COGNITIVE & BEHAVIORAL COACHING
Invest in cognitive-behavioral change support. A scientific, pragmatic, structured and results-oriented method.
but what you do when you don't know.
Jean Piaget

Executive coaching
Classic executive coaching approaches remain unclear: “develop your confidence”, “find your leadership”, “work on yourself”.
We use a structured cognitive-behavioral coaching protocol, rooted in 40 years of research in clinical psychology and validated by the WHO.
How?
An 8-step process with concrete tools at each level:
→ Cognitive diagnosis : We identify the causal attributions and limiting beliefs that create your dysfunctional loops (cognitive matrix testing, constructivist demand analysis).
→ Measurable behavioral goals : No need to “develop leadership” but specific indicators, target behaviors, a tripartite contract with the prescriber.
→ Cognitive tools : Ellis ABCDE (identifying and testing irrational thoughts), Beck columns (situations → emotions → alternative thoughts), cognitive defusion, etc.
→ Behavioral experimentation : Intersession tasks, prescription of concrete actions, systematic debriefing at each session
What it changes in concrete terms:
- A manager who attributes his difficulties to “I am not made for this” (internal/stable attribution) learns to reframe to “this specific situation requires a skill that I can develop” (external/modifiable attribution).
Result: You are not working on your “personality”; you are developing behavioral and relational skills that are repeatable in any context.
We are not doing personal development. We train measurable coping skills.
Team coaching
- Changes are not based on motivation or “awareness”; they are rooted in repeated and adjusted actions.
Classic interventions on teams revolve around cohesion seminars, communication workshops or team building. Result: it creates a link, but it does not change the dynamics.
- Measurable follow-up: visual analog scale, tripartite assessment interview, follow-up session.
We use a structured cognitive-behavioral and systemic team coaching protocol. We work simultaneously on collective thought patterns, relational loops, and observable behaviors.
How?
A system with 4 levels of intervention:
→ Team diagnosis : We map the implicit rules, collective causal attributions, and feedback loops that maintain dysfunctions (Katzenbach & Smith model, actor matrix, 360° feedback).
→ Reframing collective beliefs : A team that thinks “we are not aligned because we do not have the right people” (external/stable attribution) learns to reframe to “our current cooperation rules do not produce the desired alignment” (modifiable attribution).
→ Measurable behavioral goals : No “strengthening cohesion”; precise indicators on decisions, feedback, information flow, managerial rituals.
→ Collective experimentation : Co-development (CODEV) to solve concrete situations, new rituals tested and adjusted, systematic cross-feedback between sessions.
What it changes in concrete terms:
- A Codir who says to himself “we don't work because we don't have enough time together” discovers that the real problem is the absence of common goals and clear cooperation rules.
- Individual resistances become signals about the team dynamics to be adjusted (sociodynamics: drivers, resistants, alliances).
- Changes are rooted in repeated and measured actions; not by fleeting “realizations.”
Result: Your team does not work on its “team spirit”; it develops repeatable collective skills: deciding together, giving each other constructive feedback, adjusting in real time.
We don't build team cohesion. We are setting up measurable collective coping mechanisms.
Organizational coaching
We work in systemic coaching: we simultaneously act on the structure, relationships and mental representations that slow down or accelerate change.
How?
We use hybrid intervention systems that combine:
→ Systemic diagnosis : identify feedback loops, implicit rules, and areas of homeostasis that maintain the status quo (7S McKinsey, actor mapping, 5 whys method).
→ Collective intelligence : mobilizing internal resources via World Café, co-development (CODEV), communities of practice. Your teams become agents of change, not spectators.
→ Cognitive-behavioral reframing : transform resistance into useful signals, bring out new interpretations of the situation (Appreciative approach, systemic reframing).
Result: your organization is not only implementing a transformation plan; it is developing its capacity to transform itself continuously.
We are not installing a change. We set up the conditions for a learning system.
An impact validated by research in organizational psychology
A systematic review of 14 studies (Sarkar & Fletcher, 2015) shows that cognitive resilience programs significantly improve the mental well-being (d=0.78) and behavioral performance (d=1.0+) of employees.
Well-being
strong to very strong effects
Psychosocial variables
moderate to strong effects
Performance
very strong effects
R² = coefficient of determination
0.2 = weak 0.5 = medium 0.8+ = strong
Why call on us?
UNREST is a cognitive-behavioral change firm. It is based on a resolutely scientific, structured and demanding approach to individual and collective change.
UNREST in a nutshell
This method has its roots in cognitive and behavioral psychology as well as in applied neuroscience. It transposes to the world of organizations protocols from academic research, aimed at understanding how our mental structures (our thoughts) influence our reactions (our behaviors). At UNREST, we don't treat change as just an intention or a state of mind, but as an operational skill.
Our method is based on three concrete pillars:
- Observable behaviors: what you really do in the face of the unexpected.
- Identifiable cognitive patterns: the biases and thought patterns that influence our behaviors.
- Real working conditions: the systemic and organizational environment that influences action.
This approach makes it possible to go beyond general discourse to intervene in a structured, measurable and sustainable way. We do not act on the “desire to change”, but on the concrete capacity to transform the mechanisms that condition collective effectiveness.
The mission of UNREST is to help decision-makers and organizations make change a comparative advantage, by turning uncertainty into a driver of performance. Our value proposition is based on the development of Psychosocial Skills (CPS), defined by the WHO as “the ability of a person to respond effectively to the demands and challenges of daily life”. By making these skills strategic, measurable and trainable, we act simultaneously on individual, collective and organizational dimensions. UNREST does not promise rapid or comfortable change, but an increased ability to decide, cooperate, and act effectively in complex situations. By cultivating this active resilience, we enable organizations to no longer suffer from instability, but to exploit it to innovate and last.
Where coaching or leadership development often rely on implicit models or approaches that are not very objective, UNREST provides a common framework based on:
- the initial assessment of cognitive, behavioral and contextual skills,
- the explicit modeling of the levers of change,
- structured cognitive-behavioral training,
- and the measurement of impact over time. UNREST thus reinforces the centrality of the fundamentally human and fraternal aid relationship, with a structured, standardized and traceable framework.
S.H.A.R.P.® is the first change enalization model, designed to develop the behavioral skills that make change acceptable, desirable, and sustainable. Scientific, sequential and operational, it guides individuals towards autonomy by combining diagnosis, experimentation and evaluation.
UNREST is the first leadership development and cultural transformation firm, specializing in the development of cognitive and behavioral skills of organizations in the face of change and uncertainty. Our major difference lies in the transition from “declamative” advice to sustainable and profound transformation engineering, structured around three pillars:
- Targeted scientific expertise: unlike general coaching, we work exclusively on the cognitive mechanisms of action. We do not transmit theoretical models, we reinforce cognitive resources that can be observed and activated in real working conditions.
- A hybrid device (human + digital twin): UNREST is not limited to conversational coaching. Our human approach is extended by a cognitive-behavioral twin. This technological tool supports decision-makers over the long term to help take a step back, identify recurring patterns and anchor progress between two sessions.
- Anchoring yourself in “real work”: we do not recommend working remotely. Our protocol is designed to be integrated into the daily flow of activity. The objective is to transform the professional field into a permanent learning laboratory.
- In summary: UNREST goes beyond the divide between strategic advice (often too theoretical) and coaching (sometimes too subjective). We propose a structured system that equips human competence with the rigor of applied science.