People strong in the Empathy theme can sense the feelings of other people by imagining themselves in others’ lives or others’ situations.

You can tell a person strong in Empathy by these attributes (source: Dr. Hulme, APU):

• Instinctive understanding of others
• Sense what it is like to be someone else
• Pick up on the pain and joy of others, sometimes before they express it
• People felt heard and understood by them and are drawn to them by this
• Form close supportive relationships with others

More about Empathy:

• Needs on a team: To understand others
• As a Leader: Tune into others
• In Conflict: Sense others’ feelings
• Partner with: Command, Activator (take action)
• In academics: 
  – loves to understand how others feel – enjoys courses where the professor relates well to students and forms connections to them – tends to enjoy psychology, social work, education, and other disciplines that encourage empathy – courses where they can read novels, watch movies, or journal are often a good match – the relationship with the professor is important to these students and they will care if that is a good fit.

Where does Empathy Theme rank in the population?

• Overall, Empathy ranks 9th, occurring in around 19% of the population’s Top Five (25% of Females and 12% of Males)

5	9	8	21

Out of your Top 5 CliftonStrengths, it’s statistically:

• most likely to appear with Developer and Harmony 
• least likely to be found with Command, Self-Assurance, significance
  

The genius of your Empathy talent involves your ability to form high quality, deep,personal understanding and relationships with others. You have an unusual and beautiful ability to feel into what it feels like to be another person You can often feel what someone else feels without them saying a word. As a result, you can form very close,intimate relationships with people. The genius of Empathy has profound effects on others because they feel so deeply understood. Many people feel like they come healthier and more at peace being in your presence because your understanding of people goes beyond the words they can find to express themselves. While it may be hard on you to hear the pain of others, they will feel deeply indebted to you because you can understand them at such profound levels. The genius of Empathy makes you a great lover of other people and they are fortunate to have you as a friend.

At your best (Balcony):

• creates trust, brings healing, knows just what to say/do, customizes approach to others

At your worst (Basement):

• “soft,” moody, over-involved

Empathy may be one of your signature themes if…

• You sense people’s emotions as if they are your own.
• You can see the world through other people’s perspectives even if you do not agree with them.
• You don’t necessarily pity everyone (which is sympathy), but you can at least understand their views.
• You have an instinctive ability to understand, anticipate need, and articulate feelings.
• You always speak with the right words and the right tone.
• You put words to what others are thinking and feeling.
• You find that people are often drawn to you.
• Your greatest strengths are that you create trust, bring healing, and approach others on their levels.
• Your greatest weaknesses are that you can be soft, over-involved, or a bit moody.
  • Source: Let’s Talk Personality

A more detailed explanation from Gallup:

You can sense the emotions of those around you. You can feel what they are feeling as though their feelings are your own. Intuitively, you are able to see the world through their eyes and share their perspective. You do not necessarily agree with each person’s perspective. You do not necessarily feel pity for each person’s predicament — this would be sympathy, not Empathy. You do not necessarily condone the choices each person makes, but you do understand. This instinctive ability to understand is powerful. You hear the unvoiced questions. You anticipate the need. Where others grapple for words, you seem to find the right words and the right tone. You help people find the right phrases to express their feelings — to themselves as well as to others. You help them give voice to their emotional life. For all these reasons other people are drawn to you.

Action Items for This Theme

• Appreciate your gift for getting in touch with the thoughts and feelings of others.
• Practice naming the feelings you experience and those you observe in others, then help others name their feelings. People who can name their feelings seem to work better with other people.
• Build trust with others by letting them know that you know how they are feeling.
• Help your colleagues be aware of the feelings of the persons with whom they work.
  Identify a friend who has strong Empathy and check your observations with him or her.
• Sometimes it is important to be silent. You have the talent to, without talking, let other people understand that you know how they are feeling. Over time, refine your non-verbal communication skills.

Be ready to:

• Act quickly and firmly if a person is behaving in a way that is unhealthy for that person or for those around him or her. Understanding someone’s emotional state does not mean that you must excuse this behavior. Be aware that when your empathy turns to sympathy, others might see you as a “bleeding heart.”
• Partner with someone with a strong Command or Activator theme. This person will help you to take needed action, even though people’s feelings might suffer as a result.
  • The Clifton StrengthsFinder and the 34 Clifton StrengthsFinder theme names are protected by copyright of Gallup Inc., 2000. All rights reserved.

Mirroring People: The Science of Empathy and How We Connect with Others

The Age of Empathy: Nature’s Lessons for a Kinder Society

The Empathic Civilization: The Race to Global Consciousness in a World in Crisis

Ted Talk: Radical Empathy

Podcast episodes to help you understand and leverage your Empathy Strength

• Episode 1: Understanding the Power of Empathy – “The Science of Happiness”
• Episode 2: Compassionate Conversations – “On Being with Krista Tippett”
• Episode 3: Cultivating Empathy in Relationships – “The Art of Charm”
• Episode 4: Empathy in Action – “The Kindness Podcast”
• Episode 5: Building Bridges Through Empathy – “The Empathy Podcast”
• Episode 6: Women Leaders Cultivating Empathy in the Workplace – “The Confident Woman Podcast” (Host: Sherry Parks)
• Episode 7: The Empathetic Woman: Connecting Through Compassion – “Women Who Lead” (Host: Andrena Sawyer)
• Episode 8: Empathy in Leadership: Women’s Perspectives – “The Female CEO” (Host: Stacey Sargison)

Listen to great Strengths Podcasts

• Theme addicts is a series created by UnleashStrengths to highlight the massive impact the StrengthsFinder assessment through interviews and discussions.
• Lead through your strengths features many interesting guests and Career Q and A about leverage your strengths at work.
• Maximize Your Strengths features interviews and discussion on developing your strengths. She really drills into each of the themes by interviewing real people on how a specific theme shows up in their lives.
• Called to Coach is a webcast resource for those who want to help others discover and use their strengths. We have Gallup experts and independent strengths coaches share tactics, insights and strategies to help coaches maximize the talent of individuals, teams and organizations around the world.
• ISOGO TV promises a lot: So dramatically increase your energy and decrease your frustration at work, that you cannot help but take the Strengths paradigm home to your family. Fueling life-changing stories.
• The True Strength Podcast by Ian Pettigrew (Kingfisher Coaching) features inspiring true stories of how people succeed through applying their strengths and being resilient. It often includes a Gallup StrengthsFinder profile.
• If you are looking to identify and develop your strengths and talents, take calculated risks and make decisions, The Strengths Revolution with Steve Morgan will help your personal development, as well as helping you support your clients, employees, teams and wider organisations. Knowing your strengths will also support positive risk-taking and decision making as part of good risk management.

Sources:

• Balconies and Basements
• Leadership, team and conflict
• The Genius and Beauty of Strengths
• Strengths-based academic Advising
• Strengths partnerships

 

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