From Stress to Success: How ACT and Performance Feedback Drive Workplace Change

How can organizations supports their employees in managing stress in fast-paced work environments, while improving performance?

Research supports Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT) and structured performance feedback as a powerful combination.

High stress increases errors, reduces efficiency, and contributes to burnout. All of which lead to reduced productivity.

As stress levels increase, employee technical performance suffers and increased supervision can often feel like heightened pressure to perform, leading employees to engage in avoidance behaviours and disengage from work culture.

Enter ACT.

ACT is not about getting rid of internal discomfort, which leads to avoidance, but about building psychological flexibility. The ability to take actions towards values even when stress, and unhelpful thoughts or feelings show up.

ACT encourages employees to move forward with meaningful goals instead of getting stuck in avoidance patterns.

Verbal and written performance feedback, along with reinforcement, and removal of barriers to performance, has been shown to reduce stress levels in employees, however…including ACT produced even greater and more consistent performance improvements, higher employee engagement and stronger technical skills. Additionally, employees found ACT strategies enjoyable and practical (Pingo et al., 2020).

Why it works.

ACT aims to address the root causes of stress; typically avoidance. By clarifying workplace and personal values, breaking tasks into smaller, more manageable steps, and reinforcing actions aligned with values, employees increase their ability to adapt and thrive, even under pressure.

Bottom line.

While stress is inevitable, it’s impact doesn’t have to be. Combine performance feedback with ACT to create a compelling formula for

• reducing burnout and psychological stress,

• increasing engagement and productivity, and

• driving sustainable behaviour change

Organizations that invest in these strategies don’t just improve employee performance, they help build resilient, value-driven teams ready to thrive.

Paliliunas, D., Belisle, J., & Dixon, M.R. (2018). A randomized control trial to evaluate the use of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to increase academic performance and psychological flexibility in graduate students. Behavior Analysis in Practice. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-018-0252-x

Pingo, J. C., Dixon, M.R., Paliliunas, D. (2020). An examination of the intervention-enhancing effect of acceptance and commitment therapy-based training on direct service professionals’ performance in the workplace. Behavior Analysis in Practice. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-018-00275-9.

Pingo, J. C., Dixon, M. R. & Paliliunas, D. (2020). Intervention enhancing effects of acceptance and commitment training on performance feedback for direct support professional work performance, stress, and job satisfaction. Behavior Analysis in Practice. http://doi.org/10.1007/s-40617-019-00333-w

Prudenzi, A., Graham, C. D., Flaxman, P.E., Wilding, S., Day, F., & O’Connor, D. B.(2022). A workplace acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) intervention for improving healthcare staff psychological distress: A randomized controlled trial. PLoSONE. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0266357.

Driving Performance While Supporting Employee Wellbeing

Individuals are motivated to act in ways and pursue goals that align with their values and what matters most. When management, organizational and personal values align, research predicts:

• higher job satisfaction

• lower employee turnover

• greater trust and collaborations among teams

Values alone, however are not enough. Employees require the right job resources, both workplace and personal and access to these resources show:

• reduced stress and discomfort

• increased engagement and performance

• more effective responding to challenges

The Case for Resilience

Developing employee resilience should be a core goal for organizations because while workplace challenges inevitably do increase job stress, resilient individuals:

• demonstrate less distress,

• greater persistence, and

• ability to adapt to meet goals.

Resilience is about more than just coping, it’s about the ability to thrive under pressure.

The Missing Link: Engagement

Engaged employees who see value in their work are motivated to invest time and effort into organizational goals. Engaged employees are also tend to experience greater personal life satisfaction.

Yet most employees are not engaged at work, resulting in billions lost in productivity (Lu et al., 2023).

Happy and engaged employees are productive employees, so how do we increase engagement?

Strategies for Sustainable Engagement

• Identify and provide appropriate job resources to help reduce stress and boost motivation.

• Connect work tasks to employee values and identity, helping them see why their work matters.

• Reinforce engagement behaviours consistently and regularly, through recognition, positive feedback and growth opportunities.

• Have leadership model value-driven behaviours, for employees to look to for guidance.

Bottom Line

Sustainable workplace engagement is about creating an environment based on shared values, appropriate resources and building resilient employees. The result is a workforce that is more engaged and ready to meet the challenges ahead.

Arieli, S., Sagiv, L. & Roccas, S. (2020). Values at work: The impact of personal values in organisations. Applied Psychology: An International Review. doi.org/10.1111/apps.12181.

Lu, Y., Zhang, M. M., Yang, M. M. & Wang, Y. (2023). Sustainable human resource management practices, employ resilience, and employee outcomes: Toward common good values. Human Resources Management. doi.org/10.1002/hrm.22153.