By Deb Groff
Photo by Josh Calabrese on Unsplash
Have you ever been around a person who
-can tell when something is happening inside of you
-senses your unvoiced concerns
-seems to feel what you feel or puts words to what you are experiencing?
If so, you have probably encountered someone with strong empathy. Empathy can be described as the ability to sense other people’s emotions, coupled with the ability to imagine what someone else might be thinking or feeling. It is not only an amazing relationship building quality, but it can also be used as an incredible “superpower” in teams! People who are naturally empathetic and have grown their skills can be very adept at helping a team become aware of emotional undercurrents within the group. They can also help groups make better decisions by encouraging the team to consider the feelings and perspectives of those affected by a decision. Overall, those with empathy have a natural way of causing people to feel seen, heard and cared for.
What if you are not able to ‘read’ emotions well? Don’t worry, there is hope! God has gifted each of us with different ways of thinking, feeling and behaving. A person who doesn’t naturally read emotions can still care for people and teams, they’ll just do it in a different way. Take time to discover, develop and use your natural talents. Whether it is caring for a person or accomplishing a task, finding your natural talents can unlock superpower potential within your relationships.
If you’d like more insight into what your natural talents are, I encourage you to check out the CliftonStrengths assessment. It assesses 34 different talent themes and can be taken in many different languages. You can purchase the ability to view your top 5 talents (great starter package) or see the list of 34. Either way, you’ll have access to a simple report and other great resources for growing and developing how God has naturally gifted you.
CliftonStrengths page general info
https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/home.aspx
Link to CliftonStrengths Empathy talent description
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shMM8JDERQ8
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