The Naked Negotiator

Research into the social nature of the brain by David Rock, the founding president of the Neuro Leadership Institute and the author of Your Brain at Work (Harper Business, 2009) has coined a couple of useful models encapsulated by the acronym SCARF which can help negotiators anticipate some of the problems caused by the toxic or negative emotions that too often overwhelm negotiators and prevent collaborative agreements.

SCARF itemizes the particular qualities that the brain perceives as threats.

Threat One: Status problems

Anything that fundamentally threatens the status of the other side will trigger a negative response.

Threat Two: Certainty Challenges

Humans like certainty. It allows us to operate on automatic pilot. Create huge uncertainty and you will trigger a primal threat response.

Threat Three: Lack of Autonomy

A perception of reduced autonomy - for example - can easily generate a threat response.

Threat Four: Relatedness Problems

When humans are cut off from social interaction with their friends and colleagues, threat levels escalate.

Threat Five: Problems of Fairness

Hostility and trust diminishes when a person’s perception of fairness is undermined.

Putting on the SCARF

If you are a negotiator you need to be conscious of offers or positions that undermine perceived levels of status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness and fairness.

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