Jealousy and envy can occur in our private and professional lives. They are both complex mixtures of feelings.

Jealousy

• Fear of losing something (or someone) important
• Suspicion of betrayal or anger about being betrayed
• Low self-esteem or lack of self-confidence
• Feelings of doubt, sadness, isolation and distrust
  

Envy

• Sense of inferiority or of losing out to someone
• Longing or pining for something somebody else has
• Resentment of current circumstances
• Spiteful feelings towards the envied person
• Guilt and disapproval of one’s own negative feelings
  

In terms of their impact on team cooperation, both emotions can be extremely negative. They may sometimes provide individuals with the motivation to protect what is theirs or achieve more, but these benefits come at the price of mutual resentment and decreased trust (things that are toxic to teamwork and collaboration). Unfortunately, we are, among other things, a competitive species prone to insecurities, so both jealousy and envy are likely to rear their heads from time to time. Even if it may not be realistic to eliminate them completely, however, it is certainly possible to reduce the risk of them occurring and limit their impact when they do...

Top Tips for managing jealousy and envy in your team:

1. Recruit staff based on emotional maturity, not only skill and experience
2. Use participative management and empower team members when opportunities arise
3. Incentivise cooperation to give people reasons to maintain good relationships
4. Encourage a high-feedback culture where people communicate openly
5. Make high-flyers into team mentors to keep them involved with their workmates

(adapted from Dogan & Vecchio, 2001)

Tags: emotional intelligence, teamwork