Why Your Vision Didn’t Land
If you are newer to the 5 Voices, check out our 5 Voices overview on the reading list before diving in. It will help you understand how each Voice naturally communicates and hears vision differently
Welcome to another Toolkit Tuesday! Every week, our goal is to give you a practical leadership tool to put in your toolkit.
So There I Was…
When I worked for a company with an incredible leader, who could usually rally the employees, they decided to do a massive reorganization. Entire departments were dissolved and people lost their jobs. The announcement came out of nowhere for about 95 percent of the organization.
It was presented in an all-call staff meeting with almost no thought given to the fact that nearly half the room were Nurturers and another third were Guardians. Even most of the Creatives were Creative Nurturers.
The fallout was immediate. What should have been a clarifying moment for the organization instead created confusion, fear, and mistrust toward senior leadership and the board that lasted for years.
The Challenge
Most leaders assume that if they present vision with energy, clarity, and passion, everyone will get it. But the truth is, the way we communicate vision connects naturally with some Voices and misses others completely.
When vision isn’t heard, it doesn’t matter how inspiring it sounds. The result is confusion, hesitation, and resistance instead of alignment and momentum.
The Tool: Communicating Vision
The Communicating Vision tool helps leaders understand which Voices connect best with different parts of an audience. It is not about charisma or oratory skill. The most dynamic communicator in the room may not actually be connecting with people as well as they think.
Based on the Diffusion of Innovations bell curve from E. Rogers, each Voice sits in a specific place on the curve depending on how future or present oriented it is and how common it is in the population. The principle is simple: every Voice can effectively reach one group to the left and one group to the right of its position.
Creatives see furthest into the future but only reach a small portion of the population. Pioneers reach a little further, but still less than half the room. Connectors reach the widest audience, but even they stop short of the Nurturers and Guardians who make up nearly 70 percent of the world. Nurturers and Guardians are great at building bridges, grounding vision in reality, and helping others understand how to move forward.
The takeaway is clear:
No single Voice can communicate vision to everyone.
The best leaders build a team of Voices to help the message land across the full spectrum.
Why This Matters Now
In a world full of change and noise, people are tired of being told what to believe. They want to feel part of something that makes sense. Leaders who understand how their Voice is heard can adapt their communication to connect with everyone in the room.
When vision is shared through multiple Voices, it becomes believable, practical, and inclusive. This is what builds trust. And trust is what makes people move together toward a shared future.
The Result
When leaders apply this tool, communication shifts from one-way announcements to shared ownership. Pioneers and Creatives help define the future. Connectors generate energy and buy-in. Guardians provide structure and process. Nurturers bring safety and relational clarity.
The result is a vision people can understand, support, and act on together.
Take Action
Try it with your team: Before your next big announcement, look around the table and identify which Voices are shaping the message. Ask a Nurturer or Guardian to review it for clarity and safety. Then ask a Connector to help make it engaging. Notice how the message changes when every Voice has a part.
Talk with us about Communicating Vision. If your team struggles to get everyone aligned around new ideas or direction, we can help. Schedule a strategy call to walk through the Communicating Vision tool and build a plan for how your team can cast vision that truly connects.
Closing the Loop
That business eventually stabilized, but trust took a long time to rebuild. The reorganization may have been necessary, but it could have been communicated in a way that honored how people process change.
When leaders learn to communicate vision through all five Voices, they stop losing people in the process of moving forward. The message lands, trust builds, and the vision actually takes root.
