Navigating Professional Self-Esteem Issues in Today's Workplace

Would you recognize how self-esteem issues are impacting your work experiences?

As the landscape of work changes, navigating professional self-esteem issues has become increasingly vital. With the shift towards remote, hybrid, and virtual team environments, the ability to maintain a strong sense of self-worth and resilience is more important than ever.

What is Self-esteem?

Self-esteem encompasses our perception of personal value and our sense of worthiness as individuals. It profoundly influences aspects such as confidence, concentration, and belief in our own abilities to achieve goals and fulfill our purpose. This self-perception not only shapes our personal and professional interactions but also our capacity to self-advocate, assume leadership roles, and find personal happiness. While some may display an inflated ego or excessive self-love, this can sometimes mask underlying self-esteem issues and potentially create friction in both the workplace and personal relationships. In this article, we’ll delve into the different ways professional self-esteem shows up at work, and its effect on workplace harmony, and discuss strategies to nurture and improve it

Overreaction to Feedback: A Barrier to Growth

A common manifestation of professional self-esteem issues is an overreaction to feedback. This defensiveness can create a negative atmosphere, affecting individual well-being and the overall workplace culture. Learning to view feedback as an opportunity for growth is vital in the modern workplace and one that coaching and mentoring can help to strengthen for all employees.

Overwhelmed and Burnout: The Red Flags

One often overlooked red flag is overwhelm and burnout, which often serve as the first indicators of declining professional self-esteem. Employees may feel constantly inundated in a high-pressure environment, leading to a sense of inadequacy. Recognizing these feelings early on is crucial to prevent a downward spiral.

Camera Shyness in Virtual Meetings

We all have those times when we are just not in the mood to turn on the camera, or maybe it's just not convenient. With the rise of virtual meetings, camera shyness has become a common complaint issue. This reluctance can stem from low self-esteem and fear of judgment. Since the camera is now a part of work connectivity, aiding more transparent communication, failing to turn on the camera for work is a challenge for both leaders and team members. Encouraging a supportive virtual environment is crucial to team development, communication, and trust building. We have developed a script to talk about camera time, so all employees know what to expect and how to communicate their camera preferences

Fear of Failure and Judgment

While none of us like to fail or be judged, becoming overly obsessed with this is another sign to look for. Those who struggle with the fear of failure and judgment are more directly impacted when they face those challenges. This fear can lead to reluctance to take risks, stifling creativity and growth. Building resilience against these fears is key to fostering a healthy workplace culture.

Low Resilience: The Backbone of Professional Self-Esteem

Low resilience is another sign of low professional self-esteem. Resilience is the ability to bounce back from setbacks. Low self-esteem is a detriment to resilience from some Professionals with low resilience. Setbacks often become a challenge to recover from. They are overly sensitive to any criticism or failure, making it difficult to communicate with them or share concerns for improvement. They often engage in complaints, grievances, and conflicts, causing negative tension in the team. Developing resilience is essential for maintaining professional self-esteem and adapting to the constantly evolving workplace.

Poor Self-Care: The Foundation of Self-Esteem

While it is okay to occasionally put others ahead of us, we all know that self-care is essential to being strong enough to help others. Neglecting self-care can be a cause of low self-esteem, and it can also severely impact professional self-esteem. Regular self-care practices are essential for maintaining mental and physical health. Practicing good self-care influences one's self-perception and confidence, which impacts their effectiveness at work

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Mental Health and Self-esteem

It should be noted that self-esteem issues may be a manifestation of varying degrees of mental health concerns and should be treated with care and compassion. Low self-esteem will significantly affect one’s quality of life and career enjoyment and will impact their ability to make and maintain healthy working relationships. It will have an impact on one’s self-esteem. As such, professional self-esteem is a critical element of workplace well-being, especially in our digital age.

How to Improve Professional Self-esteem

We have used several ways to help clients develop their self-esteem in the past. These involve recognizing early signs of issues, building resilience, embracing feedback, practicing self-care, positive affirmation, coaching and mentoring and even therapy if the issue is due to trauma. ?As the world of work becomes more remote, and employees spend more time on social media seeing other people’s positive moments, this continues to have a negative impact on their self-esteem and consequently more of an issue in the world of work.

Professional Self-esteem Development

One of the tools we use to help clients struggling with self-esteem issues that are affecting them professionally is my Professional Self-esteem Coaching program. This year, I have revamped the self-esteem coaching program by adding an e-course to the coaching that offers clients more flexibility and growth points.

We are offering a Black Friday 60% discount on this revamped program till December 4, 2023, for the professional self-esteem course and coaching program to help you turn things around in 2024.

Sign-up here.

Bio

Joyce Odidison, MA. MCC

Joyce Odidison wears many hats – from an international Keynote Speaker to a pioneer of the groundbreaking Well-being Intelligence Curriculum. With a career spanning over 26 years as a Conflict Analyst, Professional Trainer, University Lecturer, and Master Certified Coach, Joyce has consistently broken barriers. As President and CEO of Interpersonal Wellness Services Inc., she has designed transformative training sessions and curricula, including the Global Workplace Wellness Summit and an ICF Approved Coach Training program. A recognized community leader and mentor, Joyce's passion is evident in every venture, including her podcast What’s Happening at Work and her global media appearances.