Using Neuroscience To Be A Better Leader — Applying SCARF
This article provides practical advice for leaders using the neuroscience-based model SCARF.
David Rock’s SCARF model is popular in leadership literature for good reason. SCARF is based on five social domains that activate threat and reward responses. We rely on these responses for our physical survival.
The three ideas that underpin the social domains:
(1) We perceive social threats the same way as physical threats
(2) Decision making and problem solving diminish in threat environments and increase in reward environments
(3) Our desire to avoid pain (threat response) outweighs our desire to seek pleasure
The five social domains:
Status / Certainty / Autonomy / Relatedness / Fairness
1. Status: Our relative importance to others
At work, individuals consider their own importance relative to others. Status is about more than hierarchy and role, it also relates to knowledge, power, tenure, and professional network.
Threats to minimise:
- Poorly handled feedback can damage and cause defensiveness
- Under-acknowledgement of business as usual (don’t…
