Why Horses Are Effective in Leadership Development
As prey animals, horses are naturally sensitive to the emotional landscape around them. Their survival in nature is highly dependent on their ability to quickly sense danger and effectively communicate it throughout the herd without the facility of speech. They continuously "scan" their environment and provide continuous feedback to their herd.- Horses are natural "emotional mirrors" for people. They immediately sense human emotions, and automatically discern between false and authentic intention. Humans can "put on a face" with one another, but attempting to project a false facade with a horse is useless. Horses "feel" right through the mask and will only "join up" with authentic people.
- Unlike people, horses do not make judgments on the emotions they are sensing. To a horse, emotion is simply information. Using various ground training exercises, horses can teach business leaders how to become proactive rather than reactive to the emotional landscape around them. This teaches leaders how to engage their emotions without ever appearing emotional.
- Through the understanding of emotions as information, leaders can learn to acknowledge and understand their feelings and the emotions of their subordinates growing to understand the messages behind these emotions. This builds Emotional Intelligence, self-awareness, and the ability to diffuse and lead past workplace conflicts.
- Horses are trustworthy…they cannot talk, so people feel an elevated level of comfort being emotionally open with a horse. This cultivates a safe space for self-reflection often difficult to ascertain with other people. Leaders can be truly present when working with horses which translates into a calm strength in the workplace.
- Horses don't tell people what to do…although they sometimes have strong suggestions. Horses teach us how cultivate authentic, healthy, and cooperative relationships.
Leadership Through The Way of The Horse Workshop–Read more here »
It is no coincidence that the greatest leaders throughout history have been accomplished horsepersons.