A Team + A Horse = Effective Leadership
What does it take to be a leader others want to follow? As courageous team members, this group was willing to step into discomfort to answer that very question.
A Team
A high performing team of training and development professionals were committed to growing trust, collaboration and a more effective team dynamic.
Several members had observed other teams within their company experience the clear and powerful value to infusing:
Kinesthetic (tactile) learning that involves physical activity.
Multisensory learning that integrates the five senses.
Team coaching sessions (in person at corporate headquarters) + individual coaching sessions via telephone.
They eagerly and humbly stepped into their off-site, ground-based, guided leadership experience alongside the horses.
A Horse
The experience called “Team Lead” involves the following actions:
The team agrees upon and selects one horse from the herd.
Each team member places themselves around the selected horse at varying points (for example, at the head, shoulder, belly, etc.).
Each team member touches the horse.
The person nearest to the horse’s head is the leader and walks slowly while team members maintain contact with the horse as they all walk together.
When the leader is ready, he or she shifts clockwise, and the leader (and lead rope) passes to the next person.
The activity continues until every team member has served as the leader.
A Leader Others Want to Follow
The learning outcome for this activity is awareness of self and others. Each team member observes and experiences what happens to themselves as they lead as well as when each team member leads.
The horse responds differently to each leader.
One team member who initially expressed discomfort with and dislike for horses, turned out to be one of the most calm, consistent and effective leaders. It surprised everyone, including that individual.
Another member struggled with assertiveness which resulted in the horse reflecting back to the leader their own frustration by refusing to walk forward.
The leader paused to regain composure and recognized the need for additional confidence. The team encouraged and supported the leader. After several attempts, the horse moved forward again.
Afterwards, the team debrief aided exploration into how to become a leader others want to follow while identifying what’s effective and peaceful.
The team learned to embody compassion for themselves and each another through several human-horse activities that were challenging. Through follow-up coaching sessions, they were able to practice clear, concise and consistent communication and learned the emotions of a leader are quite contagious.