I was reminded of this blog post this morning. Thought it was worth putting up again:
I went on an extremely interesting “taster” session for a leadership course a couple of days ago. The course delegates work with horses to learn more about their leadership style.
This is a surprising method but it can be very effective as horses are very intuitive creatures and their behaviour can clearly reflect the behaviour of the people working with them.
For me, there were two main lessons. Firstly, one that I firmly believe in and practise in management situations, namely that everyone is different and managers have to use the techniques which work best for each individual. There is not one management style which suits all team members – to get the best out of people you need to learn what makes them tick and manage them accordingly. This was demonstrated by the horses very effectively – one of them walked with me as soon as I held the rope and started walking. The other needed a good old tug on the rope before she would come along.
The second lesson was that to lead properly you need to know where you are going and communicate it clearly, assertively and decisively. Ask the horses if they would like to go this way, and they won’t respond. Tell them clearly that we are going this way, come along, and they are quite happy to go with you. People are the same. Give them strong leadership and direction and they will be happier, more secure and more willing to follow.
For more information have a look at www.gentleleadership.com