Workplace well-being

Today’s workplaces are full of people who have learned how to talk about their feelings with more openness than ever before.

Schools have played an important role in this shift by helping children identify and process their emotions. Many adults have also benefited from therapy, coaching and wellness initiatives that encourage the same.

This increased emphasis on self-awareness has been an overwhelmingly positive development. People are more attuned to their stress levels, more willing to name their emotional states and more able to advocate for what they need. What has not evolved at the same pace is our ability to recognize the emotional experiences of others and understand how our actions affect the people around us.

This gap is showing up across generations and in workplaces of every size and sector.

Most people can explain their own reactions with reasonable clarity. Many feel comfortable saying things like, “I felt dismissed in that meeting” or “I need more clarity on my tasks.” These skills matter because naming internal experiences helps reduce confusion and conflict.

The problem is most of us are not equally skilled at noticing when someone else feels dismissed, overwhelmed or unheard.

This imbalance can create real difficulties in workplaces, where tasks, decisions and problems are shared across teams. When individuals focus primarily on expressing their own feelings, without paying equal attention to the feelings they trigger in others, communication becomes lopsided. People may unintentionally cause harm, fail to notice tension building around them or overlook moments when a conversation needs slowing down.

This is not a flaw of any one generation. It is a universal human challenge.

We have become comfortable with “I” statements and personal expression, yet many of us struggle just as much as ever with perspective-taking and interpreting emotional cues.

In busy workplace environments where communication is fast and pressure is common, these gaps become even more visible. A comment that was meant to be efficient lands as curt. A well-intentioned suggestion feels to someone else like criticism. A stressed colleague misses the signs another member of the team is quietly shutting down. These misunderstandings accumulate and often grow into conflicts that could have been prevented with better awareness of how others were feeling in the moment.

Workplaces rely on more than individual emotional insight. They require the ability to read the room, interpret tone, adjust to shifting dynamics and recognize when someone else is struggling even if they do not articulate it directly. These are subtle skills and they are not typically taught with the same level of structure or intentionality as self-regulation. Yet they are just as important.

When people become more aware of how their actions impact others, accountability improves naturally. Instead of relying on explanations such as “I did not mean it that way,” employees start paying attention to impact without becoming defensive about intention. They learn to take responsibility for misunderstanding someone or for allowing their stress to spill into interactions with colleagues. Awareness of others softens conflict and builds trust because it demonstrates care and respect.

Conflict is an inevitable part of working with people. Workplaces should not aim to eliminate conflict entirely, because conflict is often how teams sharpen ideas, address problems and move projects forward. The issue is how people interpret and respond to conflict.

Without strong interpersonal awareness, conflict can feel personal and threatening. With empathy and perspective taking, conflict becomes a space where accountability and improvement are possible. When employees understand how their words and actions are landing with others, they can adjust their behaviour in ways that maintain relationships while still addressing issues directly.

One major benefit of recognizing the emotional experiences of others is the ability to deescalate tension. Many conflicts do not start with major events. They begin with small moments where someone feels ignored, disrespected or misunderstood. These moments often go unnoticed by the person who triggered them. When individuals develop stronger skills in reading emotional cues, they can catch those moments early. They can pause, ask a clarifying question or shift their tone. These small, early interventions prevent conflicts from becoming larger, more entrenched problems.

Adaptability is also deeply connected to this form of emotional awareness. In any workplace, individual needs must co-exist with organizational pressures, deadlines and constraints. People who are aware of the experiences of others are better able to adjust their expectations and communication. Instead of insisting solely on what they need, they are more likely to collaborate on solutions that respect the limitations and workloads of colleagues.

Adaptability does not mean ignoring personal needs. It means recognizing everyone in the workplace has needs and pressures and successful teamwork requires attention to all of them.

In many organizations, conflict management and communication training focus heavily on expressing personal needs clearly. This is useful, but incomplete.

The skill set needs to expand to include recognizing non-verbal cues, interpreting emotional context and developing the confidence to respond compassionately when someone else is struggling. Workplaces would benefit from teaching employees what it looks like to check in with others, to summarize what they believe they are hearing and to ask whether their delivery is working for the person on the other side of the conversation. These are everyday communication habits that can transform how teams function.

The strongest workplaces are filled with people who can navigate tension without escalating it, who can take accountability without becoming defensive and who can communicate needs without ignoring the needs of others. These are not innate abilities. They are teachable, learnable and practice-based.

Emotional education, whether in schools or in professional training environments, should expand from focusing exclusively on self-awareness to including a balanced understanding of both internal and external emotional landscapes.

As we continue to evolve our understanding of workplace well-being, the next step is clear. It is not enough for individuals to recognize their own emotions. They must also learn to recognize the emotions of the people they work with and understand the impact they have on others.

This shift will strengthen relationships, improve communication and build cultures where accountability is a shared value rather than a difficult conversation.

When employees at all levels develop these skills, conflict becomes a tool for improvement rather than a source of division. Work becomes more collaborative. Teams function with more trust and workplaces become healthier, more resilient and more effective.

Tory McNally, CPHR, BSc., vice-president, professional services at TIPI Legacy HR+ (formerly Legacy Bowes), is a human resource consultant, radio personality and problem solver. She can be reached at tmcnally@tipipartners.com