Last week I started this series of articles on the SCARF neuroscience model and commented that our staff are our most valuable and expensive resource in the business.

It is proven fact that social pain is, as far as the brain is concerned, the same as physical pain and understanding the five elements of SCARF can make us all better leaders in the workplace.

Understanding SCARF – Certainty

Human beings are a pack animal. We thrive in our communities, and we struggle emotionally if we’re alone for extended periods of time. The fight or flight threat response is buried deep inside us, and we react instantly to pain or threat.

What do we mean by certainty when it comes to SCARF?

Certainty: How confident we are in knowing our role and responsibilities and the outcomes that are expected of us.

First, let’s take this out of the workplace (or at least the service sector) and look at the nations favourite game, Football.

A well-coached professional football side contains a group of individuals who all understand their role and responsibility within the group and have absolute understanding of the outcome that is expected.

It has been said by many professional coaches, that footballers are simple people and too much instruction can lead to confusion. In a pre-match team talk a player may be given two or maybe three things to concentrate on and their performance will be measured on that by the manager.

Professional footballers spend all week training and honing their skills, all this time being spent purely to achieve the accepted outcome at the weekend. Their fitness is tracked, their output is tracked, technology plays such a huge part now in the nations favourite game.

The technology is a tool, its used to help the manager help the player to understand their weaknesses and deliver a plan to improve constantly. All of which is perfectly aligned to the desired outcome.

A professional footballer has certainty in their workplace.

Now, let’s transfer our thought process to our personal lives. We have kids to plan for, mortgages to pay, loved ones to care for, key purchases to save for…

At any one time the human sitting in a chair in your office may already consumed with several uncertainties before they even start work. Uncertainty is a threat, and the brain reacts to this threat in the same way as it treats physical pain.

The last thing we should be doing is adding uncertainty in their role at work.

I mentioned last week that I was proud to have studied for my coaching badges when I took over the local under 6 football side. The FA have two phrases that have now suck with me during my work career.

The first was “Guided discovery” and the second is “Let the game teach”.

So how do we help our staff have certainty with their role at work?

Ongoing coaching and allowing the “role to teach” will deliver certainty for your staff. By adopting a strategy for continuous and ongoing improvement we can create an environment where our staff are certain in their role at work.

These strategies don’t have to consume much time. For instance, if the role involves data entry, then we could, in theory, gamify the data speed and accuracy reporting helping the staff member continually improve their own skills and performance.

If technology is used within their role, make sure there is a plan for regular and useful updates on how to get the most from that technology. Far too often new systems get delivered with some training up front and then staff are left to get on with it.

If a process is involved, ensure that the process is documented and that all parties are involved in any proposed changes to a process.

If targets are involved in the staff members role, then we must ensure there is an agreed plan on how we can achieve those targets. Any doubt will breed uncertainty in the workplace.

Adding certainty to our staff’s roles delivers enormous benefits to the organisation. Your staff retention and happiness levels will rise, reducing the cost of recruitment which is a bonus.

But, going back to that well oiled professional football side, it takes training, time and effort on all sides to deliver consistent results. And, as mentioned before, human beings are rather simple creatures, so the last piece of advice here is to keep it simple.

If we give our staff more than three or four things to focus on at any one time, they’ll become uncertain. They simply can’t do that!

In summary.

The best, and simplest way to deliver certainty for your staff is to keep the targets, the processes and the desired outcome easy to understand.

Having clear, concise and easy to adopt strategies will breed certainty.

Being consistent with our messaging will breed certainty.

Having a desired outcome or target that is achievable will help to breed certainty.

Making sure your staff understand their role and responsibilities will breed certainty.

Think of your staff like you would a footballer!

Give them two or three things to focus on, give them an environment that will allow them to continuously improve and hone their skills, and have a desired outcome for the entire team or business.

Certainty is the second of five articles (yes folks there’s three more weekly articles to come) and next week we’ll explore “A” for Autonomy.

Here at Viegli we expose our resellers, and ultimately their clients, to all types of new technology. AI chat bots, AI assistance, web chat, voice queues, real time reporting and so forth. What are your thoughts on SCARF? I’d love to hear your feedback.

Thanks for reading, I hope you found it useful, or at least a welcome distraction from the boring sandwich you’re having for lunch.