Often it can be confusing and exhausting trying to understand why some people seem to thrive and engage and others to flounder and withdraw in certain environments or situations.

As a leader, sometimes you will feel work is exhilarating and things will run smoothly. At other times it can seem difficult to motivate yourself and your team, especially in challenging times.

Neuroscience, or brain science, helps us to understand and work with the drivers of our motivations and actions. A basic brain function is protection, developed as a largely evolutionary response, helping us determine whether to approach or avoid something.

Whether we’re aware of it or not, our brains are constantly scanning our environment for either a threat or a reward stimulus. Threats are stronger than rewards, and they last longer, meaning we will react more strongly to perceived threats than to perceived rewards.

I find it helpful to imagine the parts of the brain as an orchestra, which, when all is well, play in harmony with each other. When a threat is perceived, areas of the brain get louder, drowning out the quieter elements, shutting down our options, shifting us instead to a reactive state with minimal creativity and collaboration.

Most, if not all, organisations need collaboration, creativity and innovation, alongside clarity and an ability to make the best possible decisions. This is often in the face of persistent problems which continually change and have no single solution. 

When we perceive a more rewarding state, we can sustain peak performance for short periods, we have a higher focus and we feel more engaged and motivated. We experience greater resilience, are more open to experimentation, feel more determined, communicate and collaborate better and are generally more engaged.

Nowadays, most ‘threats’ are social: for example, people worry about how someone may have reacted to them or what others think of them. Threat responses can lead to tunnel vision, reducing our ability to think clearly. As our prefrontal cortex, or thinking brain, gets swamped or ‘closed down’ by the limbic system, effectively being drowned out by the louder instruments in the orchestra, our ability to be creative and work together is reduced.

SCARF model
The SCARF model was created and published in 2008 by a research team led by CEO Dr. David Rock from the NeuroLeadership Institute. It is based on the brain’s organising principle of minimising threat and maximising reward. It identifies five domains in humans’ social experience that can trigger either a threat or reward response.

SCARF is a mnemonic, an easy way to remember the five domains. During the current pandemic, most, if not all of these domains have been triggered into a threat response for people.

Most of the clients I have been coaching during the first two or more months of lockdown have found this model useful in making sense of their own and their colleagues’ reactions. They also find it easier to identify small actions that help create a reward state, with all the benefits this brings.

Each of the elements is outlined briefly below, with some suggestions on how you can build a more rewarding and therefore positive and motivating environment both at work and at home.

Status
Status is about feeling valued. It’s the drive we feel to stand out from the crowd, to have worth, the feeling of contributing. When we may feel we compare unfavourably to someone else, the threat response kicks in, releasing threat hormones. When feeling threatened, people may defend a position or stance to avoid the perceived pain of a drop in status. Everyday conversations can be turned into a measurement of status.

When we are able to share our ideas and take credit for work we have done, when our accomplishments are recognised and acknowledged, we experience a reward state. Leaders can simply ensure they ask for contributions and ideas and acknowledge work well done to support a positive status response.

Certainty
Our ability to predict outcomes or events is based largely on past experiences. If the surroundings, activities, or future are uncertain, then a person’s brain activity increases and a threat response results. This can hinder the ability to make effective and balanced decisions.

When roles and responsibilities are unclear or when work or meetings have no clear requirements or conclusion, a threat state can be experienced. Making expectations clear and setting routines can help considerably. Having agendas for meetings and clear timelines can also help, especially in the virtual meetings world, where fatigue can set in more easily than in the workplace.

A culture of openness and transparency, where people are treated as adults and as humans, is crucial. Expressing when you don’t know the answer, or when you hope to know it by, is far better than glossing over or ignoring areas where the solution has not yet been decided upon.

Autonomy
Having a sense of control over a situation and the options we have can create a positive reward response. For some, the less autonomy they experience, the more a situation is perceived as a threat. When leaders micromanage, they risk creating threat responses.

Giving people time and space to do their work and showing trust in the individual’s ability to get things done will typically induce reward responses, increasing motivation.

Relatedness
The human brain is a social machine; the connection we feel to other people influences our decision-making. This is all about belonging and connection, both physical and social. We are designed to build groups that rely on mutual trust.

Our basic instinct is to identify ‘friend or foe.’ Whether or not we mean to, we create groups which some people are included within – the in-group, while others are excluded – the out-group.

Keeping up social connections, making new connections and even making goals around this can help. In times of crisis, it’s easy to withdraw, which can compound the perceived relatedness threat. As a leader, your goal is to expand the in-group and reduce the out-group. Using language of ‘we’ and ‘us’ (instead of ‘you,’ ‘me’ and ‘they’) can help create inclusivity.

Fairness
This relates to our need to be treated equitably. The threat or reward response can be triggered in relation to how we perceive ourselves to be treated, and also how we see others being treated. When we perceive a scenario or decision is tilted in favour of one individual or group, our innate sense of equity and equality can be triggered.

When making decisions, explaining thought processes behind the choices can help people better understand. It also prevents the likelihood of stories being invented and responded to negatively. Transparency and openness in communication and ensuring equal access to participation will support a positive reward response.

In conclusion
Creating an environment where the five SCARF domains are perceived positively contributes significantly to people feeling valued, engaged and inspired to give the best of themselves.

Taking time to determine what is important to each person and working to create positive SCARF experiences for them as individuals will go a long way to creating workplace satisfaction. This will in turn contribute to increased innovation, productivity and success.

If you would like to know more about how I work with individuals, teams and organisations to create healthy, high performance, please do get in touch.