Total motivation (or “tomo”) is a measure of motivation. It has been rigorously proven to predict not only individual health and happiness, but also team and organizational performance. Culture Checks measure how you’re feeling about your future work, so that your team can make the necessary adjustments now. Tomo should not be used to judge or evaluate teams or leaders. Achieving a certain level of total motivation should not be a company-wide OKR, as it is counterproductive to create pressure for achieving a certain level. Instead, you should be honest, constructive, and action-oriented.

The "Total motivation" tile from a Culture Check report, drawn deliberately as a car fuel gauge rather than a score: a semicircular dial marked only "E" at the left and "F" at the right, with a battery icon at its centre and no numbers anywhere. The band deepens from pale to saturated green as it climbs towards F, and the needle sits well to the right of centre. Beneath it a three-point trend line dips from its first reading to a low middle point, then climbs to its highest — the shape being the message that the direction of travel matters more than the reading.

The Culture Checks also ask questions about the top eight habits a team can use to improve its motivation and performance. Motivation is your fuel gauge and habits are your engine.

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How is total motivation calculated?

To measure total motivation, the survey asks about the six motives that drive behavior. When it comes to increasing performance, play is twice as powerful as purpose, which is in turn about twice as powerful as potential; conversely, when it comes to reducing performance, inertia is twice as destructive as economic pressure, which is about twice as destructive as emotional pressure. Therefore, the motives are weighted based on how much they impact outcomes. The formula is:

A dark-panel formula card titled "HOW TO CALCULATE TOMO", laying out the weighted arithmetic behind a total motivation score as two braced groups either side of the word "MINUS". The teal group to be added is "Play" x 10, "Purpose" x 5 and "Potential" x 1.667; the pink and crimson group to be subtracted is "Emotional pressure" x 1.667, "Economic pressure" x 5 and "Inertia" x 10. The mirrored weights are the argument: play counts for as much as inertia costs, and the indirect motives at each end count for a sixth of that.

How can I teach my team about total motivation?

You can teach your team a lot about tomo in a short amount of time. Some quick resources with big impact include this Harvard Business Review article, this short video, and this podcast. To really dig in, the most comprehensive resource is the New York Times bestselling book Primed to Perform.