SCARF Model Assessment for Teams

See which SCARF domain your team feels most threatened on.

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What is the SCARF model?

The SCARF model, published by David Rock in 2008, names five social needs the brain treats much like survival needs: Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness and Fairness. When one is under threat, people pull back. When they're met, people commit. This assessment turns the model into a read on your team's climate. Everyone rates how well the team meets each of the five, from Strongly disagree to Strongly agree, and then you talk about the one that scores lowest.

Dimensions

The five domains

David Rock's five brain-based social drivers (Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness and Fairness) that shape how threatened or rewarded people feel at work.

  • Status

    People on this team feel their contribution is recognized and valued.

    • Strongly disagree
    • Neither agree nor disagree
    • Strongly agree

  • Certainty

    We have enough clarity about what's coming to feel secure about our work.

    • Strongly disagree
    • Neither agree nor disagree
    • Strongly agree

  • Autonomy

    People here have real say over how they do their work.

    • Strongly disagree
    • Neither agree nor disagree
    • Strongly agree

  • Relatedness

    This team feels like a group who trust and look out for one another.

    • Strongly disagree
    • Neither agree nor disagree
    • Strongly agree

  • Fairness

    Decisions, workload and recognition on this team feel fair.

    • Strongly disagree
    • Neither agree nor disagree
    • Strongly agree

When to use this health check

  • Before or after a big change, such as a reorg, a new leader or a new process, when threat responses spike.
  • When engagement drops and you want to find where it's coming from.
  • As a lens for one-on-ones and team offsites.

Tips & tricks

  • Read SCARF as a map of threat and reward. The lowest score is where people feel most threatened, so start there.
  • Change tends to hit Certainty and Autonomy first, so run it around a change and again afterward.
  • Scores are personal, so keep it anonymous the first time.

Frequently asked questions

What is the SCARF model?
It's a framework David Rock published in 2008 describing five social domains (Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness and Fairness) that the brain treats as survival-level needs. When they're met, people engage and commit. When they're threatened, people disengage.
What do the five letters stand for?
Status (feeling recognized and valued), Certainty (clarity about what's coming), Autonomy (real say over your work), Relatedness (trust and belonging with others) and Fairness (decisions, workload and recognition feeling fair).
How do we use SCARF with a whole team, not just in 1:1s?
Run it as an anonymous team climate check. Everyone rates how well the team meets each of the five domains, then you discuss the lowest-scoring one, where people feel most threatened, and agree on actions to improve it.
Who created the SCARF model?
David Rock, a consultant and co-founder of the NeuroLeadership Institute, published SCARF in 2008 in the NeuroLeadership Journal. He based it on social neuroscience research suggesting the brain reacts to social threats much as it reacts to physical ones. TeamRetro isn't affiliated with David Rock or the NeuroLeadership Institute.
How do you score a SCARF assessment?
Everyone rates each of the five domains privately, and the team sees the average and the spread for each one. The lowest-scoring domain is where people feel most threatened, so talk about it first. A wide spread matters too: it usually means the experience isn't the same for everyone on the team.
How often should we run a SCARF assessment?
Quarterly for a steady team, and again straight after anything that disturbs the five domains, such as a reorg, a new manager, a change of scope or a round of promotions. Certainty and status take the biggest hit at those moments, and running it then gives you something to compare against later.
How is SCARF different from a psychological safety check?
Psychological safety measures one thing: whether people feel safe to take interpersonal risks. SCARF breaks the wider feeling of threat into five specific drivers, so it tells you which one to act on. Many teams run a psychological safety check to see whether there's a problem, then SCARF to find out where it comes from.

Based on David Rock, 'SCARF: A brain-based model for collaborating with and influencing others,' NeuroLeadership Journal (2008).

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