Empowering Your Self, Team and Company

by Christine N. Lee

How can knowing your strengths and blindspots empower your next level journey for your career?

Further, what is the corporate value of having employees who truly understand - and lead with - their strengths? And what is the impact on a company when team members build synergy by leveraging one another’s diverse strengths, rather than feeling intimidated by them?

Our modern work environment is shifting quickly and will continue to evolve quicker than we’d like. The reality is that just knowing the landscape of how things work in our industry or city will no longer be enough. In order to navigate your career and company well, you have to know yourself better than before - and ultimately, lean into your strengths and intrinsic motivations, and become aware of your blindspots and manage them intentionally, all in order to lead yourself and your team more powerfully and intentionally.

The Five Voices Framework by GiANT Worldwide is a potent summary of your wired-in strengths and intrinsic motivations - both at work and in life. Simply put, you bring more value when you lead from what what matters most to you. By identifying your natural leadership strengths and core motivations, you can maximize your contributions to your organization. Paired with your technical skills, this self-awareness can truly help you develop your personal “hedgehog concept,” as described in Jim Collins’ Good to Great.

Understanding your natural strengths and motivations captured by the Five Voices Framework will catapult your contributions to the next level - while also empowering you to intentionally lead others based on their Leadership strengths as well. And next to leading yourself well, developing an effective leadership pipeline in a healthy work culture is arguably the most important objective for thriving companies today.

The 5 Voices Assessment stands out from the other assessments in both efficacy and empowerment:

While the Working Genius and Strengths Finder identify person-to-task orientation, the Five Voices identify people-to-people orientation - this enables building effective teams who lead and communicate better and build powerful synergies, instead of working in silos.

EOS is a powerful implementer but less effective at the most important, early stages of aligning people with strategy and vision. Only after you have set the correct course with the right people on the bus, will implementation matter - otherwise, you can head off speedily in the wrong direction and end up in the wrong place altogether.

The DISC profile is similarly limited in observing external behaviors and short on training for development - is everyone only meant to fall in line to further the Dominant style’s objective, or are there clear, powerful next steps to growing and developing everyone’s unique leadership and influence and building team alignment, which will in turn multiply not only impact for each individual but ultimately achieve that much more to the team?

Lastly - Whereas MBTI and Enneagram fall short in applications to the workplace, the Five Voices assessments are designed for maximizing work team effectiveness and alignment while also having powerful implications for how we lead ourselves in all our spheres of life.

The Five Voices can empower you beyond your current role to maximize your contribution, leadership, and communication to the next level and build powerful teams and companies. Through our training, we have seen clients upleveling their team contributions and leadership to attain promotions at Northrup Grumman, Collins RTX, USBank, Daimler Truck North America, and more. We also partner with companies to build thriving work cultures where intentional alignment of empowered voices elevates team deliverables and company performance for the long haul.

Imagine a work team where the Creative voice is able to help the team capitalize on future opportunities and communicate them clearly - the Guardian speaks into possible gaps in the creative vision and respectfully helps substantiate dreams into plans - the Pioneer strategizes and executes the new initiatives while letting others speak first - the Connector multiplies resources and impact by selling the deliverable to enthusiastic buyers - all the while the Nurturer operates as the relational oil for the team so that this dynamic troupe would want to work together for the long haul. This is the power of Five Voices—intentionality and synergy at work. And this example represents just one of many possible outcomes within reach.

What’s more, because everyone possesses all Five Voices - just in different orders of strength - each person’s unique Voice Order creates an opportunity for intentional alignment. Individuals can learn to elevate different Voices within themselves to better communicate with, understand, and collaborate with the various Voices represented in the room. This is powerful team alignment in action.

The Five Voices framework also offers meaningful pathways for individual growth and development. By intentionally strengthening a lower Voice, each person can expand their influence and increase their effectiveness - benefiting not only themselves, but also their team and the organization as a whole.

Take the leap and discover what Five Voices training can unlock in your leadership. You’re welcome to begin by taking the Five Voices assessment - keeping in mind that, due to aspirational answering, it reflects about 50% accuracy. Still, it may offer a valuable starting point and a meaningful entry into your leadership growth journey.

Knowledge and insights alone won’t change you, though. Workout regimens are what build your new leadership muscles. This is the difference between music appreciation vs. being a formidable pianist, and the gap between having a big brain vs. having big muscles for carrying your leadership load - and we can absolutely help you build muscle memory of powerful leadership behaviors well-suited to your particular Leadership Voice.

If you’d like to explore whether this training could be the catalyst for your next level of leadership, book a Discovery Call with me.

And consider joining our Leaders Thrive Cohort to identify and strengthen your existing leadership muscles, then build new muscle memory that empowers you to lead with intention and show up confidently for every team in your life. These salient leadership tools from GiANT Worldwide, can help you make your greatest impact right where you are - in your self-leadership, your team, and your company. Your journey awaits!