The inner child at work

During the last year, I wrote an article about the inner child.

Even if we are adults, the child has a huge impact on how we feel, on how we think, or how we behave.

And even if it started from our personal life, it can make it visible also into our professional life.

When you were a child, maybe the adults around you did not pay attention to your emotions. This made you express with difficulty how you feel and it increased your emotional intelligence. Into the organizational field, this is translated into a lack of courage, assertiveness, or leadership.

Let’s see when we can identify our inner child at work:

• When we doubt our expertise - we are afraid that we didn’t perform very well
• When we avoid making decisions - we are afraid that we can do mistakes
• When we avoid action until we make it perfect - but this won’t happen
• When we feel that our impact is not so good - but this is only our feeling (not others)
• When we don’t feel comfortable with the feedback - we feel everything as a criticism
• When we put a mask in front of the other - to pretend we are better, even if we don’t feel like this
• When we try to please everybody - this can cause exhaustion
• When we are afraid of failures - because this will make us shamed and we don’t want this
• When we can’t delegate or collaborate with others - because we can’t trust others
• When we need to prove to others that we are good - to the parents or the managers

On the other side, the inner child can give energy, curiosity and make things fun. It can help you to build relationships, to make connections, and discover new things.

So, it’s good to embrace your inner child and to grow it to your benefit. Be conscious of how your child behaves at work, educate it, and transform it.

When you connect with it, you can heal it. In this way, you can make a team with it at work.

Photo credit