Fulfilled people don't need motivating. Give them what they actually need—motivation follows. Psychologists proved this forty years ago. In 2019, with the Red Cross, we set out to make it practical. Here's what happened.
Motiro is built on Self-Determination Theory. It measures three psychological needs—Autonomy, Belonging, and Competence—and how leadership influences whether those needs are met. The science is decades old. We just made it practical.
There's still a lot we're figuring out. But we've learned something new every year.
The project launched in November as Moti at moti.team.
The first version was simple but functional: users could create an account with a single team and send motivation surveys via email. Team members received secure links, answered questions one at a time, and managers could track who had responded.
Historical survey data from Swiss and African Red Cross National Societies was imported for testing and validation.
This was the year Moti became a real product.
The platform got a complete visual makeover with modern, mobile-friendly design. A new dashboard brought survey results to life with radar charts showing the three core needs and bar charts displaying answer distributions.
Users could now manage multiple teams from a single account. Most importantly, Moti went multilingual with a language selector.
The platform expanded to serve different types of organizations.
Two survey variants emerged: one for volunteers and another for staff, each with tailored questions. Teams could send multiple surveys over time, and managers could track email delivery.
New users got an interactive guided tour, and teams gained the ability to have multiple managers.
Organizations aren't flat — they have departments, regions, and divisions. This year, Moti learned to handle that complexity.
Circles let managers group multiple teams under one umbrella, creating hierarchies that mirror real organizational structures. Data aggregated automatically across all teams within.
A new report page let managers download charts and filter results by age and gender.
A transformative year. In July, Moti became Motiro, moving to motiro.com with a fresh logo and updated branding.
The biggest feature was Snap Surveys — quick custom polls managers could create themselves. Add questions, choose answer types, preview, and send. Perfect for pulse checks between full motivation surveys.
A new Students survey type extended the platform to educational settings.
Not everyone has work email. This year, Motiro became accessible to anyone with a phone.
Phone-based accounts let people register with just a phone number, verified by SMS. Survey invitations could now go out as text messages — opening Motiro to field workers, volunteers, and communities without corporate email.
An observer role let managers view results without being surveyed themselves.
The year AI came to Motiro.
AI Solutions became the flagship feature — a complete workflow for turning survey insights into action. AI analyzes results to identify what's affecting team motivation, suggests solutions, and lets managers track implementation progress.
Personalized Guidance generates individual reports for survey respondents with AI-powered insights.
The Red Cross & Red Crescent Portal launched with branded signup for 190+ National Societies.
Year by year, team by team
12 languages · 4 survey formats · 1,156+ code changes
| Language | Added | |
|---|---|---|
| English | 2019 | |
| Portuguese | 2020 | |
| French | 2020 | |
| Russian | 2020 | |
| Kyrgyz | 2020 | |
| Spanish | 2021 | |
| German | 2021 | |
| Arabic | 2021 | RTL support |
| Greek | 2022 | |
| Ukrainian | 2024 | |
| Italian | 2024 | |
| Amharic | 2025 | Survey only |
| Type | Audience |
|---|---|
| Volunteers | NGOs & nonprofits |
| Staff | Workplace teams |
| Students | Schools & universities |
| Snap | Quick pulse checks |
| Year | Count |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 14 |
| 2020 | 316 |
| 2021 | 174 |
| 2022 | 127 |
| 2023 | 219 |
| 2024 | 158 |
| 2025 | 149+ |
| Total | 1,156+ |