The SCARF model is one of those models that I wish someone had sat me down and told me about when I first started leading teams. It was created by David Rock, and he described it as “a brain based model for collaborating with and influencing others”
It’s a framework I share with clients a LOT because it can be incredibly useful in unpicking and understanding why people are responding to you in the way they are. It also helps with getting to the bottom of what’s triggering emotional responses in you. Both bloody useful skills to have when you’re a leader
In a nutshell, the model describes 5 areas of social interaction where our brains will seek to either avoid threats or approach rewards ✅ Status (How important we feel compared to other people) ✅ Certainty (How sure we feel about predicting what will happen) ✅ Autonomy (How 'in control' we feel of our life & what's going on) ✅ Relatedness (How connected / safe we feel with others) ✅ Fairness (How fair and reasonable we perceive decisions and situations to be) When a threat response is activated (in you or someone else), the brain responds in the same way it does to a physical threat. Which is a bummer and tends to involve experiencing unpleasant emotions – fear, anxiety, and anger to name a few.
What’s even more of a bummer is that this isn’t necessarily a fleeting thing, and it can be surprisingly easy to trigger a threat response without realising it. If you’ve ever been left out of a conversation you thought you should have been consulted on then you might have felt a threat to your sense of status, autonomy, relatedness and fairness all at once
By contrast, the reward response happens when we get our needs met or exceeded. Positive emotions like happiness, pride, and optimism give a dopamine hit and a warm fluffy glow
As a leader, a good chunk of your job is about influencing behaviour. And a useful part of that jigsaw can be using some straightforward strategies to ensure you minimise the chances of activating a threat response in others while maximising their reward response
The impact of threat responses
Threat responses can have an impact in the short term and on an ongoing basis. If you wonder why someone’s getting defensive in a meeting, there’s a good chance that’s because their status has been threatened by the challenge or question that was posed
Over time, if someone is spending a fair chunk of time with their threat response running the show, you might see signs like:
😢 They’re struggling to stay organised or cope with pace and change. The threat response reduces working memory capacity, which means focus becomes a challenge and performance suffers
😢 They seem fixated on the here and now when you need them to grasp the big picture. When the brain is trying to keep us safe it naturally hones in on the here and now, cos if there’s danger in the here and now it wants all the attention on dealing with that first
😢 They seem to have become the voice of doom – pessimism happens as a protection mechanism because if the brain spots risks it can try and avoid them
😢 They are relying on you to solve their problems for them when you KNOW they are capable. Bad news. Problem solving, creativity and innovation live with the reward response. When the brain is free of worry it can do all kinds of clever stuff. When it’s feeling threatened, not so much
If you’ve ever been frustrated that someone just doesn’t seem to be living up to the potential you thought they had, you probably recognise some of these.
Practical Strategies for Using The SCARF Model
It’s worth saying that the threat response isn’t just about social interactions – pressure of workload & deadlines, or someone doubting their own capability are also common triggers.
These strategies are specifically looking at minimising threats and maximising rewards using the SCARF model
Make people feel like they matter. This doesn’t have to be time consuming or hard work – simple things like offering genuine thanks and compliments, making 1:1s a priority, recognising and celebrating achievements AND the effort that went into them can be meaningful without adding to your workload. Having conversations with your team about their strengths, skills and career aspirations can open the door to providing opportunities for them to develop whilst also taking some of the pressure off you. Double win
And making people feel important doesn’t just extend to your team. Being someone who offers genuine praise and thanks to your boss, colleagues or stakeholders can make you memorable for all the right reasons. As long as you’re genuine with it; no-one likes an arse licker 😆
Create certainty. That might seem like a tricky ask if you’re in a business where the only thing that stays the same is that nothing does. But if people know what to expect of you and what’s expected of them that’s a whole dose of certainty right there. Simple things like having a regular rhythm and routine to communication rather than doing it ad hoc can pay massive dividends
It can also help to encourage people to voice their uncertainty. Very often you might have answers to questions, or be able to provide clarity on points that would otherwise go unanswered and risk being unsettling
Give control to others – especially if you know you’re a bit of a control freak. If you struggle with this, you’re not alone. Plenty of leaders find it challenging. Normally because they have high standards and care a lot about things being done well. But when you keep control, you’re risking denying other people their need for autonomy. Which means they are less likely to be engaged. I won’t bore you with all the data on that right now, but safe to say harming engagement is not a smart move as a leader
Learning how to delegate well means you can balance your need to make sure things are done with other people’s need for autonomy
Don’t forget yourself. The beauty of the SCARF model is that there’s plenty you can do to make sure your own reward response gets activated. Much like putting your own mask on before helping others, it makes sense for you to feel good.
One specific suggestion I sometimes offer to clients is the idea of creating a smile file. It’s a tool to make yourself feel important if other people aren’t doing that for you. Use the stuff in point 1 as a guide for what to put in it – what positive feedback have you had from other people? What can you compliment yourself for? What have you achieved? What are you proud of yourself for?
It might feel a bit weird doing this at first but it’s amazing how useful it can be to remind you how bloody good you really are on the days you’re feeling a bit battle weary
I could keep going with suggestions but I’ll leave it there for now. If you or someone in your team needs support with leadership, you can book a virtual cuppa where we can chat about how I can help