5 Voices

I've been reading a lot about change recently. How execution eats strategy for breakfast. How speed beats size. The experts seem certain that delivering change, especially rapid change, is bloody hard work. The one thing that every company has in common is that it is staffed by people. Perplexing, intractable, defiant people with wildly different goals and opinions. Get the people moving faster, and you win. So, how can you make your people work at the speed you set? The surprising answer, according to Jeremie Kubicek and Steve Cockram, authors of '5 Voices: How to Communicate Effectively with Everyone You Lead', is that you don't work at your pace - you work at the pace set by your Guardians and Nurturers, and if you want to know what that means, read on.

Kubicek and Cockram, the co-founders of GiANT Worldwide, a global leadership development company, assert that every one of us has five voices inside of us - the Pioneer voice, the Creative voice, the Connector voice, the Guardian voice and the Nurturer voice. One of these voices will be dominant (the 'Foundational voice'), the others less dominant in a sliding scale that will lead to your weakest, quietest voice. Each voice has different characteristics - both in what they bring to the table (the Creative voice can see future possibilities, the Connector brings people together, the Guardian protects the status quo, the Nurturer guides and shields people, and the Pioneer pushes forward). So far, so good.

The challenge is that two of the voices, the Guardian and Nurturer voices, are the most dominant voices for almost three-quarters of the population, and therefore the workforce, whereas the Pioneer voice, so often the foundational voice of business leaders, is the strongest voice in only 7% of people. Too often, according to the book, organisations are held back when Pioneers try to race ahead without a proper roadmap to the end destination (or failing to 'build the bridge' as the authors put it) which often forces the less heady members of the team (most often the Guardians and Nurturers) to slam on the brakes, halting progress. For those working to transform marketing departments, or indeed entire companies, the scenario is probably painfully familiar.

Through further examination of each voice (including how to bring out the best in people depending on their foundational voice), practical suggestions and numerous real-life testimonies, the authors map out how teams can better understand each other - first by understanding their individual voice, and then how those voices work together. Kubicek and Cockram take the time to build their case, and for me at least, it is a compelling case, one summed up by the authors in the proverb "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

'But everyone is my agency leads with their creative voice' you may cry. That may be true, yet too much power behind a single voice brings its own challenges too. Without the caution of a Guardian, the drive of a Pioneer, or indeed a representative of any other voice other than that of the Creative voice, the ability to put into practice your ideas will be, according to the authors, severely diminished.

Of course, no book is perfect, and the Achilles heel with '5 Voices' is that the reader is asked to assess which voices they use the most by reading some rather long descriptions of each voice, and then marking themselves out of ten. Many people hate reading, and as most organisations are made up of many people, a solution that requires reading as its first step is no solution at all. It's why DISC, Belbin, Strengths Finder and other systems have short printed or simple online self- discovery tools to help you get to juicy stuff as quickly as possible. A fatal flaw? Turns out, it isn't. Not because reading has become more palatable to the masses. No, it's because during the course of putting this review to paper I had reason to visit the book’s microsite at 5voices.com, where you will find said simple online self-discovery tool. Bummer. The perfect book then.

The thing is, you don't need to be the fastest in the world - your company just need to be faster than your competitors. Apply the lessons of the 5 Voices in your organisation and, you know what, you might be able to do just that.