There’s good news and there’s better news.
For years, professionals have believed that to succeed in the workplace, you must not only wield strength and power, you must also walk the talk. That means “toughening up” if you’re a man; and “stop being so sensitive”, if you’re a woman.
We’ve all got the memo: The world, especially the work arena, is no place for emotional people. Executive coaches have even warned us against being tentative or voicing a seemingly feeble “I feel” instead of the briskly affirmative “I believe”, “I think” or the infallible “I know”.
Little wonder that sensitive professionals invariably mask their emotions when road-rollered by hard-boiled colleagues who behave as if their opinions are the only ones that count. Worse, they pretend to grin and bear it when their bosses act as if their sensitivity is a personal disgrace.
But no more. Finally, the sensitive folks have science weighing in on their side.
The unveiling of three decades of research reveals that sensitivity is actually an asset in the workplace; that people with higher sensitivity perform significantly better than others in an organisation.
Because not only are they wired to notice and absorb more information than others about their environment and the people in it, they also use it better—and faster. To give you an example, while working with an important client on a project, they are the first to pick up on the client’s non-verbal cues and understand that they’re unhappy with the way things are going. That propels the sensitive employee to have an alternative path ready even before their colleagues have realised that there’s a problem.
The magic works within the office too. Introduced to a new concept or policy, sensitive workers think about it deeper than others and quickly figure out how to put it to work innovatively. Their sensitivity is especially useful while hiring a new candidate or vendor: their attention to detail helps them pick up on personality traits that their more assertive and outspoken colleagues miss.
As per Andre Solo, the person behind Sensitive Refugee, the world’s largest website for sensitive people (yes, there is such a thing), and the co-author of a new book that’s making headlines, Sensitive: The Hidden Power of the Highly Sensitive Person in a Loud, Fast, Too-Much World, highly sensitive people benefit most from what he calls the ‘Boost Effect’.
This means that sensitive people get the most boost from a helping hand. In other words, whether it’s HR training or communication coaching or even relation counselling, it’s the sensitive people who gain the most from it. That’s because they see and appreciate its advantages and figure out how to put it to use—first.
Things promise to get even better for these professionals. Because their abilities cannot be reproduced by technology (at least not yet), their sensitivity will become even more valuable in times to come. Given
a collaborative atmosphere and quiet spaces to work in, they can thrive and become organisational stars.
How’s that for an erstwhile Sad Sack?
Shampa Dhar-Kamath
Delhi-based writer, editor and communication coach
shampadhar@gmail.com
