GiANT Column: 5 Voices Tool

Authored by Epsilon Beta chapter member Haley McKeefer, PharmD, MHA, MS, CPHQ of the UNTHSC College of Pharmacy

The 5 Voices Tool workshop was my 180 in pharmacy school, allowing me to again recalibrate my leadership voice to the level a health professional requires.

Learning About the Leadership Voice

Leadership has always been a part of my journey since I first took a dance team officer position in middle school. The experience jumpstarted my confidence as someone who could lead, and my high school experience was full of extracurriculars where I took on extra responsibilities or was assigned extra responsibilities. Life (and my ability to lead) seemed good until I got to college.

College was an exciting new time rife with opportunities to volunteer and step up. I proudly ran toward the challenge, fully confident in my previous experiences to set me up for success... Until I realized, my voice was just not carrying the same impact.

It was easy for others to interrupt me, pointing out flaws in my plans. Their eyes would glaze over, and I'd find myself passionately over-explaining because obviously, they weren't getting it. How could they not see my vision? How could they so easily question things that worked so well in the past?

It was they vs me. What happened to my leadership??

A leadership camp at the end of my freshman year gave me the wake-up call I needed about my leadership style. I needed to listen more, slow down, prepare details to accompany the big visions I had. Doing so would increase comfort and trust on my teams. My voice needed to take a step back and be strategic in how loud it wanted to be when.

This lesson refined my leadership style in ways that allowed my leadership to thrive in undergrad on diverse teams who pulled off some pretty cool projects and events on campus.

Refining My Modern Leadership Voice in Pharmacy School

Flash forward to pharmacy school and the whole new ballgame of "remote learning" threw a wrench in all of my previous leadership lessons... I couldn't see the people I was starting to build relationships with. The only way to conflict manage was through a screen, and texts/emails became the new normal. As PY1 Class President, I floundered in trying to organize a remote team consisting of many different needs and leadership styles.

I found my leadership voice suddenly taking too much of a back seat trying to accommodate everyone's requests, much to the ire of my teammates. "Where is the leadership?" "Who is going to make an executive decision?"

The frustration with it all was enough to make me pull my hair out and wither away behind my Zoom screen... Until I attended a local 5 Voices workshop end of P1 year by Epsilon Beta officer and Leader Academy graduate, now Dr. Aicha Fokar, PharmD, BCPS . Dr. Fokar beautifully shared GiANT Worldwide 's 5 Voices Framework, suddenly giving me the compartments to define my team's voices and remind me of the power of mine.

Reclaiming My Pioneer Voice

If you are familiar with the 5 Voices, you probably picked up on me being a strong Pioneer voice (Connector is my secondary). We are champions of strategic vision and are highly competitive in maximizing our results so that the future can be as good as we envision it to be. Our weaknesses include being over-powering on a team and working "too quickly" without taking pause to make sure the team is on the same page.

My first 5 Voices workshop helped me find pride in my leadership voice again. Dr. Fokar under the guidance of Dr. Brandon Jennings, PharmD, BCACP helped relay best strategies for refining my Pioneer voice like listening to other Guardian or Creative views prior to sharing mine and cautiously wording critiques in a way that positively builds up my fellow Nurturers and Connectors.

The 5 Voices Tool workshop was my 180 in pharmacy school, allowing me to again recalibrate my leadership voice to the level a health professional requires.

Daily Dose of 5 Voices

Today as a PLS member on APPEs, I try to attend the PLS 5 Voices workshop as often as I can. It's a great reminder of how to meet other colleagues needs. It's also a great reminder of how to refine my behavior in a way that flexes my Pioneer strengths without promoting my Pioneer weaknesses. I reflect on the GiANT Worldwide tool nearly every day.

One of my favorite 5 Voices quotes of all time was hearing from PLS GiANT facilitator Dr. Anthony DeClue, PharmD, MA, BCACP, CDCES that true leadership voice maturity was combining the strengths from ALL voices.

One of the most rewarding pieces of feedback I got during APPE rotations was being told "I'd bet that you're a Guardian." The Pioneer in me laughed and laughed at the idea that I could ever present myself as someone organized and detailed as a Guardian. Still, the feedback meant the world because it meant that I was one step closer to reaching my leadership voice maturity, all thanks to the 5 Voices.

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