Collaboration and Influencing Using the SCARF Model

SCARF FIVE DOMAINS

➢ Status is about knowing where one is in any hierarchy.

➢ Certainty concerns the ability to predict the future.
➢ Autonomy gives a sense of control over events.
➢ Relatedness provides a sense of safety and connection with others.
➢ Fairness is the perception of fair exchanges between people.

SCARF Tracking Sheet

The SCARF model acts as an easy-to-remember framework to help improve one’s ability to label or
reappraise one’s emotions, which then helps to regulate social threats and rewards. The model
centers around three critical ideas:

First, the brain responds to social threats and rewards with the same magnitude as actual physical
threats and rewards.

Secondly, a threat response generally reduces the capacity to make decisions, solve problems, and
collaborate with others. When we are in a ‘reward environment,’ our abilities are enhanced.

Third, the threat response, or one’s desire to avoid pain, always outweighs the desire to seek
pleasure. Avoiding the threat response is part of our survival mechanism. We become more effective
leaders when we learn how to recognize patterns and appropriately respond to social situations.

When individuals face threat stressors, their brain shifts into a survival mode in which it is each
person for himself or herself, the opposite of teamwork. Our brain has fewer resources to utilize.

As part of my research project, I invite you to use this sheet for tracking your SCARF Five Domain
Interactions. The tracking sheet runs for 28 days and allows you to bring your awareness to SCARF
each day and to assess how you performed each day concerning each of the five domains. It will take
less than 15 seconds to complete each day but will contribute significantly to learning The SCARF
model, and the framework becoming second nature to you. You will track for 21 to 28 days. An
interview can be scheduled after 21 days of tracking.

Instructions

The steps are simple; during or at the end of each day, run through the questions below and reflect
on your day. Place a mark in the box to the right of the
➢ If you can answer a confident yes to the question, shade (color) in the box for that day.
➢ If your answer is no, then put a cross in the box.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This tool is strictly to help your awareness and should not be used for self-
judgment. It’s about setting an intention rather than keeping score. Enjoy the process, have
questions? Send me an email at lynne.forbeszeller@pepperdine.edu or call 858 405 8282.

PLEASE DO NOT DUPLICATE OR SHARE THIS DOCUMENT | References Materials: Rock, D. (2009). Your brain at work. New York, NY: HarperCollins.Rock, D., & Cox, C. (2012,
October). SCARF in 2012: Updating the social neuroscience of collaborating with others. NeuroLeadership Journal.
 STATUS - DID I DO
SOMETHING TODAY TO
ELEVATE THE STATUS Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7
OF SOMEONE ELSE?
DID I USE INCLUSIVE Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Day 11 Day 12 Day 13 Day 14
LANGUAGE AND
Day 15 Day 16 Day 17 Day 18 Day 19 Day 20 Day 21
PRESENT MYSELF AS
BEING EQUAL TO Day 22 Day 23 Day 24 Day 25 Day 26 Day 27 Day 28
OTHERS?

CERTAINTY - DID I DO
SOMETHING TODAY TO
HELP SOMEONE ELSE
FEEL MORE CERTAIN? Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7
DID I SHARE
Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Day 11 Day 12 Day 13 Day 14
INFORMATION OPENLY
AND PROVIDE Day 15 Day 16 Day 17 Day 18 Day 19 Day 20 Day 21
REASSURANCE WHERE
I WAS ABLE TO? Day 22 Day 23 Day 24 Day 25 Day 26 Day 27 Day 28

AUTONOMY - DID I DO
SOMETHING TODAY TO
HELP SOMEONE ELSE
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7
FEEL MORE
AUTONOMOUS? DID I Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Day 11 Day 12 Day 13 Day 14
GIVE SOMEONE ELSE A
FEELING OF CHOICE Day 15 Day 16 Day 17 Day 18 Day 19 Day 20 Day 21
AND CONTROL?
Day 22 Day 23 Day 24 Day 25 Day 26 Day 27 Day 28

RELATEDNESS - DID I
DO SOMETHING TODAY
TO INCREASE
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7
SOMEONE ELSE’S
SENSE OF BELONGING
Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Day 11 Day 12 Day 13 Day 14
AND SAFETY? DID I
HELP CREATE A
Day 15 Day 16 Day 17 Day 18 Day 19 Day 20 Day 21
CULTURE OF TRUST,
FRIENDLINESS AND
Day 22 Day 23 Day 24 Day 25 Day 26 Day 27 Day 28
CONFIDENCE?

FAIRNESS - DID I
CONDUCT MYSELF
WITH A VIEW OF
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7
PROVIDING FAIR
EXCHANGE TODAY? Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Day 11 Day 12 Day 13 Day 14
DID I UPHOLD AGREED
STANDARDS BOTH IN Day 15 Day 16 Day 17 Day 18 Day 19 Day 20 Day 21
MYSELF AND WITH
OTHERS? DID I AVOID Day 22 Day 23 Day 24 Day 25 Day 26 Day 27 Day 28
SHOWING FAVOR TO
ANYONE OVER
OTHERS?

PLEASE DO NOT DUPLICATE OR SHARE THIS DOCUMENT | References Materials: Rock, D. (2009). Your brain at work. New York, NY: HarperCollins.Rock, D., & Cox, C. (2012,
October). SCARF in 2012: Updating the social neuroscience of collaborating with others. NeuroLeadership Journal.