Horses offer valuable lessons about leadership and teamwork. Successful teams rely on being able to strike a balance between authority, empathy and vision as well as flexibility within their structure.
Horses appreciate leaders who remain present and remain focused on the present situation, rather than dwelling on past incidents or worrying too much about what could occur in the future.
Trust
Horses are extremely sensitive to nonverbal cues and offer immediate feedback that helps individuals understand how their behaviors may be impacting others. Harnessing the power of horses through Equine-assisted Learning (EAL) enables individuals and teams to build key communication and leadership development skills through these animal partners.
Horses respond best to leaders whose body language and energy match those of their team members, without sending mixed signals which create fear or distrust.
Horses are experts at adapting to change. They must strike a delicate balance between continuity and consistency and the challenges and surprises each day brings.
Empathy
Horses provide us with an invaluable lesson on recognizing and understanding emotions. Their nonverbal communication and emotional regulation skills serve as models for people striving to lead in an ethical, responsible, and respectful way.
Equinine-assisted learning teaches participants the value of building and maintaining trust through interaction with horses.
Horses are prey animals, making them naturally cautious. Therefore, they require calmness and reliability from those working with them to create an environment conducive to team collaboration and innovation. Horses learn that trust must be earned over time through consistent behavior and clear communication from leaders that exhibit these traits – they don’t force it upon others!
Patience
Horses are herd animals that depend on each other for safety, yet also seek leaders with confidence and who communicate effectively. Working with horses helps individuals discover their leadership style and discover how they interact with others.
Horses are highly sensitive to human emotions and provide instant biofeedback – providing participants with insight into how their actions and behavior might be perceived by others. Participants learn to handle challenges with calmness while coming up with creative safe solutions; this builds responsibility, self-management skills that translate to professional settings as well as teach an essential lesson about balancing continuity with change – essential components of effective leadership.
Communication
Horses are herd animals that rely on one another for safety and support, communicating through body language to form bonds of trust with those they identify with, creating a sense of safety in each herd member.
Horses live their lives under constant threat and seek leaders who create what Simon Sinek refers to as “Circles of Safety.” To lead effectively requires compassion and open communication.
Equine-facilitated team building exercises teach participants to clearly express their intentions and communicate in ways that are both respectful and safe, creating the basis for effective collaboration in the workplace.
Flexibility
Horses are herd animals that rely on each other for survival, providing us with a lesson on collaboration and acknowledging individual strengths within leadership positions.
Working with horses teaches an invaluable lesson: adaptability. This skill is indispensable for leadership development, navigating setbacks in work environments and managing challenges that inevitably arise.
Unlocking teamwork requires getting to know your co-workers more intimately. Ground exercises with horses at liberty may help you discover things about yourself or a colleague that may have gone undetected previously, creating a more positive workplace atmosphere and producing better results.
Resilience
Resilience is the ability to deal with life’s difficulties with hope and optimism, instead of giving up or acting out in ways which harm themselves or others. Resilient people have the strength and resilience necessary to recover quickly from setbacks rather than giving in or giving in ways which are harmful for both themselves and others.
Effective leadership requires striking a balance between authority and empathy, vision and flexibility. Horses recognize leaders who exude calmness without aggression while clearly communicating their intentions and communicating those intentions to them.
Working with horses teaches us to develop our emotional communication skills in stressful situations – an invaluable aspect of teamwork in professional settings. Learning to listen and acknowledge each other’s contributions builds stronger, more cohesive teams in the workplace.
