Highly Sensitive people (also called Responsive and Highly Sensory Intelligent) bring a variety of gifts to their workplaces. Here is a list of just 10 sorely-needed things they do:

1. Focus and deep-thinking. Highly Sensitive people are able to focus and think deeply about an issue at hand.

2. Independent and intrinsically-motivated. They require little supervision - a boon for any employer or manager. This comes from a high degree of conscientiousness - a trait rated as 'the best personality predictor of performance' across jobs (Adam Grant).

3. Attention to subtleties. Responsiveness = awareness of nuances. People with this temperament see the details others miss, and place them in the larger picture, due to deeper processing. They're invaluable in making important decisions, seeing potential, and warning of pitfalls, among many other benefits.

4. Avoid office politics. You won't find them gossiping or taking sides - unless driven to it by poor leadership, with no other course of action available. Generally, though, they'll be the ones getting on with their work.

5. Able to 'read' emotions. With greater activation of the mirror neurons (involved in empathetic responses), as well as the insula and cingulate brain regions (consciousness and moment-to-moment awareness), those who are Highly Sensitive are more aware, alert and conscious in many situations, including those involving other people. This, added to their perception of subtleties, means they can read expressions, body language, and the emotional state of others quite accurately, and then respond accordingly.
As you can imagine, this is extremely valuable in any sort of personal interaction, especially with clients/customers (or students, with Highly Sensitive teachers) and in situations such as business negotiations.

6. See more than one side to an issue/situation. This is one reason why they don't get involved in office politics - a Responsive person sees more than one reason for an action, tries not to jump to conclusions, and can consider multiple viewpoints at the same time. From here, they can help others see these options. This makes them good peacemakers, counsellors/advisors, and considerate and reflective leaders.

7. Think creatively. Dutch psychologist Matthijs Baas and colleagues analysed mindfulness skills that predict creativity. Of these, only observation 'was consistently linked with heightened creativity' (Kaufmann and Gregoire, Wired to Create, p. 120). They concluded, "To be creative, you need to have, or be trained in, the ability to carefully observe, notice, or attend to phenomena that pass your mind's eye" (quoted in Kaufmann & Gregoire, ibid.). As we've seen, this is what Highly Sensitive people do all the time. They're made for creativity!

​As Kaufmann and Gregoire also wrote,
 
'Sensitive people often pick up on the little things in the environment that others miss, see patterns where others see randomness, and find meaning and metaphor in the minutiae of everyday life.... If we think of creativity as "joining the dots" in some way, then sensitive people experience a world in which there are both more dots and more opportunities for connection' between them. (p. 126)

8. Insightful and intuitive. Those with High Sensory Intelligence see the potential in situations and people. They use their insight and intuition when looking at problems and opportunities, and bring up aspects which need to be considered in ventures, projects, and processes.

9. Act with integrity. Now ideally, everyone acts with integrity. Practically, not all do - and it can be hard to know who will and who won't. You can rely on a Highly Sensitive colleague to, though. Things matter to them - details, meaning, purpose. Where they can agree with them, they will be committed to an organisation's mission and values - if not, they wouldn't be there (or they'll be seeking to leave).

10. Unlikely to take shortcuts. I've already mentioned their high degree of conscientiousness. It's very important to a Responsive person to do things well - to take care of the variables. If they do something, they'll want to do it thoroughly. But if there's insufficient time, or resources, allocated to a task to do it properly (perhaps through a false sense of efficiency), they'll become frustrated. Lesson: If you want something done thoroughly, give it to a Responsive person - with enough time, and access to the resources needed, to do it. If thoroughness doesn't matter so much, give the task to someone else.

Bonus benefit: This is one that is potentially very helpful right now. A thriving Highly Sensitive person can see further - beyond the immediate conditions - in a crisis. When others might be panicking or floundering, a HS person is able to be calm and sensible. The key here, though, is that they need to be heard and believed in these moments/periods. To make that possible, this already needs to be a fixture in an organisation - where the gifts of those with High Sensory Intelligence are recognised and used. If this isn't in place, then they won't be able to do their part in this way, with actual results for the organisation, when it matters.

And this goes for any of the benefits we've discussed here. If you want the golden egg, you need to nurture the goose. (To put it in a transactional way...). That's where I come in. I'll show you how to do this in your workplace - and help you discover who these people are. Your workplace will never be the same - in all the best ways.

There are a lot of things that go into any one genetic trait, so there are a huge number of factors which affect what High Sensitivity is and how it works. I want to share just a few that I think are easy to understand and really interesting.

1. Dopamine - this is your 'reward' chemical. You probably know that it affects motivation and feelings of accomplishment or reward. It also works with each person differently. A Highly Sensitive person is driven less by external rewards and more by internal rewards; so they will be more motivated to avoid certain situations, like loud parties or crowded places, and seek out others, like natural settings and calm environments. These are the things which allow them to process well and use their gifts positively, while those they're motivated to avoid are the things which depress their gifts and overwhelm their senses.

2. Mirror neurons - these are what help us to understand and be empathetic towards others. We observe people and compare our takings with our own experience. These neurons are more active in HS people, along with other areas that process social and emotional data. This means high levels of compassion and empathy, along with a lot of concern about and interest in others' wellbeing. It allows them to be insightful and caring about others' experience.

3. Emotional regulation - the vividness of a person's experience during emotional moments is increased in HS people, meaning they feel things more strongly/vividly than others in response to their environment. Now, we all feel things deeply/strongly at various times; this doesn't mean that HS people are the only ones to experience things deeply. What it does mean is that they experience them more vividly. They're having an immersive experience while someone else is having a pleasant time.

4. Awareness - Highly Sensitive people are more alert and conscious - more aware - in various situations, especially those involving others. In the brain, this can be seen as more activity in the cingulate and insula, which are responsible for consciousness and moment-to-moment awareness.

Information adapted from 4 Brain Differences of Highly Sensitive People

In this video interview, Julie Bjelland provides some explanatory background for the Highly Sensitive temperament and shares how to understand it, benefit from it, and be resilient within it.

Julie is a 'sensitivity expert', with a website, juliebjelland.com , where she shares insights and tools regarding the temperament, manages an online community (via subscription) of those with the trait, and other resources, such as interviews, podcasts, a blog, and mindfulness exercises.

This is a good introductory video if you've just heard of this temperament, and want to know for yourself or someone you know how to (a) appreciate its benefits and no longer feel ashamed of how you experience the world, (b) know how to deal with stress and chaotic circumstances, and (c) learn some of the facts about where it comes from.

​Why would you want to spend the money and effort to provide a workplace where Highly Sensitive people thrive? What do these people offer your organisation - and the world? Well, here are the reasons why it's a smart choice (there are a lot of reasons. Just read a few if you can't manage them all right now. I'm confident it'll be enough to convince you).

Vision and Meaning
I mentioned on my About page that Highly Sensitive people are the dreamers, wise counsellors, visionaries, artists and poets. They are the ones who'll make your organisation look good to others, with their words, images and other creative gifts. More importantly, they'll help provide vision and meaning for your group; a place where people come because they care, are involved, and know why they're there.

Personal Qualities
Highly Sensitive people are conscientious, reliable, responsible, caring - about their work and about others - internally-motivated, able to see consequences, honest, and determined. This is a great list, especially for managers and other leaders, who need team members who do their work to the fullest extent possible, and provide an example for those who might struggle with or be less motivated in these areas.

Do you need more reasons? There are more! Let's keep going.

The big picture and the details
HS people see more about a situation, and they make decisions based on all the factors  they can see (which are often many). This means their decisions are considered, with good foundations - decisions that can be trusted. It might take them more time to make them, but you can depend on the result. It's an important aspect of a smart team; you'll have the fast-actors, who can choose quickly and confidently, moving things forward and acting when action is needed, and the considered, reflective ones, whom you trust to make the more consequential choices with more variables. Their ability to see more about a situation (Highly Sensitive people notice and are responsive to subtleties) includes seeing more than one aspect of an issue in which people disagree. They can hold those differing views in their minds alongside their own, which helps them be understanding of other viewpoints, guide their colleagues to do the same, and come to conclusions which are more likely to satisfy everyone.

Improved processes & results
If you allow them to, your Highly Sensitive team members will refine the organisation's processes until they run smoothly, help ensure it's a fair place to be, keep the leaders on their toes, never settle for less than is possible, and help others to craft their jobs as they do theirs. In the end, they help you get the best out of everyone. If it sounds like they might be a bit annoying to have around, from a manager's point of view, then you're probably right! But you want that. You don't want to become complacent, or have a team who are. You want to be kept on your toes, having ideas for improvement and refinement, people who care and are interested, people who won't stop at mediocre or 'just enough'. Who don't need to be in the limelight, get fancy rewards, or have all the perkiest jobs.

They don't take sick days unless they really need to, they don't slack off at work or try to do the minimum that's required. They care about getting the job done - well - and take pleasure in completing things to a high standard. They won't easily gossip, and will respect the authority of their supervisors - unless that authority is misused or their trust unearned.

Nurture their gifts
All of these, as I consider, remarkable benefits of having Highly Sensitive people on your team don't just come magically, though. They come when conditions are right - not perfect, but good enough. If these people lack freedom and autonomy, don't have space to be creative or use their other gifts; if they have heavy-handed, restrictive or unimaginative managers and operate in inflexible environments,  then the results you'll see in them will be worse than for their non-sensitive colleagues. Rather than inspired work, it will be lacklustre. Instead of caring about others, they're likely to retreat into themselves, becoming rigid and even difficult to work with. They might just do their required work and no more. In short, nurture their gifts and you'll have magic. Fail to, and both your organisation and they will languish behind their true potential and endure needless distress. Even with the best intentions, those with a High Sensory temperament do not thrive in the same conditions as those who are lower-sensory. 

​Your Highly Sensitive workers might not be the most obviously social (although some will be), and they often won't do things in traditional ways. They won't act for appearances, and you can't make them do something they don't believe in. So get their hearts and minds involved, and you'll have them on board to the end.

I can help
If this captures your imagination, but you don't know how to make it happen, that's where I come in - I'll look at your workplace, assess its current suitability for nurturing Highly Sensitive workers, and help you plan how to create the conditions where all the positive things I've detailed here can exist. Find out more on my Services page, and contact me for a discussion with this form. I look forward to creating magic together!