The Mindful and Effective Employee: An Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Training Manual for Improving Well-Being and Performance

282 Pages·2013·3.067 MB·English

by  Paul E. Flaxman PhD, Frank W. Bond PhD, Fredrik Livheim PhD, Steven C. Hayes PhD

“This book presents a simple, practical, and incredibly useful program to
create exactly what the title offers: effective, mindful employees. It’s a
must-have in the armamentarium of any psychologist or HR professional
who wants to help people increase their satisfaction, improve their perfor-
mance, create better relationships, or enhance well-being in the
workplace.”
—Russ Harris, author of The Happiness Trap
“This book is a remarkable step forward in accelerating productivity in the
workplace while caring for the well-being and vitality of employees. When
companies blend the proven ideas of mindfulness and value-directed
actions into the work culture, the employees will blossom, the work teams
will strengthen, and the organization will prosper. Research clearly sug-
gests that applying the principles in this book will yield a solid return on
investment. It is easy to envision leading-edge companies capitalizing on
this training manual. These forward-thinking companies will not only
advance their bottom line, but will also benefit the people of the organiza-
tion. The Mindful and Effective Employee training manual presents a solid
how-to handbook for achieving the elusive win-win scenario of creating
productive and healthy work environments.”
— D.J. Moran, PhD, BCBA-D, senior vice
president of Quality Safety Edge and founder of
Pickslyde Consulting
“After reading The Mindful and Effective Employee I felt inspired, wiser, and
very well equipped to deal with both individual career coaching and brief
but effective group exercises. This is a glistening gem of a book, and it
provides the reader with a smart ‘how-to’ rationale for delivering cutting-
edge, evidence-based workplace training. I want to start practicing what I
learned right now!”
—W alter Osika, MD, PhD, specialist in internal
medicine and author of The Stressed Heart
“This book is a must for those wishing to make a significant contribution
to workplace health and well-being. It is built out of workplace experience
and research and written by authors who are experts in their field, offering
techniques that are carefully crafted, known to work, and readily transfer-
able into the workplace. More than just a valuable resource, this book
gives support and confidence to those wanting to improve the quality of
working lives.”
— Philip Dewe, professor of organizational
behavior, department of organizational
psychology, Birkbeck, University of London
“Even though work is often defined as a necessary evil, having a job tops
the list of what makes people happy in life. Work is a great source of both
stress and joy. We spend more time working than doing any other single
activity in our lives. It stands to reason that psychotherapists help us to
learn to react to the challenges of work in ways that are healthy in the long
run. The aim of this book is to demonstrate how ACT can be imple-
mented in the workplace. The authors are internationally acclaimed
experts in the field. The book is helpful for both the newcomer to ACT
and the seasoned expert. It covers the theoretical aspects as well as practi-
cal session-by-session protocols and handouts. This book is the first of its
kind; don’t miss it!”
— JoAnne Dahl, PhD, professor in the
department of psychology, Uppsala University,
Sweden
The
Mindful
and
Effective
Employee
An Acceptance & Commitment Therapy
Training Manual for Improving
Well-Being and Performance
Paul E. Flaxman, PhD
Frank W. Bond, PhD
Fredrik Livheim, MS
New Harbinger Publications, Inc.
Publisher’s Note
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the
subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in
rendering psychological, financial, legal, or other professional services. If expert assistance or
counseling is needed, the services of a competent professional should be sought.
Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books
Copyright © 2013 by Paul E. Flaxman, Frank W. Bond, and Fredrik Livheim
New Harbinger Publications, Inc.
5674 Shattuck Avenue
Oakland, CA 94609
www.newharbinger.com
Cover design by Amy Shoup
Acquired by Catharine Meyers
Edited by Rosalie Wieder
All Rights Reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Flaxman, Paul Edward.
The mindful and effective employee : an acceptance and commitment therapy training
manual for improving well-being and performance / Paul E. Flaxman, PhD, Frank W.
Bond, PhD, and Fredrik Livheim, MS.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60882-021-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-60882-022-1 (pdf e-book)
-- ISBN 978-1-60882-632-2 (epub) 1. Psychology, Industrial. 2. Acceptance and
commitment therapy. 3. Job stress. 4. Personnel management--Psychological aspects. I.
Bond, Frank W. II. Livheim, Fredrik. III. Title.
HF5548.8.F554 2013
158.7’2--dc23
2013003021
In memory of my great friend, “Uncle” Brendan,
and to Sherylin, my fellow traveller
— P.E.F.
To Aidan Conway, my source of love and psychological flexibility
— F.W.B.
In memory of my beloved big brother and friend, Jan, and to my
sources of inspiration: my husband, Tobias Livheim, and my
colleagues, friends, and teachers, JoAnne Dahl and Steven C. Hayes
— F.L.

Contents
Foreword vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1 The Prevalence and Impact of Psychological Distress
in the Workplace 4
2 What Is ACT? 14
3 The Rationale for Applying ACT in the Workplace 30
4 Practical Considerations and Program Overview 38
5 Training Session 1: Opening Presentation and Introduction
to Mindfulness and Values- Based Action Skills 61
6 Training Session 2: Untangling from Internal Barriers
to Values- Based Action 103
7 Training Session 3: Consolidating Mindfulness and
Values- Based Action Skills 148
8 ACT Trainer Stance and Skills 173
9 Research Review 189
10 The Evolution of ACT in the Workplace: The Leading
Edge and Beyond 203
The Mindful and Effective Employee
Handouts 223
Handout 1: Define Your Values 224
Handout 2: Values, Goals, and Actions Worksheet 230
Handout 2a: Values, Goals, and Actions Worksheet
(Work Example) 231
Handout 2b: Values, Goals, and Actions Worksheet
(Relationship Example) 232
Handout 3: Home Practice 233
Handout 4: Untangling from Thought Barriers to
Values-Based Action 236
Handout 5: Values, Goals, and Actions Map 237
Handout 6: Home Practice 238
Handout 7: Assessing Value Consistency 241
Handout 8: Home Practice 246
References 248
Index 257
vi
Foreword
M
any people spend more time on work than on any other single
thing they do. Work can be a source of satisfaction, stress,
support, conflict, meaning, emotion, connection, anger, com-
munity, and hopelessness. For many, it is a hugely important part of life.
Surprisingly, however, the world of work is not often a central focus
of practitioners in the mental health professions, and industrial and orga-
nizational consultants do not often consult the work of psychotherapists
for inspiration. Historically, the worlds of clinical work and organiza-
tional work are separated by a vast chasm of professional differences and
disinterest.
That is not true in the ACT world. The very first randomized trial
done on ACT following the publication of Acceptance and Commitment
Therapy by Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson in 1999 was a worksite intervention
(Bond & Bunce, 2000), and ACT practitioners have continued to research
the world of work since that initial study. What the ACT community has
learned in the clinic finds its way into the workplace and vice versa.
There is a reason. ACT is based on a reticulated (i.e., network- like)
functional contextual intervention development model— a model that is
at the core of the contextual behavioral science (CBS) tradition that
gave birth to ACT. And that development model facilitates the intercon-
nection between practitioners in clinic and work settings.
Functional contextualists are focused on changeable contextual
causes because they want analysis that both predicts and influences psy-
chological events. They are focused on basic principles and have also
actively sought the new principles needed to address human cognition.
They want to explain human complexity and behavioral problems by
addressing both the external environment and the internal world, but