Unmasking the significance of emotional growth at workplace

Did you know that emotional growth is not just about how you feel, but also about how you interact with and impact others in your professional sphere? This is because the demands of the professional world can be stressful. Emotional growth helps you manage stress and prevent burnout. By understanding your emotional triggers and practicing self-care, you can maintain your well-being and long-term career satisfaction.

Emotionally mature individuals are more likely to seek out continuous learning and personal development opportunities. They are open to feedback and constructive criticism, which are essential for improving skills and advancing in one’s career.

So, how does emotional growth contribute to an individual’s overall effectiveness and success in their professional life? According to Professor Vimala Veeraraghavan, Emeritus Professor of Psychology & Education, at Apeejay Stya University, we need to first know what emotional growth and development is.

“Succinctly stated, emotional growth is an ongoing process as a person goes through life’s experiences, and through each experience he/she emotionally develops resulting in improvement in their emotional regulation skills and strengthening their emotional intelligence,” she said.

Emotional intelligence, she added, involves identifying the emotions one is experiencing, understanding how and why they occur, as well as recognising what others are feeling, and developing effective ways for managing those feelings, which may be positive or negative.

“When a person does this, he or she consequently acquires skills to develop self-awareness, social-awareness, emotional regulation, and becomes capable of responsible decision-making and relationship building. These qualities contribute to the overall effectiveness and success in a person’s professional life,” Dr Veeraraghavan explained and said that emotions impact a person’s attention, memory, and learning. 

Emotional growth and emotional intelligence (EI) enhance a person’s ability to build relationships with others. “These also help improve one’s physical and mental health and facilitate managing emotions effectively thereby avoiding negative reactions which normally result in lowered performance,” she shared.

For instance, due to a burst of anger the person may lose his balance and react so negatively that even the earlier accomplished tasks get nullified. Emotional intelligence makes the person an emotionally healthy leader.

There are a few studies and research findings that highlight the correlation between emotional Intelligence (emotional growth) and career advancement. Karthikeyan and Lakshmi (2017) studied various bank employees and demonstrated that there is a significant positive relationship between EI and relationships at work place.

In 2019, Anand and his colleagues showed a connection between skills and productivity of workers, especially in the context of enhancing the EI in employees by special method. More recently in 2020, Jain and his colleagues showed a positive correlation between EI and career success.

Emotional growth and emotional intelligence enhance a person’s ability to build relationships with others. These also help improve one’s physical and mental health and facilitate managing emotions effectively thereby avoiding negative reactions which normally result in lowered performance

–Professor Vimala Veeraraghavan, Emeritus Professor of Psychology & Education, at Apeejay Stya University

Techniques to foster their emotional growth and improve their work-related outcomes

Be more self-reflective and self-aware: They have to learn to become aware of their emotions and responses of others which in turn enhances their EI. Tracking emotions as and when it occurs; take notes and deal with them.

Recognise how others feel: It is important for professionals to gauge how others perceive his/her behaviour. This would help in making the professional ask the others how they feel. This will drive home the fact that the professional is concerned with their feelings and prioritising their reactions.

Active listening: Show others he/she is listening to them. Asking appropriate questions and observing the negative and positive reactions for better outcomes.

Communicate clearly: It is important to communicate and express clearly what one wants to convey.  Using simple, understandable and clear communication goes a long way in building strong relationships.

Staying positive: EI people understand the power of a positive word. Staying positive in a stressful situation is important to make people also remain calm.

Showing empathy: Understand what the other person is feeling and why. By practicing this, you can master and enhance EI.

Be flexible: Be flexible in your approach and non-judgmental.

Staying calm under crisis: Mindfulness helps a great deal in staying calm.  When the leader is calm, others too are calm and the work gets done instead of getting paralysed. 

Conflicts are inevitable in any professional environment. Emotional growth equips you with the skills to handle conflicts in a constructive manner. And therefore, emotional growth is important in the professional context for several compelling:

1.       Team collaboration

2.       Leadership skills

3.       Conflict resolution

4.       Decision-making

5.       Personal branding