Oh, beware, my lord, of jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on. This line from Shakespeare’s play, Othello, describes how damaging this vice can be.
Typically an angry emotion, jealousy can be extremely damaging when it seeps out in the workplace.
Experts describe it as a cocktail of rage, resentment, inadequacy and hatred.
Jealousy is one of those emotions we can’t escape. And it can easily overcome us in the workplace. It crops up when someone gets a promotion over you; when the boss starts showing favouritism towards a particular employee; or when we feel we’re getting less praise and recognition for our efforts in comparison to others, writes Kate Neilson.
While it’s relatively impossible to suppress these feelings, it is crucial we know how to manage them because unchecked jealousy can quickly snowball into destructive behaviour that can damage workplace culture.
Laurence Mukankusi, an accountant cites that though it’s common in the workplace, being jealous of a co-worker can be a sign of insecurity or mere selfishness where a person only wants to see themselves excelling and not others.
With such a character, be sure of strained relationships with others. No matter how much a person tries to hide this feeling, it normally presents itself in different ways. These can be mean words or sarcastic comments downplaying one’s success, she says.
"It’s hard for such a character not to cause impaired work relationships, which in the end messes up the effectiveness of working as a team.”
Mukankusi also adds that employees with jealous tendencies can sabotage others to limit their success at work. Yet this is plainly harmful to the company’s growth.
Arthur Wandwasi a businessman believes that such tendencies happen when a person feels insecure in their position at work.
Their job may not be affected in anyway but because such a person detests seeing others succeed, they believe that once others succeed, then their own success is limited in one way or another.
He however notes that before employees let this vice consume them, they need to understand that jealous rarely is an isolated emotion. It normally carries with it damaging effects such as disunity, conspiracy and even bullying, which are all destructive to the workplace.
Combatting workplace jealousy
Jackie Cumo, an executive and leadership coach shares via her LinkedIn page some take-aways for dealing with this commonplace work situation: (What to do when a colleague achieves recognition and promotions);
Keep a journal of your weekly accomplishments and successes. Save emails from colleagues or clients. "I even know of a former IBM colleague who went out of her way to ask clients and colleagues for "atta - boy” emails when she did something good for them. This is useful for building up your own confidence, and also it’s very useful for reviews with your manager.”
Insure you’re noticed as a thought-leader. For some of us, speaking up at team meetings is hard - it doesn’t come naturally to us. If this is the case for you, then prepare to be recognised as a thought - leader at your next team meeting. Don’t just sit there checking your phone. Make sure you understand the agenda ahead of time, and plan how to speak up with your idea or comment. And don’t wait until the end of the meeting to do so. Interrupt! Be forceful and interrupt to share your idea or comment with confidence.