or ask for more detail, it is to strengthen our work and avoid rework later, not to criticise anyone’s effort.

• I prefer solutions that work in practice. If the plan starts to feel unrealistic, it helps if we talk early about what we can change or drop.

• If my questions or realism feel heavy at times, please let me know. I am open to adjusting, as long as we stay honest about risks, workload and standards.

• If you see a simpler route to reach the same outcome, I am interested. Sharing it early helps us combine your practicality with my focus on ideas and analysis.

How this helps you play to your preferences

• You receive clearer briefs, expectations and trade-offs that align with your Inclusive, Innovative, Analytical and Pragmatic style.

• Your manager and colleagues understand that your questions and suggestions support quality, sustainability and useful change, rather than negativity or lack of ambition.

• You focus effort on the right work, protect people and outcomes where it matters most and help the team move from ideas into achievable, meaningful results.

Sariio MAPS: Liberating Conversations

Playing to Your Preferences

Sariio MAPS enables you to express how you prefer to work. It helps you put into words how you like to be briefed, how you prefer to collaborate and what supports you in doing your best work.

Share this with your manager and colleagues so they understand how to work with you, not against you. That means fewer imposed ways of working based on someone else’s preferences and more space to play to your own, while still meeting the demands of the role.

Used this way, Sariio MAPS becomes a practical tool for direct conversations, a better fit between you and your role and a more sustainable, motivating work experience.