Green with Envy???

Are you jealous of your employees?  If not, then you should take the time to evaluate your team and ask yourself why you aren’t jealous of them.

Jealousy can be a force that ruins relationships, communities and businesses.  This emotion is defined many ways, but for the most part it is considered an emotion that evokes negative feelings and thoughts dealing with insecurity, fear and resentment.  When a person is jealous or envious of another person often the result is anger or anxiety.  In fact, the origin of the “green with envy” phrase is derived from the illness and buildup of “sickness” within a person when they are jealous.

Your employees should bring quality and talent to the team.  When you build your organization, the employees or associates that you add should possess skills, attributes and talents that are unique and valuable.  As much as you will be able to teach them as their leader, you should be able to learn from them.  The team should compliment one another.  Think about how dull and boring it would be if everyone did everything the same way, had the same skills and used the same approach in each situation in the workplace.  Embrace the differences and respect the varying perspectives.

Business owners, managers and supervisors want to be looked up to, but it is equally important that they recognize the qualities of the team members.  It is easy to recognize that they do things differently, but the unfortunate part is that we are often bothered by this.  We immediately find fault in their actions and behaviors because it is our instinct to “reject” what they are doing because deep inside, we are envious of their ability to step outside of what is expected and be successful. 

Now comes the tough part, when you feel that green monster of jealousy start to sneak up on you when you are dealing with or observing an employee – STOP, ask yourself what this person is doing, is he successful and how can you learn from him?  Instead of letting envy be a bad thing, let it be recognized as a good thing.  Admit your jealousy and be thankful for someone on your team who can add strength and different attributes to the organization.  Be sure to tell this person what unique and different thing it is that makes the work they do special to the organization!!!

I remember years ago when I was a sales manager for a corporation and my general manager noticed how well one of our part-time sales representatives was doing, especially when it came time to work one-on-one with customers and build relationships.  He suggested to me that I pay attention to what she was doing because it would help me become better at this.  My initial reaction was to be defensive and feel inadequate because of this.  I was envious and I was jealous.  However, I decided to step back and really consider this as an opportunity.  I am so glad that I did.  By watching Alicia work with her customers, I learned so much!  I was able to take her approach and adapt it for my own use.  She taught me a great deal and it led me to become successful in other sales management jobs in my future.  Had I handled the jealousy in a negative way --- what a sad story that could have been.

Think of GREEN as an icon for money instead of envy – Think about how learning and growing from jealousy can benefit your team and your business.  Remember, it is how you respond that will make a difference.  It is your choice, you can let your jealousy fester and ruin the situation, relationship or organization or you can recognize and welcome the opportunities!!!

Have you ever learned something unexpected from someone unexpected?  How can you change your reactions to make positive results?