Horse WHispering - The Art of Leadership

Treetops Consultants was approached by Penny Milner-Smythe of the South African Sugar Association to anchor their Annual Conference in the KZN Midlands Meander.

The central theme of the conference: Leadership.

The venue: Horseplay, near Dargle.

The method: Highly interactive and challenging, using Carlene Bronner's Frieisan Horses.

The Approach: Practical. After initial apprehension, the team could approach these beautiful animals and work with them. It was an excellent opportunity for delegates to discover a lot about themselves, leadership and communication.

The Outcome: You cannot fool a horse! They provide you with feedback on:

The congruency of your communication
The level of trust they experience
What they think about your leadership style and how you use your power
How to make better decisions

Preparations started on Wednesday 25 September when, after attending to the normal order of business, the team was enter-trained by Johan Greeff on the "Heart of Leadership". He used the framework of the four-chambered heart and the importance of being open-hearted, clear-hearted, strong-hearted and full-hearted.

The input prepared delegates to whole-heartedly engage with the Friesian teachers the next day. On Wednesday evening a special pre-dinner activity strengthened the heart connections within the team. Early on Thursday morning, the team met with Carlene Bronner at Horseplay. What an amazing horse-person! With wisdom, passion and compassion that made the task so much easier, she lived the leadership lessons she was teaching through the horses. Soon the subjects moved from rebelling subordinates on leash to enthusiastically committed and co-operative participants managed by remote control (without a leash). Delegates learnt more about themselves than about their subjects in this process.

Some of the lessons learnt:

There is no such thing as teaching, only learning.
In the old way was the relationship with the horse was all bout the leader, now it's about what the horse wants.
It's not about making things happen, it's about directing things and supporting the horse's efforts to get better.
There's a good horse in every horse.
In any relationship with a horse, we need clear expectations, clear boundaries and clear consequence for exceeding boundaries.
Start the relationship by spending some time listening.

Johan Greeff's background as a nature-lover and dog-person allowed him to build the leadership and practical experience bridge naturally, and allowed delegates to come up with a new definition and paradigm on leadership, communication and management. Indeed, a lifetime experience that will be remembered by all.

A final thought

Horse Whispering is a powerful medium and leadership teams should seriously consider this as a possibility for a next conference or a leadership input.

Thanks to Penny and Carlene. We are proud of our association with SASA.

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