Aggressive, Assertive or Passive?
This week we have been working with some of our clients on leadership. Our herd illustrates leadership really well.
Winston presents as the leader of the herd, he bosses everyone around, his ears go flat back , eyes widen, nostrils flare and the other horses do as he tells them. We recognise this as Power Over the other horses. If we saw this behaviour in humans we would call it bullying. Winston sees his role as keeping everyone safe to an extent.....
When something scary happens around our horse they all quickly raise their heads, this is to use the long focus area at the top of their eyeball. Next comes a response to the situation. Now in this situation Winston will often freeze and in steps Chance. Chance will lead the herd to safety by going first, if there is a way to find greener grass Chance will find it, or water to cool down in when its hot. In other words Chance leads the herd to safety and comfortable environments.
How does Chance do this? he uses an assertive leadership style, his head will go up, his ears will be forward, his neck arched and his tail high, in human terms he stands tall. Along side this Chance has strong boundaries and shows compassion. Chances assertive leadership style is enough to get the herd to follow him, Chance has Power With the herd.
Dolly has a passive leadership style, she avoids or delays taking necessary actions when problems arise. Dolly prefers to go long with what the others are doing. Winston and Chance like to hang out with Dolly as she is very calm and trusting.
Our clients are able to see this when they work with our horses. They begin to identify the horses characteristics that accompany their leadership styles. Clients are then able to consider their own leadership style and work towards being assertive leaders.
To help clients develop assertiveness we do an exercise with the horses where the horse will walk along side the client with no contact. It is a wonderful example of how well assertive leadership works and provides the clients with a powerful confidence boost.
For more information on Way of the Horse Coaching call Jo 0434201106
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