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  "description": "In change, people often ask for facts while needing safety. Leaders can answer both the question and the concern beneath it.",
  "path": "/the-question-beneath-the-question-responding-to-the-human-side-of-change/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-31T12:54:30.000Z",
  "site": "https://alfaro.io",
  "tags": [
    "refresher on SCARF",
    "Understand your social brain - The SCARF® ModelThe human brain is primarily social. Pretty much everything that really matters in life is social. The brain also sees the workplace primarily as a social set-up. Actually…NeuroLeadership Institute Finlandeepi",
    "The Prosci ADKAR® Model | ProsciLearn more about ADKAR, a research-based, individual change model that is part of the Prosci change management methodology.Prosci - The Global Leader in Change Management",
    "The Fearless OrganizationTogether with Amy C. Edmondson, we translated the core insights from her book The Fearless Organization into a practical measurement tool: the Psychological Safety Index (PSI).",
    "What is Organization and Relationship Systems Coaching?ORSC works with the whole team or system, rather than individuals. This ICF-accredited training program is trusted by coaches worldwide.CRR GlobalJillian Drysdale",
    "Difficult Conversations by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, Sheila Heen: 9780143137597 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: BooksFrom the Harvard Negotiation Project—which brought you the megabestseller GETTING TO YES—this practical guide will help you handle your most difficult conversations with confidence and skill…Penguin Random HouseNadia Telsey"
  ],
  "textContent": "A pattern I notice in change conversations is that the most important part of a question is not always the part spoken out loud. On the surface, someone what may come across as purely operational questions (i.e., “Who will I report to?” or “Why do we need to change?”). Underneath, other questions are surfacing.\n\n  * Will I still have access?\n  * Will my voice matter?\n  * Will decisions move farther away from me?\n  * Will I know where to go for support?\n  * Will this change make my work clearer, or more confusing?\n\n\n\nIn those moments, it is natural to move quickly to the logical answer, to explain the structure, the rationale, the timeline, or the decision. That information matters. People need it. But when a question carries uncertainty, concern about influence, or a fear of losing connection, logic may not be the first thing people can take in.\n\n### **The question beneath the question**\n\nThe SCARF model, developed by David Rock, offers a helpful lens in these situations (if you need a quick refresher on SCARF take a read here). During change, all five elements of the SCARF model can get activated at once.\n\nA question about leadership layers may also be a question about status, access, and influence. A question about who handles what may also be a question about certainty and role clarity. A question about process may also be a question about fairness and trust.\n\nThis does not mean people are resisting for the sake of resisting. It means they are trying to locate themselves in a changing system.\n\nOur brains are always scanning for safety, predictability, and belonging. When the structure shifts, people start asking: Where do I fit now? What changes for me? What might I lose? That is the human side of change.\n\nA leader can give a thoughtful and strategically sound answer and still miss what the room needed first. Unless we address the human question underneath, the logical answer may leave people with more questions yet. People are more able to receive the logic of an answer when they first feel heard.\n\n### **Mirror, validate, empathize, then explain**\n\nOne practice I often recommend is simple, but it takes intention. Before explaining the decision, respond to the nervous system in the room.\n\n  1. **Mirror what you heard.** Reflect the concern in plain language. This helps the person feel heard and helps others track the question.\n  2. **Validate why the concern makes sense.** Validation does not mean agreement. It means naming that the concern is reasonable to pay attention to.\n  3. **Empathize with the human impact.** Name what might feel hard or uncertain.\n  4. **Then explain the rationale.** Once people feel heard, offer the logic: why the decision was made, what problem it is trying to solve, what is known now, and what still needs to be clarified.\n\n\n\nThis sequence does take a little more time, but will save you time later because people are less likely to keep asking the same question in different forms.\n\n### **Try this: answer both layers**\n\nThe next time questions comes up during change, listen for both the factual request and the SCARF need underneath it. Ask yourself:\n\n  * What is the person asking for on the surface?\n  * What might they be trying to protect: status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, or fairness?\n  * What can I mirror before I explain?\n  * What concern can I validate without overpromising?\n  * What clarity can I offer now, and what needs follow-up?\n\n\n\nKnowing what is being asked beneath will help people feel seen and remind them they are not just recipients of change; they are humans inside the change.\n\n### **A final thought**\n\nRemember change is both a strategic and relational process. People need information and they need signals of respect, clarity, choice, connection, and fairness. When leaders answer both the question and the concern beneath it, they help the system stay more regulated and more able to think together.\n\nEspecially in change, how we answer matters as much as what we answer.\n\n### **Further Exploration**\n\nUnderstand your social brain - The SCARF® ModelThe human brain is primarily social. Pretty much everything that really matters in life is social. The brain also sees the workplace primarily as a social set-up. Actually…NeuroLeadership Institute FinlandeepiThe Prosci ADKAR® Model | ProsciLearn more about ADKAR, a research-based, individual change model that is part of the Prosci change management methodology.Prosci - The Global Leader in Change ManagementThe Fearless OrganizationTogether with Amy C. Edmondson, we translated the core insights from her book The Fearless Organization into a practical measurement tool: the Psychological Safety Index (PSI).What is Organization and Relationship Systems Coaching?ORSC works with the whole team or system, rather than individuals. This ICF-accredited training program is trusted by coaches worldwide.CRR GlobalJillian DrysdaleDifficult Conversations by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, Sheila Heen: 9780143137597 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: BooksFrom the Harvard Negotiation Project—which brought you the megabestseller GETTING TO YES—this practical guide will help you handle your most difficult conversations with confidence and skill…Penguin Random HouseNadia Telsey",
  "title": "The Question Beneath the Question: Responding to the Human Side of Change",
  "updatedAt": "2026-05-31T07:54:32.914Z"
}