Innovation requires change. Yet human beings can be very change-averse. So how can you encourage your people to move toward innovation and change rather than resisting it?
To lead for innovation you need to develop ways to positively influence others.
The key lies in the knowledge of the primary reward and threat responses in our brains which are triggered by different social interactions. Our brains register social threat as a major survival issue. We take it very seriously and can have strong fight or flight responses. It is possible to communicate and lead in such a way that you spark the reward circuits, rather than the threat circuits. This results in people moving toward change, not away.
There are 5 domains of social experience that our brains treat the same as survival issues. David Rock has created a model to show these 5 domains: SCARF - Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, Fairness. By making sure you communicate in such a way that the people listening feel 'safe' within these 5 domains, you enable them to be as open as possible to what you are saying/asking. This model will help you to easily remember, recognise and (if necessary) modify the way you communicate to drive behaviour.
Here's the breakdown of SCARF in action:
- Status is about relative importance to others. Maintaining a high status is something our brains work on subconsciously almost constantly. We look for ways to feel smarter, funnier, healthier, richer, more organised etc. Competition can make people focus, but a competitive environment is one in which people see other people as a threat - not conducive to the teamwork required for innovation. For innovation you need to create environments where everyone has permission to voice their ideas and be acknowledged for great work and creative thinking. You need to find ways to acknowledge each individual’s value, contribution, and expertise, as well as the group and their purpose. Everyone has relevant qualities, or experience and knowledge of something - openly acknowledge this. When engaging people in innovation and change there is always a higher purpose or important call to action - talk about this purpose and the important role your people have to play.
- Certainty is about being able to predict the future. Knowing the direction you are heading and potential outcomes is reassuring for people, even if the process may contain some uncertainty. Talk about the known and unknown factors in your project or plan. Perhaps the timeline and key deliverables are fixed - so communicate these - then speak openly about the unknown factors and how the group can approach them. Bringing uncertainty out into the open makes it less scary.
- A feeling of Autonomy provides a sense of personal control over events. It’s feeling trusted enough to figure things out by yourself - the opposite of being micromanaged. It's also about being able to make choices for yourself, instead of being always at the whim of others. You can increase a person’s autonomy by giving them full control over certain aspects of a project, while also giving them clear outcomes (certainty). Let them do the thinking while you help them become better at thinking.
- Relatedness is a sense of safety with others, of friend rather than foe. It's about sharing common ground, and having common goals. It's about feeling like people are on your side. Our evolutionary history means that we’re a group species; we judge people as being inside the group or outside the group. Establishing relatedness between members of a group will help generate a ‘toward’ response. Acknowledge differences then unite people under a common goal. Talk about the higher purpose of the project and the valuable contribution each member has to make.
- Fairness is a perception of fair exchanges between people. It's the opposite of secret handshakes and old-boys networks. Fairness openly acknowledges everyone's value and voice, and makes the pathways to success equal for everyone.
Labelling and understanding these drivers draws conscious awareness to otherwise non-conscious processes. These 5 domains interact with each other, and can be used as rewards in themselves. For example, a manager might grant more autonomy as a reward for good performance. Knowing about the drivers that can activate a reward response enables you to motivate others more effectively by tapping into internal rewards, thereby reducing the reliance on external rewards such as money.
For more on SCARF see David Rock's model here.
Image: Antony Zinninos