Inclusive Innovative Prudent Driven

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, Prudent in Deciding and Driven in Implementing.

You focus on people, ideas, careful judgment and results. You bring others in, challenge how things work, weigh the risks and consequences, and then push hard for progress.

You look for shared purpose, scope for improvement, responsible decisions and visible movement. You dislike exclusion, stale routines, rash choices on big issues and drift that wastes time. You prefer open discussion, thoughtful challenge, measured calls on serious topics and strong forward momentum.

Others often experience you as warm and inclusive in meetings and direct and insistent in delivery. Your pattern usually feels like “include, rethink, think twice, then drive forward”.

The upside is engagement, beneficial change and intense pace.
The risk, if you do not manage it, is inner strain between caution and speed, and friction with more Cautious, Methodical, Analytical, Decisive, Thorough, Pragmatic, and Driven colleagues with opposite motivations and preferences (archetypes).

How You Tend To Show Up At Work

What others see: Connecting and Implementing

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

To others, you often appear as the person who both includes and pushes. You see who is present, who stays quiet and who seems on the edge. You invite people into the conversation, share context and encourage involvement.

In delivery, you bring urgency and stretch. You care about movement, targets and impact. You dislike repeated talk with no action, slow responses and low effort. You set a brisk pace and expect others to keep up.

Under pressure, these visible patterns intensify. You gather people, explain what is happening, lift energy and push harder for outcomes. Some colleagues value this and experience you as energising and committed. Others may react differently:

• Cautious colleagues may feel exposed by inclusion and speed at the same time.

• Diplomatic colleagues may feel they need to manage the tension that follows strong pushes.

• Prudent colleagues, more cautious, may feel you move on before they are ready.

• Thorough colleagues may feel rushed to release work before it meets their standards.

• Pragmatic colleagues may feel you stretch ambition beyond what the system supports.

If you ignore these reactions, you risk reputations such as “supportive but relentless” or “strong at getting things moving, hard to keep up with”.

What others do not see immediately: Thinking and Deciding

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

Your thinking seeks better ways to achieve outcomes that matter. You look at processes, products, and structures and ask where they could be improved. You question habits that exist only because “we have always done it this way”.

Your decisions balance progress and risk. You think about consequences, especially on high-impact topics. You are wary of snap calls on significant issues, yet you also know that delay carries a cost and sits uneasily with your Driven side.

From the outside, people may mainly see your inclusion and your drive. They may miss how much idea generation and caution sit underneath. In reality, you combine relationship focus, improvement thinking, risk-aware decisions and a strong push.

The risk is that you do intense thinking in your head, then present firm views and a high pace without showing the path you took to reach them.

Deep Dive Into Your Preferences

Inclusive (Connecting)

You approach relationships with a strong focus on inclusion and belonging. You notice who is in the room, who speaks, who stays quiet and who seems on the margins. You want people to feel that they count and that work is not something done to them.

At your best, this lifts trust and engagement. People feel seen and more likely to contribute. You bridge gaps across teams or levels and help groups act more like a unit.

Under stress, this preference strengthens. You spend more time listening, explaining and checking how others are coping. You try to protect people from careless behaviour and decisions that land without thought for impact.

You feel more engaged when colleagues treat each other with respect, when leaders think about people as well as numbers and when outcomes do not depend on fear or exclusion.

Where this pattern may hold you back

With Inclusive, Prudent and Driven together, you often try to protect and stretch people at the same time.

• You invite people in, then push for movement and effort.

• Cautious colleagues may feel on display and under pressure.

• Diplomatic colleagues may feel your focus on truth and pace leaves little room for fine control of tone.

• Driven colleagues may feel you include more people than they would involve, then press them all towards high output.

You also risk softening messages to keep relationships smooth, only to feel frustrated when behaviour does not change.

You need more precise lines:

• Where support means listening and coaching.

• Where support means direct, simple feedback.

• Which requests you accept and which you decline or hand back.

Inclusion without boundaries pulls you into an emotional and practical load that no one person can sustain for long.

Innovative (Thinking)

You think in possibilities and improvements. You look at how things work and ask where they could shift to have more impact, less friction, or both. You feel drawn towards change that has substance behind it.

At your best, this fuels progress. You see openings where others see fixed walls. You suggest new routes, designs or methods that cut through stagnation or waste.

When pressure rises, your Innovative preference intensifies. You search harder for ideas that match the scale of the challenge, more innovative ways to use limited resources or bolder moves that protect essential outcomes.

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

Where this pattern may hold you back

With Innovative, Prudent and Driven together, you live with a strong internal pull.

• Your Innovative side wants change.

• Your Prudent side wants safety.

• Your Driven side wants speed.

From the outside, this can look like “propose change, then hesitate, then push”.

• Methodical colleagues may feel unsettled by route changes mid-process.

• Analytical colleagues may feel you are making decisions without all the data they would like.

• Pragmatic colleagues may feel you aim for improvements that the system will struggle to absorb.

You also risk sharing change ideas only after you have done extensive private weighing. By then, others may feel that options are already narrowed and that your “proposal” is close to a decision.

You need two gears:

• An exploratory gear, where you share rough ideas and invite others to shape and test them.

• A decision gear, where you apply Prudent checks and agree on what to try now and what to park.

If you use the second gear too early, people feel more pressure than creativity.

Prudent (Deciding)

You prefer decisions that feel responsible and proportionate. You think about risk, consequences and who will live with the outcome. You dislike rushed calls on significant issues.

At your best, this protects people, reputation and long-term results. You highlight risks that others miss, slow rush towards risky options and encourage more rounded thinking before significant commitments.

Under stress, this preference tightens. You look for more assurance, more information or more support before saying yes to significant moves. You consider potential downsides and struggle to ignore what you see.

You feel more engaged when leaders treat risk as real, when caution receives respect and when serious decisions receive more time than small ones.

Where this pattern may hold you back

With Prudent beside Innovative and Driven, you often wrestle between caution and pace.

• Your Driven side wants to move.

• Your Prudent side sees reasons to wait.

From the outside, colleagues may see “concerns, then a push anyway”.

• Decisive colleagues may feel you raise worries without a clear recommendation.

• Driven colleagues may feel you slow progress with caveats, then still expect strong delivery once a call is made.

• Analytical colleagues may feel you decide without enough data, even after you believe you have checked enough.

You also risk treating too many decisions as if they sit in the high-risk group. Time and thought then spread across issues of very different weight.

You need a simple decision ladder:

• High impact, high risk: more thought, slower pace, clear safeguards.

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

• Low impact: quick choices, with freedom to adjust as you learn.

If everything receives the high-impact treatment, you stall yourself and frustrate others.

Driven (Implementing)

You approach delivery with urgency and ambition. You want stretch, movement and visible results. Long periods with little progress drain you.

At your best, this lifts performance. You push projects forward, raise sights, challenge low effort and help teams move from talk into action. You often bring energy when others slow or stall.

When pressure rises, your Driven preference intensifies. You narrow your focus to key goals, increase the pace, and set firmer expectations. You work through obstacles rather than accepting them.

You feel more engaged when goals stretch you, when effort links to outcomes that matter and when achievement receives recognition.

Where this pattern may hold you back

With Driven beside Inclusive, Innovative and Prudent, you try to carry many roles at once:

• Carer and connector.

• Challenger of current methods.

• Guardian of risk.

• Accelerator of delivery.

This combination risks strain for you and others.

• Cautious colleagues may feel forced into exposure and speed that feels unsafe.

• Methodical colleagues may feel your pace outstrips the process.

• Thorough colleagues may feel they never receive enough time for depth.

• Pragmatic colleagues may feel you set ambition ahead of capacity, then rely on extra effort to close the gap.

You may read hesitation as resistance instead of information. If you respond with more pressure rather than curiosity, people move towards surface agreement and quiet disengagement.

You need deliberate pause points:

• To ask colleagues with Cautious, Methodical, Analytical, Prudent, Thorough or Pragmatic preferences what they see.

• To check whether the pace matches the capacity.

• To adjust targets or timelines before people burn out or step back.

Conditions And Triggers

What energises you

You draw energy from environments where:

• People feel included and able to speak.

• Ideas and challenges receive interest.

• Decisions take risk seriously.

• Ambitious goals sit on the table and progress is visible.

You respond well to roles that involve:

• Coordinating and energising people.

• Improving how things work.

• Weighing risk on important decisions.

• Delivering outcomes where pace and impact matter.

You like knowing:

• The purpose and success measures.

• The degree of stretch leaders expect.

• Key risks, constraints and decision rights.

• Where you can decide and where you must consult.

You feel more engaged when you see that your inclusion raises participation, your ideas open better routes, your caution avoids harm and your drive turns intent into results.

Autonomy matters in how you organise your work, involve others, balance caution with action and set pace within agreed limits.

Patterns to watch

Several patterns deserve attention.

Trying to be a protector and a pacesetter at the same time.
You protect people and then push them hard towards outcomes. Others hand both roles to you and withdraw their own effort in these areas.

Great concern about medium issues.
You bring Prudent thought and Driven energy to topics that do not merit that level of attention. Bigger questions then wait.

Over-promising through energy.
You include people, discuss ideas, accept high goals and then rely on your own effort and that of a few others to make the numbers add up.

Risk and strain held inside.
You see problems and pressure, yet work around them quietly. Leaders see delivery and assume the system is fine.

You do not need to lower your energy or care.
You do need more open discussion about limits, trade-offs and standards for decisions.

Working Better With Others

How to work well with your manager

You work best with managers who recognise that you bring inclusion, improvement thinking, cautious judgement and strong drive. They involve you in shaping direction and rely on you to move important work forward.

You benefit from clear, stretching and honest briefs. You need:

• Defined outcomes and priorities.

• Context and reasons behind the work.

• Expected pace and risk appetite.

• Key constraints and available support.

Once those are clear, you involve the right people, explore options, weigh risks and then drive delivery.

You add substantial value when your manager involves you:

• Early in strategy and change discussions.

• In testing logic and risk on significant decisions.

• In leading work where both people and performance matter.

You appreciate managers who listen to your reasoning, back agreed decisions and notice both impact and effort.

Where this pattern may hold you back with your manager

If you keep absorbing extra stretch and risk through your own efforts, your manager assumes the expectations fit.

• You work longer or harder to protect both people and results.

• You adjust the scope or method informally to keep plans realistic.

• You feel at fault when something slips, even when the original plan never matched capacity.

Managers with Driven preferences push for more and faster.
Managers with Pragmatic preferences push for lighter, quicker fixes.
Managers with Thorough or Analytical preferences push for more depth or data, while you feel pressure to move.

If you respond each time with extra effort instead of clear choices, you move towards burnout and unspoken resentment.

You need to say things such as:

• “With this time and resource, this is what we can deliver and this is what will slip.”

• “If we keep this level of ambition, we need to remove or delay other work.”

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

That shifts responsibility for stretch and risk into shared decision-making rather than leaving it with you.

How others can get the best from you

Colleagues gain more from you when they understand that you bring inclusion, fresh thinking, cautious choices and strong drive.

They support you when they:

• Share context, not only tasks.

• Bring you into discussions early, not at the sign-off stage.

• Are open about risks, constraints and capacity.

• Commit once decisions land, rather than reopening topics by default.

You help them when you:

• Explain your reasoning in clear, simple steps.

• Signal whether you are exploring, weighing or deciding.

• Distinguish between issues that affect risk and performance and those that are preferences.

• Invite input on pace, risk and workload from people with different preferences.

Where this pattern may hold you back with colleagues

Colleagues at other poles notice friction.

• Cautious colleagues may feel exposed by your inclusion and tempo.

• Methodical colleagues may feel your pace outstrips the process.

• Analytical colleagues may feel you move forward without all the data they expect.

• Decisive colleagues may feel you spend too long on risk before closure.

• Thorough colleagues may feel you cut time for depth.

• Pragmatic colleagues may feel you stretch ambition beyond what systems support.

• Other Driven colleagues may feel you “crowd the lane” by taking on challenges across many areas.

If you respond by pushing harder, resistance shifts underground.
If you pull back too far, you feel under-used and disconnected from impact.

You need more direct conversations, such as:

• “Here is why I think this pace and direction matter.”

• “Here is where I need your challenge on risk, process or detail.”

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

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

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 goals, priorities and constraints are clear. Once those are set, I like to involve the right people, explore options, weigh key risks and then drive delivery.

• At the start of an initiative, a short run-through of ambition, risk appetite, success measures and limits helps me match my pace and caution to what matters most.

• I tend to ask questions about assumptions, risk and impact on people. That is my way of protecting both the team and the outcome, not an attempt to resist change.

• I respond well to ownership for outcomes. It helps if we are clear about where I decide, where I consult you and where you expect to make the call.

• When priorities or scope change, a brief explanation of why, what moves up or down the list and what success now looks like helps me redirect my energy without losing focus.

• 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 care and involvement in less time.

What to say to your colleagues

• I try to include people and share context. If I ask for your input, it is because your view matters to the decision, not to overload 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 raise questions about risk, impact or feasibility, it is to strengthen our work and avoid rework later, not to criticise anyone’s effort.

• I prefer to move from ideas into action while momentum is still there. If we circle the same topic for too long, I will probably push for a decision.

• If my pace or questioning feels strong at times, please say so. I am open to adjusting as long as we stay honest about outcomes, risks and timelines.

• If you see a risk, constraint or detail that I may have underplayed, raising it early helps me balance drive and prudence more effectively.

How this helps you play to your preferences

• You receive clearer briefs, expectations and decision rights that align with your Inclusive, Innovative, Prudent and Driven style.

• Your manager and colleagues understand that your questions, ideas and push for closure support engagement, risk management and progress, rather than negativity or impatience.

• You focus effort on work that matters, protect people and outcomes on big issues and help the team move from talk into results at a pace that stretches others without losing them.

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.