The 5 Voices

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In this article, I’d like to introduce you to something that might make you want more. I’d like to help you start a journey of self-awareness. A journey of discovering your Leadership Voice. All of us have natural leadership Voice and that which we struggle with. We would rather not engage in it, but probably due to the nature of our work or daily engagement, we find ourselves stuck in it. We end up drained and exhausted with a continuous wish that someone would rescue us from what we do every day.

Let me start by stating this, everyone speaks, but not everyone is heard. Every now and then, someone is communicating something, either verbally or non-verbally. They are either avoiding something or engaging in it. Unfortunately, because of our personal biases, self-preservation or perceptions, we tend to ignore those speaking to us. Either we don't recognize how they are communicating, or we don't like it.

According to GiANT Worldwide, a company that is committed to raising the standards of leadership by building leaders worth following; Leaders we want to follow not the ones we have to follow, there are 5 Leadership Voices. These Voice are; Nurturer, Creative, Connector, Guardian, and Pioneer. Don’t be quick to assume you know what these words mean and you start labeling people. You have to put into consideration the fact that our behavior is composed of Nature, Nurture and Choice. So don’t think since you know someone’s nature or nurture, you can now predict their response every time. We have been in situations when people did things that shocked us, and we were left wondering where did that come from.

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So here there are briefly. Nurturer is champions of people, relational harmony, and values. Nurturers have a fear of conflict and often won’t speak out, they can be very silent. Creatives are champions of future ideas, innovation, and organizational integrity. Creatives can struggle to communicate effectively and have idealist perfectionist tendencies. Guardians are champions of due diligence, resources, and efficient systems and processes. Guardians are risk-averse, can be negative and bring excessive critique. Connectors are champion of relational networks, internal collaboration, and effective communication. Connectors always interpret the challenge of their ideas as personal. Pioneer are champions of strategic vision, results, and problem-solving. Pioneers lack sensitivity, can be unwilling to listen, and perceived as arrogant.

I don't know what kind of ideas come to mind about your leadership voice as you read the above. If you were to rank them, what order would yours be? My Leadership Voice is Nurturer, Creative, Connector, Guardian and last one that I struggle with so much is Pioneer. My natural tendency is always to be a Nurturer. Occasionally I am a Creative, and this is when I have a lot of ideas running through my little head, and I start wondering who I need to talk to. Who needs to know about my idea and how I can collaborate with someone to make the idea work, this is due to my 3^rd Connector Voice. I bet this is also driven by the fact that due to my Nurturer tendencies, I always feel my idea is not good enough until I struggle to appreciate it.

If you are wondering what all these means and would like to take a test to know your voice order, use this link https://5voices.com/assessment/.

In case you want to understand more about your voice and what it means, do reach out to me. It's important that you learn to appreciate your tendencies and your voice and also appreciate other people's voices, so you know how to work together with people. I want to give a clear disclaimer here that, you won't know your voice by just one single online test. You will need to engage in a brutal self-examination continually. Ask the closest people to you what they think are your tendencies and keep being on the journey of self-awareness. Don’t always imagine you can reach a point where you fully know yourself. But it’s important that you start the journey of knowing yourself so that you can lead yourself and those around you.

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If this resonates with you, seek to discover your Leadership Voice. Look for a small community of friends who you can learn to do this together with. Being accountable to a few and practicing with a few. It’s about building a community of friends to share each other’s journey of Self-Awareness. You have to be deeply committed to each other and desire to see each other grow in this journey. You have to create support, encouragement and accountability platform for each other. The community has to be a small as possible so that there is active engagement by all involved.

Find a community around you and see if these conversations make sense to you.