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Imagine translating a horse’s sensitivity to human emotions into understanding, improving your leadership style.
Fascinating, right?
In today’s volatile business environment, recognizing and harnessing the power of our emotions can revolutionize the way we lead.
I had a transformative discussion with Lucinda Vette, a renowned equine coach, about equine-assisted coaching—a method that digs deep into understanding leadership energy and emotional intelligence through our connection with horses. But I didn’t just discuss it, I went down to the in Tucson, AZ and experienced this powerful modality firsthand.
Miraval Resorts has luxurious wellness destinations, designed to help you create a life in balance through mindfulness. One of their pioneering programs is Equine Coaching, where equine specialists help you practice balancing leadership and cooperation skills with a nonverbal companion.
Lucinda has honed her expertise through years of practice combining intuitive interpersonal skills with practical, actionable advice, empowering leaders and teams to achieve their full potential.
Discover how engaging with horses can redefine your leadership approach by tuning into this week’s episode of The Enlightened Executive.
Harnessing Diverse Leadership Energies
Our discussion began with an exploration of the various types of leadership energies: sentinel, visionary, nurturer, dominant, and predator. Each of these energies offers unique strengths and can be strategically employed in different scenarios to optimize outcomes:
- Sentinel: a guard, a lookout, a person keeping watch
- Visionary: (especially of a person) thinking about or planning the future with imagination or wisdom.
- Nurturer: someone who cares for others, offering protection, support, encouragement, or training.
- Dominant: most important, powerful, or influential.
- Predator: a person who leverages or “uses” others to get ahead.
Act: Consider a challenging situation you faced recently—assess which type of energy you applied and its effectiveness. Increase your awareness and versatility by consciously practicing different energies in varied circumstances (except the last one). This adaptability can significantly enhance your leadership effectiveness.
Intuitive Connections through Equine Interaction
Equine coaching reveals the unspoken power of non-verbal communication, emotional sensitivity and how horses can impact those around us.
Horses respond intuitively to the energies we emit, providing immediate feedback about our true emotional state and the congruence of our intentions and actions.
- Actionable Tip: Engage in activities that increase your non-verbal communication skills. Try this mirror exercise: Pair up with a partner and take turns mirroring each other’s body language and gestures. This helps increase awareness of your own non-verbal signals and how they are perceived.
Emotional Authenticity: A Leadership Essential
“Horses respond to the energy we emit.”
One of the most striking aspects Lucinda shared was how horses challenge us to confront and process our emotions authentically. They detect and react not just to what we show outwardly, but what we genuinely feel.
For instance, if a leader brings dominant energy into a stressful situation, the horse might become resistant to doing what the leader wants them to do—mirroring typical team reactions when they feel overwhelmed.
- Practice This: Cultivate a habit of checking in with your emotions regularly – the simple question of “what am I feeling right now?” Use journaling or digital apps designed for emotional tracking. This can help you recognize emotional triggers and patterns, leading to better self-management and clearer communication.
Synergizing Team Energies for Better Dynamics
Lucinda touched on the importance of recognizing and harmoniously integrating the diverse energies within a team.
A deep understanding of each team member’s dominant energy can prevent conflicts and enhance teamwork.
- Try Out: Initiate a team workshop where each member identifies their dominant energy type and discusses how it influences their work style and interactions. Facilitate discussions on how these energies can interplay to improve team cohesion and output.
My conversation with Lucinda Vette underscores the compelling connection between leadership effectiveness and emotional intelligence, facilitated through equine coaching.
As leaders in a constantly evolving landscape, recognizing the undercurrents of emotional energies and harnessing them wisely is not just advantageous—it’s essential.
Reflect on this the next time you feel a disconnect in your team or a personal leadership hurdle. Sometimes, the answers lie not in more strategy, but in more humanity and emotional connection.
Lucinda also shares…
- How to discover the shift in personal and team dynamics when leaders prioritize emotional intelligence and authenticity.
- Effective strategies for maintaining energy balance through mindfulness and body-awareness practices.
- Real-world examples of transformative leadership shifts that happen when leaders fully embrace emotional honesty and authenticity in their interactions.