Partnerhip to help IT professionals
GLOBE myBusiness, the micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) arm of Globe, has partnered with the Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA) in helping information technology (IT) and software professionals find emotional balance in such a fast-growing industry.
Software companies based in the country service clients as far as Japan, the Middle East, Europe, and the United States. This booming industry has a strong pool of talent that needs constant inspiration, training, and guidance, thus, the decision to hold a series of seminars dedicated to educating and inspiring IT and software professionals in the country.
Its recent seminar acknowledged the importance of striking an emotional balance even in the most talented, driven, and competent individuals. Aptly titled “#HugotNoMore — Finding Emotional Balance in this Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) World”, the event sought to fulfill sev
eral objectives, such as understanding the nature of emotions and why they are important; strengthening awareness of one’s emotional triggers; creating a strategy for responding to triggers; and developing a basic understanding of mindfulness as a tool for managing emotion.
Guest speaker Dinah Salonga, YogaPlus managing director who also started her career in IT, pointed out that day-to-day challenges, both at home and at work, put the body in a fight-or-flight mode which compromises the immune and digestive system and causes metabolism to slow down. It can result in various diseases if the body is constantly in a stressful state.
Since it is difficult to avoid stress or VUCA conditions, Salonga said everyone must learn how to cope with it by developing emotional intelligence. Benefits could be outstanding leadership, stellar performance, and happiness.
“Monitoring our own emotions requires selfawareness that can lead to emotional awareness. Selfawareness is the foundation domain. Without it, we can not develop self-management, motivation, empathy, and social skills,” she said.
Thus, Salonga suggested to explore mindfulness or paying attention to what is currently happening, as a tool to help develop self-awareness, and eventually, emotional intelligence. “Our mind has a tendency to wander or ruminate especially when we are idle. Developing mindfulness allows us to be more focused and to think more clearly on demand. Mindfulness is the foundation practice for self-awareness. Through mindfulness, we are able to observe our natural tendencies and patterns so we can switch to awareness,” Salonga added.
Through the seminar, Globe and PSIA hoped to encourage key decision makers to invest in the emotional balance and personal welfare of employees, since balanced and driven talent are known to deliver the best results at work.
Both partners believe that an effective way to make the industry more globally competitive is by providing education to current IT and software talent. This is also an opportunity to forge strategic partnerships and empower the tech community, as well as an avenue to garner insights on the IT and software field while encouraging a healthy discourse between the industry and academe.
“As a partner, Globe myBusiness supports the long term goal of PSIA in developing local talents. Part of this is making sure the PH Tech Industry is equipped not only with adequate knowledge of the latest trends and on the technical topics, but also on their well-rounded development. Getting a firm grasp on one’s emotional intelligence is equally important as the technical skills, in succeeding in this fast paced industry.”