Professional maturity or maturity at work is the ability to respect other people's diversified cultural backgrounds and unique set of experiences in the workplace. They are the judgment based on mutual consensus supported with facts, rather than emotions and instincts.
Following are the aspects that would indicate how maturity at work would be:
1. Living by values
Work maturity includes making decisions based on one's values, ethics, and morals, instead of what feels good at the moment, honoring one's feelings: Work maturity as well includes emotional development.
2. Being teachable
Maintaining a non-judgmental attitude and, last but not least, keeping one's commitments.
3. Know your responsibilities well
Get to know your responsibilities very well. Ask what is expected of you. Know everything you can about your job role and seek wisdom whenever required. Don’t assume things but confirm when in doubt.
4. Be committed to your job
Focus, and keep your commitments. Meet the deadlines as scheduled. Make sure that you submit all the key deliverables in time, as you and your company’s reputation is at stake. Do not get distracted and stay committed to your job.
5. Be humble and kind to others
Be a good human being in general, and respect others. This will show that you are mature and good-natured. If any disagreement arises between you and your colleagues or managers, explain it to them in a nice way. Discuss and solve the problem.
As you see, these are some ways to show maturity at work. This should be inherent in any employee working at any organization. People will listen to you only if you show maturity in your behavior, personality, and attitude.
Why is maturity important in the workplace?
Any workplace denotes some level of professionalism and has some rules and ethics. It is the matured employees who can increase the productivity of the company and maintain the civilized functioning of a workplace. Moreover, maturity also helps to bring stability to the workplace and also improves the work culture.
Following are the five aspects stating the importance of maturity in the workplace:
1.) It makes you look professional
Maturity is directly connected to your being professional. Being matured implies that you know how to behave at a workplace, follow business ethics, and make you demanding in the market.
2.) It helps to meet project deadlines
A mature person will know how important it is for the company to meet given deadlines and avoid major losses.
3.) It improves team collaboration
Your teammates depend on one another for making a collective effort and producing the outcome. Working with a mature person will make team collaboration stronger and effective.
4.) It improves work culture
Matured employees have more control over their emotions and think twice before acting rough. They are helpful and have a “can-do” attitude at the workplace. This improves the work culture.
5.) It benefits the company in the long run
If all the employees working in a company are matured, it brings out the best results as a whole. There is a feeling of motivation and positive energy in the workplace.
In the end, the company’s image in the market improves, the share prices go up, and it is benefitted in the long run.
Thus, now, you know the importance of maturity in the workplace. Another advantage of maturity is it will also make you a better person outside the workplace. Your personality will shape accordingly. Besides, which employer would like an employee who behaves immaturely? Could you tolerate that if you were an employer yourself?
20 simple ways to exude more professional maturity at work
Whether with intention or not, we have small habits that can make most people seem immature at work. A few of it would be arriving five minutes late every day, sitting silently in the back of important meetings, and getting caught up in some gossips.
Following are 20 simple ways to exude more maturity at work:
1. Speaking Up In Meetings
It might feel awkward at first, but it is essential to get in the habit of speaking up.
2. Keeping the Work Relationships In Check
It is perfectly fine to have a few workplace friends, but one should also be cordial and professional with people in the office and being mindful of when you choose to socialize after hours.
3. Resisting The Urge To Gossip
One should always refrain from gossiping at the workplace as when gossiping becomes a full-blown habit, it becomes destructive and hurt one's job and others’ jobs at work.
4. Not to Be Afraid To Ask For Help
To think one can handle things on its own and making mistakes only shows immaturity, and importantly when one needs help actually it shows strength and so one should go ahead and ask for it.
5. To Try Not To be Late
One should always avoid strolling in late for work regularly. This type of attitude develops a bad impression on your boss. You might not be late intentionally, but you won’t know when late becoming your habit. Henceforth try to be on time regularly at your workplace.
6. Stating Opinions With Confidence
When everything one says has 'maybe' in the front and a question mark at the end, it gets zero credibility at work, It is fine to get it wrong sometimes as everyone does, but one must be confident about your opinions and state them firmly.
7. Being Aware Of The Workplace Culture Maturity
It is not all about acting in a certain way; it is more about striking a balance between being your authentic self and being aware of your environment at work.
8. Dressing For The Job
One should always dress for the desired job and not the job one has. Dress eventually defines your personality. It is the first impression that is created on any person you talk to. Henceforth, Dress professionally whenever you go to the workplace.
9. Entering A Room With Confidence
Whether someone is just walking into work, or walking into a super important meeting, doing it all with confidence is important. Try to concur with the room with your confidence. This will lead to overtake your colleagues and give a special impression in the room.
10. Reaching Out For That Handshake
Always one should be the first to reach out for a handshake as body language is constantly communicating a message on one's behalf. Handshakes are one of the common necessary actions in life. Professionally these are the act of greeting your colleagues and boss. Henceforth make sure that you greet people around you with a handshake.
11. Keeping Body Language Open
Keeping one's body language open exudes confidence, even if someone is not exactly feeling' it on the inside. This might be new to you, but this aspect helps a lot. Body language is developed once you open up in front of people around you.
12. Doing What One Can To Be Memorable
Whether in a meeting or the day-to-day conversation, people like to appreciate those who stand out or use specialized skills to suggest a new idea. So, one should go ahead and do it.
13. Being Clear About Goals
One should always show a go-getter attitude whenever possible, probing questions as well as volunteer for new projects, and let people know about one's goals are.
14. Paying Attention
If one's goal is to be the most mature of them all and break a few glass ceilings, while they're at it — they will always show how serious one is.
15. Following Through
Doing one's best to follow through on all your promises will do wonders when it comes to gaining influence at work. Henceforth make sure that you send a follow-through in your workplace.
16. Learning From Mistakes
There is no need to blame others, apologize, rather reflect on the mistake and ask oneself what did I learn from this, how can I do it better next time, and should keep moving forward.
17. Listening more than Talk
Active listening is an interpersonal skill that can even help one to become a master CEO of both one's job and in personal life. As acknowledged above, listening skills are the best skill to influence others in the workplace. This will eventually help you respect others and bosses.
18. Being self-driven and bouncing back from setbacks
Actively asking for feedback so that one knows the areas where needs to improve on as well as areas performing well and simultaneously can continue to improve on those things too.
19. Seeking and giving feedback
A good habit to practice is to proactively ask for feedback often so that one can use it to improve self. While receiving feedback, one should always remember to thank the person who took the time to give you feedback.
20. To learn to deal with ambiguity
Navigating through the fog of ambiguity in the absence of a step-by-step roadmap requires confidence in oneself, trusting gut instincts, and being flexible enough to make quick decisions and quick course corrections.
Now that you know the 20 simple ways to show more maturity at work begin applying these and see the results. You will become a changed person. The perspective of other people towards you will also change for good, and they will look up to you as a completely matured person.
Mark Jackson
How to improve maturity in job
Maturity in our job is extremely important because it denotes your seriousness about the company. It shows what it is to be a professional. Besides the maturity age criterion, Employers hire you because they assume that you are matured enough to work in the company. And hence, it is essential to improve maturity at your job.
Improving maturity means incorporating the best practices that should be followed at the workplace. It may be related to professional relationships, taking new responsibilities, being punctual and arriving at the office in time, standing out from the crowd, making a sound and long-lasting impression on your seniors and manager, etc.
How can I improve my maturity at work?
Maturity at work not only comes with experience but also by using common sense. Imagine that you are an employer of an XYZ company. If you hire some people, how would you like them to behave at your workplace? Improving maturity at work is not so difficult if you follow some tips.
Following are a few ways to step up and grow up maturity at the workplace:
1. Keeping relationships professional
Not talking about hangovers or complain about significant others, keeping personal talk to a minimum. Similarly, not waiting around the water cooler for juicy gossip as it can signal to others of not valuing discretion and may result in trust issues with sensitive topics.
2. Asking for help and staying focused
Making eye contact with those talking and always being in the moment for meetings and collective conversations. Being memorable and following through, getting a seat in meetings is important because one belongs there. It is essential to be confident and contribute.
3. Making an impression
Walking with good posture, keeping head up while entering a room, making eye contact, initiating handshakes, and, as the saying goes, being sure to “dress for the job one wants.” When one puts a better foot forward, they feel it internally too.
4. Being punctual
Showing up on time, not just for work but for calls, coffees, work-adjacent events, and especially meetings. Being late says a few things — having other priorities, not organized, and even that one just doesn’t care.
It is important to remember that maturity isn't something we're born with; we learn and grow into it. Sometimes, people need the right nudge at an opportune moment. Henceforth your maturity will become more stable and strong.
What determines maturity?
The ability to respond to the environment to behave and to know when and how to act, according to the circumstances and the culture of the society one is in determines maturity. The status of maturity is differentiated by the shift away from reliance on guardianship and the oversight of an adult in decision-making acts, mainly when decisions are made by one without any external influence or guidance.
Following are the five major factors that help to determine maturity:
1.) Living by values
Maturity includes making decisions based on your values, ethics, and morals, instead of what feels good in the moment. While momentary decisions can be fun, weigh whether there are any long-term consequences. Allow your values to guide your life. Let your character master your desires.
2.) Honoring feelings
Maturity includes emotional development. It is healthy to express one's feelings and to feel them. We are connected to have feelings, and expressing them is a loving acknowledgment of the beauty and struggle of life.
3.) Being teachable
It is fun to feel like one has all the answers and does not need anyone’s input, but maturity includes being open to the knowledge and wisdom of others. It’s okay to admit that one doesn’t know everything.
People around have wisdom that someone may not, so it is better to seek out the wisdom of others before making big decisions. This shows that one is willing to learn from others.
4.) Maintaining a non-judgmental attitude
We all love that friend that is always supportive, never gossips, and we feel like we can tell anything to, even if it’s embarrassing. Also, to be non-judgmental means one has an attitude of acceptance, understanding, and acting authentically.
One should accept the people in their life as they are. Also, one should learn to withhold one's judgments and approach people through compassion.
5.) Keeping commitments
When one says that they will do something, they should. Even if it isn’t the idea of fun, showing people that they can count on and that they are reliable. When telling someone “yes,” one should honor that commitment. Making people understand and believe that they can be trusted.
Thus, these are the factors that determine maturity. Many people think that maturity is determined by age. But it is not true. Nowadays, the young generation is also becoming more mature from an early age, due to the surrounding circumstances. Maturity is the ability of a person to react to his or her environment thoughtfully. This “understanding” quality of a person determines maturity.
How do I develop emotional maturity?
As in the same way of repeating the motions, belief will lower the score in one's presentation for work; emotional maturity is also obtained through careful, strategic actions. Matured people are considered professional, and hence, maturity is important in the workplace. It also denotes that you are good-natured, approachable at your workplace.
Following are the ten steps which will help to develop emotional maturity:
Step-1
By rehearsing reaching goals. As the saying goes, practice makes it perfect. Regardless of our goals, we must want it enough to strive for our aims. This is true in case of emotional maturity.
Step 2
With affirmative thoughts, we must tell ourselves what we want to be each day and accordingly believe in what we are saying and what we stand for. As a practice, one can repeat affirmations in the shower, or the mirror. Initially, it might feel silly, but it’s vital to have a mantra to embrace.
Step 3
Setting healthy boundaries. Being mature also means stating what is acceptable and what one will and will not allow. Once defining that line, defend it. Do not let anyone cross it.
Step 4
Learning to pause. Pausing allows us some extra time to ourselves to choose and to respond rationally, whether we are in the heat of an argument, or simply muddling over a major decision.
Step 5
Knowing to say when, or more accurately, learning when to say when is a key factor. Self-control is a fundamental giant, which shapes the way people perceive, so to act accordingly is justified.
Step 6
Infusing emotional maturity into one's work. Maintaining an emotional edge always plays a significant role in your employment growth and can be reward with large dividends, which will spill over into many areas of life.
Step 7
Developing behavioral growth. Recognizing when you screwed up without belaboring your own mistakes to the point of the penalty is valuable. Being determined to improve the decision next time and being kind about the failings.
Step 8
Eliminating poor choices. By resisting the desire to live beyond the means and the urge to do anything against the moral compass. To be able to live well and consciously is not always easy, but it is always fruitful.
Step 9
Changing detrimental friends. In the case of a person leaving someone's life because their paths don’t converge, they should be let go to find themselves without difficulty.
Step 10
Falling in love for the right reasons. We often forget about mutual interests that are superior to physical attraction and that without these shared pursuits, one will have a hard time having a healthy relationship.
So now you know how to develop your emotional maturity at the workplace. We all are emotional beings, and all of us have feelings. But we need to control those and act calmly. We must be able to deploy strategic ways to develop emotional maturity.
What is mental maturity?
To be able to stand in one's personal power irrespective of the chaos surrounding can be termed as mental maturity. It mainly teaches one aware of what they speak, when to speak, and where to speak? It also teaches us to be in the present moment and act accordingly.
In short, mental or personal maturity can be defined as the person’s ability to react to the environment in a learned manner, rather than instinctively. Maturity has nothing to do with age. It’s all about knowing the right time and place to behave in a particular manner, and according to the culture one lives in.
Knowing what is right and what is wrong is important. Mental maturity denotes the mind of a fully grown adult. It eliminates the use of certain childish emotions like jealousy, shame, guilt, etc. It makes you take the right decisions at the right time. It also gives you an insight into how much you had come far in life from when you were just a child.
Mental maturity establishes thoughtful processes required to bring desirable outcomes at the workplace. It enables you to develop yourself as a responsible and civilized individual. Another important factor is it lets go of your ego. It introduces a framework based on professional values to keep you in control emotionally and mentally.
What is maturity in the workplace?
The ability to respect other people's diversified cultural backgrounds and unique set of experiences in the workplace can be termed as maturity in the workplace. A few unique sets of experiences include having a professional attitude, being supportive of one's boss and co-workers, not gossiping about them behind their backs, and so on.
Just as it is the case in life, success at work depends on a lot of factors. Some think it’s all about luck or fate. Still, for the majority of us, it all comes down to our ability to demonstrate professional maturity no matter what might be one's position or career level.
Since employers regularly observe their employees’ behavior, displaying professional maturity can only work in one's favor. Professional maturity, in short, is explicitly related to how an employee acts, reacts, and behaves in the workplace.
Professionally mature employees can control their personal feelings when it comes to work-related issues. For example, if they make a mistake, they accept responsibility for it. They don’t shift the blame to others or give excuses.
Some examples of obstacles that can stand in the way of one's professional maturity are gossiping, backstabbing, and negative office politics. It is strongly advised to stay away from such behavior, even if one doesn’t have anything nice to say about the people working with it!
CONCLUSION
Maturity is directly related to the workplace. It is directly connected to the values, morale, professional behavior, attitude, and personality of an employee. As a leader, quietly observe those around you. At what level are they lacking? Giving them responsibilities that may match their level of professional maturity. Then look in the mirror. In which areas are you deficient. Work on all of these stages all of the time. We encourage you to perfect those that may be holding you back.
If you have any queries regarding “How to Improve Maturity in Job” or any suggestion/s, please feel free to comment below and let us know.