What happens in our brain, when we feel unsafe or treated unfairly? Did you ever wonder about yourself, when your Amygdala tells the body: Flight, Fight or Freeze? What is psychological safety? How does it feel, when you don’t get heard or even worse: You don’t get direct feedback only behind your back? Been there done that… so I was more than happy to participate a workshop on this topic.

„The SCARF Model was developed in 2008 by David Rock, in his paper „SCARF: A Brain-Based Model for Collaborating With and Influencing Others.“ [1] SCARF stands for the five key „domains“ that influence our behaviour in social situations. These are:

1. Status – our relative importance to others.
2. Certainty – our ability to predict the future.
3. Autonomy – our sense of control over events.
4. Relatedness – how safe we feel with others.
5. Fairness – how fair we perceive the exchanges between people to be.“Read more: 

End of 2023 I participated in a workshop from Andra Stefanescu –> „Team Dynamics Playcamp“ where I learned a lot about the neuroscience behind it. We also explored how to facilitate building sessions for healthy relationships, what to do when we find ourselves in a flight, fight, or freeze moment and which buttons we can press to use this knowledge and change it to a positive outcome.
Andras‘ sessions are very well prepared, fun and filled with helpful and instant-to-use tips.

More Links: 

David Rocks‘ original paper (PDF)
The SCARF Model By DAVID ROCK – EXPLAINED (Video)
Seek – Speak – Listen – A Simple Framework To Bring Trust In Your Organization (Blog post: Teamflow)
Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long (Book)
Apply SCARF model in feedback (PDF)