Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long

by David Rock

Surprises About the Brain Status is a significant driver of behavior at work and across life experiences. A sense of status going up, even in a small way, activates your reward circuits. A sense of status going down activates your threat circuitry. Just speaking to your boss or a person of higher status generally activates a status threat. People pay a lot of attention to protecting and building their status, probably more to this than any other element of the SCARF model, at least in organizations. There is no one fixed status scale; there are virtually infinite ways of feeling better than others. When everyone is trying to be higher status than others there is a decrease in relatedness. Because we perceive ourselves using the same circuits we use when perceiving others, you can trick your brain into a status reward by playing against yourself. Playing against yourself increases your status without threatening others. Status is one of five major social domains that are all either primary rewards or threats, which form the SCARF model for Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness and Fairness. Some Things to Try Watch out for people’s status being threatened. Reduce status threats in others by lowering your status through sharing your own humanity or mistakes. Reduce status threats in others by giving people positive feedback. Find ways to play against yourself, and pay a lot of attention to any incremental improvements. The slightest feeling of improvement can generate a p...