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Do your find yourself intuitively understanding other's feelings and experiences?
If so, you might have the strengthsfinder empathy talent.
Highly functioning teams have a strong sense of we. And empathy as the leader can be a superpower for developing this on your team.
Empathy StrengthsFinder TL;DR
The Empathy StrengthsFinder talent means you have a raised awareness of the emotions of others and allows you to walk in another’s shoes.
When you lead from this strength, you can help others voice their emotions, allowing them to feel seen and understood.
Going first creates safety for others to enter into vulnerability.
If you’re already familiar with StrengthsFinder, you can skip over the next section.
What is StrengthsFinder?
SterengthsFinder, now CliftonStrengths, is an assessment based on strengths psychology. The fundamental premise is you will get farther by maxing out your strengths rather than trying to improve your weaknesses.
I’ve seen numerous leaders grow as they identified their talents and turned them into well-developed strengths. But you don’t have to be a leader to benefit from StrengthsFinder, and you can apply it to more than just work.
Understanding your strengths and weaknesses helps you better understand and live out your unique design.
Empathy is just one of the 34 different strengths measured by StengthsFinder. When you take the assessment, you will get back your top 5 strengths. You can pay for an ordered list of all 34, but I wouldn’t recommend that the first time you take the assessment.
Focus is critical to developing your strengths. Keeping just your top 5 in view helps you make meaningful growth in the areas of your life with the highest leverage and impact.
Related Guides
How do you lead well with Empathy in your StrengthsFinder top 5?
So you’ve taken the StrengthsFinder assessment, received your results and found empathy in the list. Now you’re wondering how to grow or leverage this strength in your leadership.
I know the relief of having someone name my emotions better than I can. I've worked hard to empower those on my teams with the strength of empathy.
These are four strategies I’ve seen empathetic leaders use to create a better sense of we on the team.
- Refine your emotional language.
- Look for the right moment to name feelings.
- Ask questions that lead others to empathic insight.
- Recharge your own batteries.
Learn to recognize behaviors when you're over-leveraging your strengths to the point that they become liabilities. And discover the path back to health.
Refine your emotional language
You may already have a robust emotional vocabulary but continue to expand it. There’s a difference between frustrated and bitter, and you can help others use that nuance as they identify and name their emotions.
You have a raised awareness of the emotions of others, allowing you to walk in their shoes.
When you can listen to someone and name their experience, they will feel seen and understood. There is great kindness that comes from an empathetic posture. It also improves your ability to lead as you gain a better understanding of your team.
Articulating what others are experiencing is incredibly powerful in a team setting, but there’s an art in knowing when and how to do it.
Look for the right moment to name feelings.
It’s not uncommon for others to be unaware of their own feelings and the feelings of others. Naming what one person is feeling can create empathy from the whole team. But it can also make that person feel exposed.
The moment informs how it's received. Will they feel safe?
Articulating what others are experiencing is incredibly powerful in a team setting, but there’s an art in knowing when and how to do it
A helpful strategy can be to own the emotions for the team. If you observe multiple team members feeling anxious, you could say something like, “With our deadline coming up quickly, it’s natural for me to get tunnel vision and feel anxious, is anyone else feelling that?” Going first creates safety for others to enter into vulnerability.
Related Guides
Ask questions that lead others to empathic insight.
Understanding doesn't require agreement. You can disagree with someone's choices but understand why they made them. This posture often requires a high level of empathy or maturity.
You can help others voice their emotions, allowing them to feel seen and understood.
By asking questions, you can facilitate your team toward greater empathy by realizing there are likely understandable reasons for another person’s behavior.
Recharge your own batteries
It's easy to get drained when you’re more aware of what everyone is experiencing. And it’s natural to overlook the need to practice empathy for yourself.
Take time to reflect and what you’re experiencing and feeling. Share your observation with someone else, or write it down.
As you learn to lead using your empathy strength, you can help others bring their experiences from felt to named and known.
By helping others voice their emotions, you can help prevent them from checking out because they're misunderstood. In the end, you’ll begin to create a better sense of we on your team.
Action Plan
Leaders with the empathy strength can struggle with an antipattern of being ruled by others’ emotions. Learning the strengths antipatterns will allow you to continue growing as a healthy, intentional leader.
You are on an extraordinary journey to living and leading from your strengths. You can explore the list below to learn about the rest of your top 5 strengths.
Frequently Asked Questions
StrengthsFinder
So do I totally ignore my weaknesses and just focus on my strengths?
Strengths-based growth doesn’t encourage you to ignore your weaknesses but not to spend too much time trying to turn them into strengths. Instead, you may need to find team members or systems to fill in your gaps.
Learn more about how StrengthsFind influences your leadership.
There are strengths I think I have; why didn’t they didn’t show up in my top 5?
For some people, their strengths ranked 5, 6 or 7 are almost even. You could also be misattributing a skill or behavior to a specific strength.
Learn more about how StrengthsFind influences your leadership.
Should I pay to see all 34 strengths?
Seeing your other 29 strengths can help give you a fuller picture. But initially, someone should focus on further developing those top 5 strengths rather than trying to give attention across the list. Once you have a good grasp on what it looks like to lead from your top 5, it can be helpful to explore the rest of the list.
Learn more about how StrengthsFind influences your leadership.
What’s the difference between a talent and a strength?
A talent is your natural way of thinking or behaving. A strength is a talent developed over time through knowledge, skills and practice.
Learn more about how StrengthsFinder influences your leadership.
