It’s with deep gratitude that we share with you our 10-year anniversary of leadership development through experiential learning with horses AND the launch of our redesigned website!
This two-minute read will take you on a journey of where fullCIRCLE started, what this unique experience involves and its impact on corporate leaders nationally and internationally.
As Iowa’s only provider of this extraordinary approach, many have asked how fullCIRCLE started and how it benefits the business community.
It all began with one bold individual, immersed in the study of learning styles and equipped with business acumen to pioneer equine-facilitated professional growth.
If you’re a growth-minded leader, let’s start a conversation about the research-based strategy of off-site, ground-based, guided leadership experiences with horses + coaching.
It’s the Only One in Iowa!
How Leadership Development with Horses Came fullCIRCLE to Iowa
Imagine this: Your leadership team is spending time together outside, in nature, the very place where research shows we can improve our mental wellbeing. You experience more than just team building. You experience meaningful moments that enhance your leadership team’s personal and professional lives.
Your team connects.
Relationships are prioritized.
Team members communicate better with each other.
Teams learn how to collaborate to overcome potential obstacles.
The fullCIRCLE story began with the vision to develop leadership skills through experiential learning alongside horses. God created us for relationships and to learn from experiences. The desire to help people with a growth mindset along with my love for horses and the outdoors contributed to the vision. Owning one horse and living in suburban Des Moines left me feeling that not much appeared in my favor.
Having no idea if companies would invest in off-site leadership development experiences, a pilot was run
with a well-respected, servant-hearted executive and an animal behavioralist.
Recognizing the need for a more growth-oriented mindset, step by step, over the course of ten years, I showed up, stepped into discomfort and committed to the possibilities of this entrepreneurial adventure.
Today, fullCIRCLE is the only business in Iowa that provides an extraordinary way to develop your leadership team with an immersive, hands-on experience and coaching that delivers tangible results for national and international organizations. And it’s located just 25 minutes west of Des Moines!
What does that mean for you? You have a trusted partner with an ideal blend of business experience, training and coaching that empowers you to run a thriving professional development program. You will get results, serve your people and have confidence in the future of your company’s teams.
As our quantitative and qualitative research illustrates, companies investing in their employees are seeing their people and leadership teams transform. When your team works with our trained horses and each other, trust builds, collaboration improves, and life-changing development occurs. The result is growth for your people and your company.
I’m humbled by and grateful for the guidance provided by Carol Heaverlo, Ph.D., and the Wright Service Corp. Lead Program participants who made our research possible. The study demonstrates there is a clear and powerful value to infusing kinesthetic (tactile) learning that involves physical activity and multisensory learning that integrates the five senses (how humans understand and perceive the world).
According to the research, when teams intentionally slow down for a kinesthetic and multisensory leadership development experience:
1. Your team will gain clarity about how it thinks and works, resulting in improved collaboration and communication.
2. Your company will discover a long-term benefit from its investment through increased retention, better connection and trust.
3. Best of all – everyone is pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable the experience is and their potential for growth.
The name fullCIRCLE has a significance that we thought would be fitting to share with you. One summer evening a handful of close friends gathered around a table on a screened-in porch enveloped by the humid evening air. The objective was to rename and rebrand my existing business – a public relations consultancy.
The goal was to better align the business name with the direction we believed the business was going in: First to leadership coaching then to experiential leadership coaching. Two words repeatedly surfaced that evening, two words that resonated deeply and delivered a sense of peace and hope: full and circle.
The story is simply part of His overall plan and purpose. Who could’ve imagined all those years ago after working and living in various areas, that God would return me to the very location where my vision was first piloted?
Although it was unclear the night the name fullCIRCLE was chosen, I’ve grown to understand that God is the true author of our story. With Him at the helm, I’m confident that all He starts in our lives will be brought to completion.