Leadercast Labs: Steve Cockham

This year Leadercast added a new half-day event prior to Friday’s normal all day event called Leadercast Labs. This was a great addition providing some great teaching and insights into how to be a better leader.


Below is my notes for the first session.


Session #1

Steve Cockram

Co-Founder of GiANT Worldwide

Steve Cockram is co-founder of GiANT Worldwide, a global company dedicated to leadership transformation through intentional apprenticeship. He travels extensively all over the world, teaching and consulting with senior executives and their teams from the likes of the British government and multinational corporations to small start-ups in the UK and US.


An acknowledged expert in the field of Jungian Type Analysis, Steve developed GiANT’s methodology and curriculum, which help leaders more fully understand their internal wiring and core motivations. When not creating or consulting, he enjoys movies, sports, exploring new cultures and eating out with friends. During their marriage of 23 years, Steve and his wife Helen have lived in 12 different houses on two continents. The couple currently resides in Gerrards Cross, London with their three girls, Izzy (15), Megan (11) and Charlotte (4).

How To Communicate Effectively with Everyone You Lead

“Everyone speaks. Not everyone is heard.”

  • Because not all of the voices on our teams are heard equally well teams function at only 60% of capacity.
  • 82% of team members feel misunderstood and undervalued.
  • Team leaders rarely if ever hear the truth from their people.
  • Leaders undermine their influence daily without even being aware of it because they don’t hear all the voices on their team.


What if every voice on your team was truly heard, valued & appreciated?

  • We all use all 5 voices at one time or another, but 2 voices are normally the most prevalent.


Steve made the point that we need contributions from each of the 5 Voices in order for our teams to reach maximum effectiveness and productivity. The problem is that most teams either don’t have all 5 Voices represented or if they do, many of those voices are not being listened to.


Below is a breakdown of the key characteristics of each of the 5 Voices and what percentage of the population each represents.


The 5 Voices


#1 Nurturer: 43% of population, 73% are women


  • They intuitively feel how an organization will react to a new idea.
  • They defend values, people will always come before profit.
  • They function as the relational oil inside teams and organizations.
  • They are pragmatic realists who ask-“has this really been thought through?”
  • Most reluctant leaders
  • They take genuine delight in celebrating the achievements and are natural team players.
  • They can become overly resistant to change & demonstrate passive aggressive tendencies. They struggle with change because change always impacts people.
  • They rarely fully value the contribution they make.


Summary: They champion people, values & harmony.

#2 Creative: (9% of population)


  • They are the Conceptual Architects and love to think outside box.
  • They function as an “Early warning radar system” for teams often seeing the opportunities and dangers long before everyone else. Just like canaries.
  • They are never satisfied with the status quo-they inherently believe things can always be better.
  • They see opportunities others don’t see long before everyone else.
  • If the vision is compelling the word “can’t” is not in their vocabulary.
  • They often struggle with the fact that, “people never seem to never fully understand my ideas”
  • They exhibit a strong social conscience and desire for personal and organizational integrity.
  • Being internal perfectionist they can often fail to celebrate the 90% that has been achieved, focusing instead on the 10% that hasn’t been achieved.


Summary: They Champion future ideas, organizational integrity & social conscience.

#3 Guardian: 30% of population (60% of them are male)


  • They have a relentless commitment to ask difficult questions.
  • They will always see to honor past as teams look towards the future.
  • They accept as a personal commitment to deliver projects on time and on budget.
  • They have the ability to detach decision-making from personal sentiments.
  • They are naturally risk averse, “Is it worth the risk & investment?”
  • They respect value, logic, order, systems & repeatable processes.
  • They desire for truth & right decisions can sometimes override the feelings of others.
  • They can have problems with tone & tact because they are so driven to get things done.
  • They can sometimes leave people in tears while they think they are just performing due diligence.


Summary: Guardians are champions of truth, tradition, resources and systems.

#4 Connector: 11% of population


  • They are persuasive and inspirational communicators-rallying people to causes and things they believe in.
  • They are incredibly resourceful-”whatever we need, I can get it or I have a source”
  • They have the capacity to maintain a large number of relationships.
  • They know how to connect with people and their aspirations.
  • There’s no half-life in a relationship with them.
  • They need appreciation and credit for making the key connections-“are you aware of what I’ve done?”
  • Their people pleasing tendencies means they often struggle to bring effective challenge.
  • They often struggle to hear or engage fully with critical feedback.
  • They tend to love people and love people to love them.
  • They are always connecting & always looking for collaboration.
  • They are like Tigger, hard to keep down for long.


Summary: They are the champions of relational networks, external messaging and internal collaboration.

#5 Pioneer: 7% of population


  • They approach life with an “anything is possible!” attitude.
  • They are the strongest & loudest
  • They have the greatest potential for good or the greatest potential for bad.
  • Visioning and shaping a scalable future is always the highest priority
  • The strategic military thinking makes them incredibly effective at aligning people, systems and resources.
  • Winning is a mass driver, they hate to give up and will drive their team long after others would have given up.
  • These are the people who can be found working 80+ hours in a week
  • They are powerful communicators, using logic and rationality to provide an attractive and compelling vision of future.
  • The immature Pioneer can often appear very arrogant with a “Me Focused” agenda.
  • They quickly dismiss the contributions of those they don’t believe to be competent or experienced.
  • Strategic vision, winning, achievement
  • They have a tendency to prioritize getting things done over being concerned for the feelings of people.
  • Prioritize Vision over People!


Summary: Pioneers are champions of strategic vision, making tough decisions and problem solving.

Key Things to Remember About the 5 Voices:

  • Each voice has a unique contribution and without that voice the team with suffer.
  • Every voice has it nemesis and thus we struggle to value it.
  • Each voice has its own weapon systems that is uses to try and destroy its nemesis.
  • Each voice has a unique contribution and without that voice the team with suffer.
  • Every voice has it nemesis and thus we struggle to value it.
  • Each voice has its own weapon systems that is uses to try and destroy its nemesis.
  • As the leader of the team, make sure you work to hear all the voices before making decision.
  • When you get good at including and listening to all the 5 Voices you create a culture of empowerment and opportunity.
  • When all 5 Voices are heard teams to function closer to their true potential.
  • 100% of team feels appreciated and valued when all their voices are truly heard and appreciated for the value they bring to the team.

Learn more at: www.5voices.com




5 Voices

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