In part one of this blog series, we explored how the event → thought → feeling → behavior process of the cognitive behavioral model can shape how we experience the world around us. Then, in part two, we explored how this cognitive behavioral model is well suited for the structured nature of coaching. But how can all of this apply to navigating the workplace? 

The same challenging feelings that employees can feel in their personal lives – like fear, worry, anger, guilt, or sadness – can also be felt in relation to their work lives. These feelings can impact organizational outcomes like performance, relationships, employee wellness, employee satisfaction, turnover, productivity, and ultimately, the bottom line. Thankfully, investing in employee mental health – whether with techniques based on CBT or other approaches – can have a positive effect on these metrics. 

The business psychology of CBT

Within the field of business psychology, there have been a number of organization-specific models to emerge from the principles of CBT. Some of these include the ACE FIRST model, the SPACE Model, the PRACTICE Model, the CRAIC Model, and the  INTENT Model. With each of these, the same basic ideas about the link between thoughts and behaviors still apply: 

• Something happens or is about to happen (event) 
• We have a thought about it (thought)
• We have a feeling about it (feeling) 
• We behave or react based on that feeling (behavior)

Similarly, there are things leaders and employees can do to enhance personal and organizational outcomes which also use principles from CBT. 

Performance and CBT

During times of high stress and high demand, our thinking can get more inflexible and distorted— and the workplace can certainly be filled with stress and demand. Work stress has a significant impact on personal lives, as well. CBT principles can help employees and leaders reframe the types of feelings and behaviors that inhibit motivation and performance to the types of feelings and behaviors that enhance their motivation and performance. When leaders and employees have the cognitive flexibility to work through these difficult thoughts and feelings in times of adversity, it can benefit both the individual and the organization as a whole. 

Using a process similar to what was initially discussed in the second part of this series, an employee can start to overcome roadblocks to performance by asking themselves:

1. What thoughts come to mind when I think about the challenge/situation I am facing at work? 
2. What feelings about this challenge come to mind for me? 
3. What evidence is there to support these thoughts?
4. How helpful are these thoughts in enhancing my performance? 
5. What changes could I make to my thoughts which might contribute to an improvement in my performance in this situation? 

Relationships with teammates and CBT

We spend time with people in our work lives almost as much as we do the people in our personal lives. In fact, having positive relationships at work actually supports overall employee mental health. Much like the challenges that arise in personal relationships, team members can often experience similar conflicts and disagreements. 

Within teams, there are three main types of group conflict: task conflict (disagreements about what task to do), process conflict (disagreements about how to do a task), and relationship conflict (interpersonal disagreements that are unrelated to a task). 

Fortunately, task and process conflict can actually be productive, “good” disagreements because these differences of opinion can foster creativity, innovation, and the sharing of ideas. 

However, relationship conflict results when interpersonal issues come into play and can not only be a distraction that draws the attention away from the achievement of team goals – it also hinders the effectiveness of the other two more productive forms of conflict. These interpersonal issues can stem from miscommunications, misunderstandings, misjudgements, and a host of other “misses”. 

Employees and teams can increase positive outcomes by identifying and addressing the negative automatic thoughts that often lead to these “misses”. Some common cognitive distortions include: 

• Mental filtering: letting one negative detail ruin your happiness or enjoyment
• Jumping to conclusions: making  irrational assumptions about what people are thinking (mind-reading) or situations (fortune-telling)
• Personalization: placing the blame only on yourself for things that are out of your control.
• Black-and-white thinking: seeing things as absolutely black-or-white, right-or-wrong, all-or-nothing
• Catastrophizing (Magnifying): blowing things out of proportion, perceiving a catastrophe, “making a mountain out of a molehill”
• Overgeneralizing: having little evidence while making broad generalized statements using words like “always” or “never” 
• Labeling: making widespread negative statements about yourself or others based on a single event
• Shoulding: using “should” or “need to” to place unrealistic demands on yourself or other people (then feeling guilt or disappointment if it doesn't happen)
• Emotional Reasoning: interpreting experiences based on feelings, then assuming those interpretations are true
• Minimizing: discounting your good attributes and focusing on imperfections
• Disqualifying the Positive: completely transforming neutral or positive experiences into negative ones (extreme “minimizing”)

The importance of science-backed mental healthcare for employees

For today’s employees experiencing the world through a time of economic and political uncertainty while navigating workplace dynamics, stress can feel like the norm. However, when teams have access to clinically validated mental health support, they can find ways to better manage stress, helping them to show up to work with more resilience, thoughtfulness, and engagement.

CBT is one of many psychological techniques leveraged at Headspace to provide support for employees, and our care is proven to improve outcomes and save money for organizations. Interested in learning how Headspace can support your employees’ mental health? Contact us here.