The most accurate motivation assessment you’ll ever take
Why do some activities energize you while others leave you feeling drained? Why do you naturally excel in some areas yet struggle in others, even when using the same skills? Why do you work so well with some people, but have difficulty collaborating with others?
The answer lies in your natural Motivations.
The Motivation Code assessment is the only narrative-based, motivation-driven assessment that uncovers the hidden forces driving your actions, decisions, and performance — the “why” behind how you think, make decisions, and act.
Unlike personality or strengths assessments, which describe who you are and what you’re good at, MCode uses specific moments of peak achievement to reveal what moves you to act, persist, and achieve, then help you apply that personalized insight for greater success in work, relationships, and life.
A simple Three-Step assessment
The MCode assessment guides you through a three-step process rooted in your lived experiences, not hypothetical scenarios. It takes less than 30 minutes to complete, yet delivers “scary accurate” insights that last a lifetime.
Step One
Share your stories
Your most meaningful stories hold the key to understanding the motivational patterns that drive you. MCode prompts you to share four of your most fulfilling and satisfying achievements — moments when you felt engaged, alive, and at your best.
Step Two
Answer questions
Once you’ve shared your stories, you’ll answer questions using a simple satisfaction scale, ranking answers about how you felt, what you did, what made the experience meaningful, and why it still matters to you today on a scale of 1-10.
Step Three
Discover your MCode
Get a personalized report that reveals your MCode and why it’s your MCode. Learn who you are at your best, how you are wired for work, what energizes and drains you, the value you contribute, how you work with others, and what you need to succeed in any role.
The science behind the Motivation Code assessment
The Motivation Code assessment is backed by 65+ years of scientific and empirical research using SIMA® (System for Identifying Motivated Abilities), data mining, the evaluation of 1.8M shared stories, and the insights gained from decades of research on high performance in the workplace.
- Rooted in research: More than 1.8 million achievement stories from people of all walks of life and career paths have been analyzed to identify 32 Motivations and 8 Motivational Dimensions that shape human behavior.
- Proprietary pattern recognition: Our data-driven methodology identifies motivational patterns and abilities with unmatched accuracy, helping you understand why you do what you do and why it matters.
- Actual, not hypothetical: Other assessments force you to choose the “least bad” answers to abstract questions; MCode asks you about your real-life experiences and what you found satisfying about them.
Stories make hidden patterns visible and actionable
Most assessments take ten minutes because they ask easy questions or hypothetical multiple-choice questions. Choosing moments in your life when you loved your work and felt engaged, happy, and most like yourself, takes longer — and that’s exactly the point. The depth of what goes in determines the accuracy of what comes out.
When someone discovers their MCode and sees, often for the first time, the motivational patterns driving their thoughts, decisions, and actions — the “why” that powers how they experience the world — a lightbulb goes on.
- Situations that felt confusing suddenly make sense.
- Patterns they’d noticed but couldn’t explain become clear.
- The results from every other assessment taken make more sense.
The MCode assessment is more than a personality assessment
Personality tests and strengths assessments are helpful tools, but a person can be using their strengths in a role that matches their personality, and still feel uninspired, unmotivated, unfulfilled, and unsatisfied — and that’s a problem!
What’s missing is motivation. The Motivation Code assessment identifies an individual’s unique MCode, which explains who they are at their best, how they’re wired for success, and what motivates them. It provides game-changing clarity that connects people to their purpose and ignites passion.
Discover what drives action and engagement
MCode reveals an individual’s core purpose and what motivates them to act and get involved, stick with it when things get tough, do their best, and achieve big goals.
Learn what makes someone tick
Motivation explains why an individual gets immersed in some activities but fails to engage in others, even when using the same skills and strengths.
Understand what makes someone come alive
MCode highlights an individual’s insatiable motivational drive — what powers their most satisfying, fulfilling work and brings out the best version of themselves.
With MCode, individuals activate their best selves.
Motivation drives performance, success, and deep satisfaction
When assessing your personal stories and responses to questions about those stories, MCode identifies underlying motivational patterns and calculates a stacked ranking of 32 core Motivations. Your top motivations are the strongest, most prominent drivers of action, while your lowest motivations may hardly inspire you to engage.
What’s fascinating is that strengths can be found in an individual’s strongest and weakest Motivations.
It’s why a person can be using their strengths and doing something they’re great at, and still not enjoy or feel fulfilled in their role or work. Focusing on strengths isn’t enough. It’s only one piece of the puzzle, and hiring or promoting based on strengths alone can actually sabotage a person’s ability to perform, contribute value, and succeed!
“I’ve taken all kinds of personality tests and nothing has been as accurate, helpful, or actionable as MCode. Every word I read made me go, ‘Yes, this is it EXACTLY!’ It articulates what motivates me in ways I’d never considered before.”
Samar Owais
Email Conversion Strategist for SaaS and eCommerce Brands
“MCode literally changed my life. From the moment I received my MCode report, I knew I was in the wrong job role. Just a few months later, I used my MCode results and the insights from my Impact Session to find a new role in a line of work I had never considered.”
Jay Harper
Business Consultant
Motivational Dimensions reveal natural competitive advantages
Each Motivation maps to one or two Motivational Dimensions. But MCode doesn’t just label or assign someone a single Dimension. People are far too nuanced for that! Plus, being more motivated in one area doesn’t mean other Motivations don’t exist; they’re just not as strong.
Rather than oversimplify the complexities of human personality and behavior, MCode maps Motivation across a spectrum of 8 Motivational Dimensions, from most prominent to least prominent.
When you discover your MCode:
- You may discover your strongest Dimension fits you perfectly.
- You might resonate deeply with more than Dimension.
- Your two most prominent Dimensions may feel like perfect fits, reflecting who you are at work and who you are at home.
Your MCode report provides your full motivational makeup because how you interpret your MCode is as unique as you are.
Speak the language of motivation to amp up your influence and impact
The MCode assessment introduces eight motivational languages that transform how you connect with others, and interpret and respond to the world — one for each Motivational Dimension.
Achievers have a relentless drive to set and accomplish goals. They are results-oriented and focused on success, excelling in their pursuits, and being recognized. Achievers are motivated by personal and professional achievements and find satisfaction in surpassing previous limits and reaching new heights.
Drivers take a proactive approach to solving problems, pushing through obstacles, managing difficult situations, and ensuring results are achieved efficiently and effectively. They thrive on action and making significant impacts, especially in scenarios that require clear resolution, resilience, and tenacity.
Influencers shape opinions and motivate others. They are natural connectors who inspire action, which makes them highly effective in roles that require public speaking, team leadership, or sales. Influencers are persuasive and skilled at navigating complex social dynamics to align others with a shared vision or collective goal.
Learners have a strong desire for continuous intellectual growth and understanding. Naturally curious, they engage deeply in learning new concepts and skills. While they value expertise and are motivated by the process of discovery, Learners find satisfaction in the sharing and application of their knowledge.
Optimizers seek out inefficiencies and devise better, more efficient, effective ways of getting things done. They are often involved in projects that require critical thinking and problem-solving to enhance systems and streamline processes. Optimizers increase productivity and improve outcomes.
Orchestrators bring order to chaos, ensuring deadlines are met and every part of a project aligns with the end goal. They excel in roles that require meticulous planning, organization, and strategic oversight. Orchestrators lead through execution and coordinate tasks, people, and resources to meet deadlines and objectives.
Relators build and nurture relationships. They thrive on personal interaction and prioritize maintaining strong, supportive relationships and emotional bonds. Relators are often the glue that holds teams and social networks together. They provide teams emotional support and foster a collaborative environment.
Visionaries are defined by their forward-thinking nature and ability to conceptualize ideas that pave the way for innovation. They are creative thinkers who enjoy exploring possibilities and imagining what could be, rather than what is. Visionaries challenge the status quo and inspire others with bold, strategic visions.
When you speak someone’s motivational language, everything clicks into place
Every individual has a primary motivational language. When you know and speak their motivational language, choosing just the right words and tailoring your communication to them, you create instant resonance. You capture attention, inspire action, and remove resistance.
When you speak someone’s motivational language:
- They lean in, listen with full attention, and tune out distractions.
- They feel energized, connected, and excited about the task at hand.
- They engage deeply instead of zoning out or procrastinating.
- They overcome challenges instead of procrastinating or giving up.
- They consistently deliver their best work with passion and focus.
Imagine knowing exactly how to communicate with your team, clients, or peers in a way that makes them light up, engage deeply, and perform at their best. That’s the power of the MCode assessment and our motivation-driven workplace tools.
It’s like putting on a new pair of glasses. Suddenly, you can see, focus, and filter the way you engage with others, activating your superpowers and illuminating the superpowers of those around you.
“I’ve done plenty of personality and strengths tests in the past, but finding the motivations behind what drives those traits allows me to see myself in a whole new light.”
Chris Teitzel
CEO and Founder, Cellar Door Media
“My MCode results were absolutely amazing! It was like you saw right into my soul. What motivates me was spot on and I even learned new motivations. I realized why things I am doing or have done worked out the way they did.”
Michelle Trippi
Owner, Empty Dog Creative
Your least prominent Motivational Dimensions are not your weaknesses
Your custom MCode assessment results include your unique spectrum of all 8 Motivational Dimensions — most prominent toward the left, and least prominent toward the right — because they all live within you, and your strengths and skills may align with your most prominent and least prominent Dimensions.
- The language of strengths and weaknesses focuses on what you’re good at and not so good at.
- The language of motivation focuses on what gives you energy and what drains your energy.
Your most prominent Motivational Dimensions reflect the work or tasks that light you up, get you excited, and drive you to do your best. When your work taps into these Dimensions, you leverage your natural advantages, and that’s when you are at your best, operating in high-performance mode and feeling fulfilled.
Your least prominent Motivational Dimensions reflect the work and tasks you can do and may even be good at, but don’t get excited by — the projects and activities you feel “meh” about. When your work aligns with these Dimensions, you get the job done, and that’s about it.
Both dynamics are addressed head-on during an Impact Session, in a Team Alignment Workshop, and in MCode’s Job Fit Report.
Experience the MCode difference
The MCode assessment uses personal stories, lived experiences, and satisfaction to uncover the Motivations that move you and ensure every MCode report is accurate, relevant, and actionable.
No arbitrary personality typing.
No sticking you in a predefined box.
No answering subjective questions.
No settling for sort-of-accurate results.
Just deeply personal insights that lead to you experiencing work at its best and life at its best.