I recently came across a piece from The Leadership Development Group that said:
“Leadership isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about creating an environment where your team isn’t afraid to bring you the problems.”
This resonates deeply with our work in equine assisted leadership development.
Horses don’t hide the bad news.
They don’t worry about hierarchy, protect our ego or wait for a more convenient moment to tell us that something isn’t working.
If our direction is unclear, our energy is inappropriate, our attention is elsewhere or what we are projecting doesn’t match what we are actually feeling, the horse responds.
Immediately.
There is no blame in that response. No judgement. Just information.
And that is one of the most powerful lessons horses can teach leaders.
Feedback isn’t something to fear. It’s something to get curious about.
When a horse stops, walks away, disengages or simply doesn’t respond as we expected, we have a choice. We could push harder and insist that the horse is the problem (although we never do this in our programs as there is always something causing the response) – or we can ask:
What am I doing that might be contributing to this?
That requires self-awareness, humility and accountability.
The same is true in our organisations.
Psychological safety doesn’t mean lowering standards or removing accountability. It means creating an environment where people can say, “Something isn’t working,” early enough for us to do something about it.
Great leaders don’t just ask people to speak up.
They pay attention to what happens when they do.
Because if we become defensive, dismissive or shoot the messenger, people learn very quickly to stop bringing us the bad news.
Horses remind us that feedback is valuable data.
The question is whether we are self-aware and secure enough to listen to it.
When someone brings you a problem, a mistake or something you may not want to hear, what do they experience from you?
And what might your response be teaching them about whether it is safe to come to you next time?
The best leaders know themselves.