Straight from the horse’s mouth…
September Newsletter – Year End Events!
With the end of the year fast approaching it’s the perfect opportunity to plan your year-end event, bringing your team together to reflect on and celebrate 2024. Let us help you create an extraordinary experience! We’re excited to offer exclusive Year-End Team...
Leadership Insights from Horsing Around
Thank you to Arch Downie from Proctor Gallagher for this insightful wrap-up of your equine enhanced leadership experience... "As you all know, I was nervous around Syd (our horse) however, as I have reflected on the day, I realise that I learnt a lot and I remember...
How Awareness and Being Present Impact Leadership Effectiveness
The impact of awareness and being present in communication, adaptability, emotional intelligence, decision-making and culture, and the relevance of equine assisted activities in leadership development.
The Relationship Between Awareness and Being Present in Leadership
The relationship between awareness and being present in leadership is deeply interconnected and significantly impacts a leader’s effectiveness.
Happy International Women’s Day 2024 #InspireInclusion
The 4 Keys to Success for Women Leaders that women leaders embrace: Agency; Connection; Authenticity; and Wholeness;
in their approach to work and life in general. These themes are reflected in our equine enhanced experiences.
Leadership Lessons from Taylor Swift
In the realm of music and entertainment, Taylor Swift stands out not just for her chart-topping hits but for her exemplary display of key leadership characteristics, particularly in her ability to connect with her audience. Swift’s career offers invaluable lessons for leaders across all industries.
Agile Learning – A Key to Navigating Uncertainty
In this rapidly evolving business landscape, the ability to learn and adapt is invaluable. A recent article in the Harvard Business Review by Helen Tupper, delves into the concept of agile learning, shedding light on its three core building blocks: Navigating Newness, Understanding Others, and Self-awareness.
On reading this article, I reflected on how Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) programs, such as the ones we run here at Leading Edge Professional Development, are actually a powerful enabler in nurturing these building blocks for leaders and their teams.
Unbridling Leadership Potential – Five Insights Straight from the Horse’s Mouth
In the realm of Executive Leadership Development, unconventional methods often yield the most profound insights. Among these, equine assisted learning stands as a testament to the transformative power of experiential education.
Horses, with their highly astute senses and innate herding instinct, act as living barometers for individual and group behavioural patterns. Their responses to our actions are immediate and unbiased, providing a rare, clear lens through which leaders can observe and analyse their communication and leadership style in real-time.
Word of the Week…LAUGHTER
“No laughter, no learning” Jane Vella, Founder, Global Learning Partners. In the self-imposed pressure we put on ourselves to achieve defined goals, we sometimes forget these simple but important things. When people are laughing together, they are engaged, they are connected, they are learning.
Confidence in others: Does your leadership allow it?
In the second instalment of our series on balanced leadership, I will continue to look at confidence in leadership, this time as it relates to confidence in those around you – especially your own team.
Self-confident leadership: Are you being authentic or putting on a front?
Self-confidence is an attribute we associate with great leaders, but do we ever stop and think about what it really means and how to develop it as a skill?
Self-confidence means being brave, not putting on a front, being arrogant or thinking you have nothing left to learn. So rather than having a ‘fake it ‘til you make it’ attitude, self-confident leadership is about being vulnerable and being yourself.
You can’t hide who you are from horses, because they are intuitive enough to know when you aren’t genuine. While it’s not as obvious as with a horse, humans have instincts too which will eventually allow them to detect who is really confident and who is not.
Word of the Year…What’s Yours?
Mine is Kindness Those of you who read my blog will know that I regularly publish a ‘Word of the Week’. It is usually tied to an anecdote from our work and my hope is that it is a bit inspirational, a “food for thought” type thing. At an end of year celebration with...
Word of the Week…GRATEFUL
What a year 2022 has been! As it draws to a close, I just wanted to express my heartfelt gratitude to our clients, colleagues, friends and families for their wonderful support as we navigated the uncertainty of post-pandemic life. We loved welcoming clients back to...
Word(s) of the Week…PROBLEM SOLVING
Problem-solving as a team yields excellent results, but it can also prove tricky if team undercurrents and communication are not at their best.
Pretty much all of our team exercises involve some form of problem-solving. When a four-legged, 500kg team member is included, it inspires collaboration and creative thinking on a whole new level.
And, it’s clear when the problem-solving dynamic is dysfunctional.
Word of the Week…ACCEPTANCE
cceptance is also one of the biggest take-aways from our leadership training. I think it’s because horses always accept us for who we are, which teaches us to accept in return. They are not judging us on anything superficial. They know nothing about the type of car we drive or what our title is – for a horse, it’s all about whether they feel safe to be with us. And I reckon that’s how we humans want to feel as well.
Thought of the Week…NURTURING NATURE
The natural world certainly is our greatest teacher. I’ve been reading a fascinating book called, “Wild Leadership: What Wild Animals Teach Us About Leadership”, by Erin Walraven. It looks at the various systems of leadership that animal groups live by to survive and thrive. Animal groups have evolved effective ways of navigating their way through theuncertainty of every single day. It is selfless, collaborative and appropriate for theenvironment in which they live. When we humans take examples from nature and adopt them it’s called ‘biomimicry’. Biomimicry “aims to take inspiration from the natural solutions adopted by nature and translate the principles to human engineering.” (youmatter.world)
Word of the Week…RESPONSIBILITY
Responsibility is a huge word. It is inextricably part of life both in our private and professional roles, especially leadership roles. Sharing responsibility is key for a well-functioning team. Of course, everyone has their own role, and some people will naturally be the leaders. However, being a leader does not mean excluding the ideas and input of others and insisting on doing things your way. As always, communication is king.
Thought of the Week…HERD MENTALITY
The term “herd mentality” generally has a negative connotation. It is defined as, “the tendency of the people in a group to think and behave in ways that conform with others in the group rather than as individuals.” In our society, we are taught that it is good to stand out from the crowd. BUT, what if we flip our thinking just a bit and see the strength in being part of a group?
Word of the Week…SPIRIT
A leader’s role is greatly diminished without their team. No one can do everything by themselves, and no one knows everything. It’s so important to inspire, motivate and empower your team to become the very best version of themselves. That’s leadership; that’s what leaders do. You are privileged to be in a position where you can direct, shape, and focus someone’s potential on a specific result. When you are given the responsibility to lead, you are given an awesome opportunity to influence many people’s lives positively; a responsibility you should never take for granted”
How do you embody the spirit of leadership?
Word of the Week…CONNECTION
If the past couple of years have taught us anything, it is the importance of connection. What we get with in-person connection is a feeling, a vibe, energy. These cannot be replaced. When a wild horse is removed from his/her herd, they remember each other even when reunited years later. The connection remains despite physical separation.
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