The more I practice leadership through the eyes of a horse the better I understand horsemanship. The more competent a horseman I become the clearer my understanding of leadership.
I have always viewed leadership as a path but a recent reading provided an interesting addition to that perspective. Rick and Lillas Hatala offer a wholistic view of leadership in their work, Integrative Leadership, Building a Foundation for Personal, Interpersonal & Organizational Success.
“Management is primarily involved with developmental, transactional and transitional change (physical, mental), whereas leadership is primarily involved in transformational (heart) and transcendental (soul) change.”
While I highly recommend reading Integrative Leadership what intrigues me is how stages of leadership translate to working with and learning from horses. As our training or skill development progresses with a horse we are very much focused on managing the relationship – developing a foundation of trust and communication. The transactional level introduces routine, discovering talent and developing good habits and the transitional stage is where we are able to manage ourselves through one state to the other.
The stage of transition also suggests that point where the horse and rider alternately can fill in for one another however, what we seek is the level of leadership where everything appears effortless. Transformational change then represents the breakthrough moment where the heart and mind of horse and rider become one. “Transformational learning, leadership and change is of the heart.”
A complex and somewhat evasive thought to us, transformational change is a simplistic concept for the horse. While transformational leadership is something to which we aspire, it also represents the most basic instinct for a horse, survival (change or die). As many who have engaged with a horse will attest to, a horse provides the opportunity to truly understand what a transformational moment is.
When a being up to ten times our size is reacting to our actions, the experience often becomes a trigger event, evoking a fairly strong reaction. It is in the reflection on the experience that true leadership learning lies. If the moment recalls similar feelings it provides us with the opportunity to identify if it is a recurring theme, which leads to a choice. How do we wish to be perceived – by the emotion or by our ability to manage them? This simple act with the horse sets the stage for a level of awareness which is difficult to attain through a book or a lecture but allows us to begin to pay attention to when it shows up again and how do we choose to present ourselves.
As I begin to understand what Transformational leadership is, I can begin to contemplate the meaning of Transcendental change and leadership.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Setting Intention
Throughout history we have had the opportunity to learn from horses, typically we have simply recognized the horse as a means to getting things done. This blog is about acknowledging them as teachers.
Thank you to all those who have made this effort possible. My hope is that what I have shared on the following posts offers new possibilities in your work.
This is not a how to guide but rather another way to ask questions. Whether your work is with individuals or organizations, your experience and intention determines the outcome. The work is continually evolving, each task having been modified and adapted over time, consider it documented learning. There are as many ways to work with horses as there are people, we believe, there are just as many ways to interpret this work.
The activities I will discuss are about recognizing concepts: about how we acknowledge our actions, how we learn, communicate and interact with others. One activity may have many outcomes in our experience it depends on the objectives and about being able to adapt to what shows up. Horses don’t wear watches so time is relative to the
participant, the facilitator, the horse and the moment.
It is important to note that the activities in and of themselves may seem simple, as there are only a limited number of expectations one can have of a horse, we can observe, herd or drive, lead, groom or ride a horse. How the experience is facilitated is what allows learning to happen. It is our role as facilitators and educators to manage the interaction and to see that what may be obvious to us becomes obvious to the participants.
The constant pursuit of learning is the common thread between those who practice this work around the world. A passion for horses as partners and a desire to share is what drives those who have provided content for this guide.
We would like to thank everyone we have had the opportunity to meet and work with as they have been an integral to the creation, development and execution of the work described here.
Thank you to all those who have made this effort possible. My hope is that what I have shared on the following posts offers new possibilities in your work.
This is not a how to guide but rather another way to ask questions. Whether your work is with individuals or organizations, your experience and intention determines the outcome. The work is continually evolving, each task having been modified and adapted over time, consider it documented learning. There are as many ways to work with horses as there are people, we believe, there are just as many ways to interpret this work.
The activities I will discuss are about recognizing concepts: about how we acknowledge our actions, how we learn, communicate and interact with others. One activity may have many outcomes in our experience it depends on the objectives and about being able to adapt to what shows up. Horses don’t wear watches so time is relative to the
participant, the facilitator, the horse and the moment.
It is important to note that the activities in and of themselves may seem simple, as there are only a limited number of expectations one can have of a horse, we can observe, herd or drive, lead, groom or ride a horse. How the experience is facilitated is what allows learning to happen. It is our role as facilitators and educators to manage the interaction and to see that what may be obvious to us becomes obvious to the participants.
The constant pursuit of learning is the common thread between those who practice this work around the world. A passion for horses as partners and a desire to share is what drives those who have provided content for this guide.
We would like to thank everyone we have had the opportunity to meet and work with as they have been an integral to the creation, development and execution of the work described here.
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