A young woman running and training with her horse. She and her horse are in black silhouette against … [+] a vibrant sunset sky and clouds of purple and orange. High resolution color photograph taken on the plains of Montana. Copy space available. Horizontal composition.
As organizations shift from creating diverse teams to cultivating cultures that nurture belonging and innovative thinking, psychological safety is becoming increasingly important as a leadership capability. The recent publication of Amy Edmondson’s book ‘Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing‘ has redressed why psychological safety is essential and clarified how it gives rise to cultures of innovation. An environment with psychological safety creates space and trust where individuals can take interpersonal risks in sharing ideas without being punished for challenging the norm, speaking up, or making mistakes.
Trust and empathy go hand in hand in creating psychological safety. Cultivating a culture of trust requires leaders to recognize and relate to the emotional states among their teams. Empathetic leadership is particularly acute when organizations are facing crises and uncertainty. As empathy is gaining attention as a leadership attribute, the paradox lies in this trait being viewed as a weakness for leaders, arguing individuals who demonstrate this behavior are viewed as submissive and placing emotional interests over rational, wider organizational needs. However, more recently, research suggests that empathy, in particular, comprises cognitive, emotional, and behavioral tendencies. As a result, more than emotional intelligence, empathy enables leaders to discriminate among emotions and utilize the information to influence decision-making, focusing on what to do and how to do it.
In leadership education, experiential programs are compelling to create a stimulus for change through the transformative nature of the exercise. Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) takes the experiential development element to a completely different level. In equine-assisted learning, individuals and teams participate in ground-based exercises with horses to understand the power of empathy and trust. These exercises are guided by certified professional facilitators who connect the experiences with the horses to relevant organizational context, which helps participants gain a better understanding of themselves and others Equine -assisted learning is based on biomimicry, which is “a practice that learns from and mimics the strategies found in nature to solve human design challenges.”
Participants working with horses during an Equine-assisted learning program
Experts in the field, Lissa Pohl, Chief Engagement Officer of the Engagement Quotient, and Ginny Telego, CEO of The Collaboration Partners, who share a combined thirty-eight years of experience in Equine Assisted Learning, shared their reflections on the most profound changes they witnessed when participants engage in these programs.
Pohl explains the starting point for recognizing the value of empathy as a leadership trait is by asking these questions: “What essential information does a leader miss if they do not have a developed sense of empathy? What if developing the perceptual awareness it takes to leverage empathy could assist leaders with achieving their deliverables and navigating the landscape of uncertainty?”. Engaging in experiential learning with horses, where there is no guarantee of success, creates powerful in-the-moment feedback for people. Without the usual verbal communication methods that we rely on, participants are forced to look for different cues to understand what is happening. Pohl emphasises the power of horses interacting with humans, explaining that horses are non-predatory animals and must be constantly vigilant. “They are masters of reading the environment for information to determine whether they and their herd are safe. This awareness alerts them to any potential threat from predators. Because humans are predators and on top of the food chain, they rarely exercise the instinctual muscles of noticing what is happening in the present moment. Most people tend to operate from their head more linearly than from a relational framework.”
Horses demonstrate complete congruence in how they act; humans, in contrast, often say one thing and behave entirely differently. When we see this among leaders, trust is broken and difficult to re-establish. Pohl describes the difference between horses and humans; “For horses, there is no separation between their actions and what they think and feel. Therefore, they trust their human partners only when we show up consistently and congruently, which is when our thinking aligns with our emotions and actions. In experiential leadership development with horses, leaders learn to read the horse’s emotional state and determine what it needs from them at any moment. To make the horse feel safe and build trust, we may need to stop, breathe, and be honest about what we are experiencing.”
Telego expands on the importance of building and maintaining relationships; “By nature, horses are relational. As prey animals, they need to quickly discern the intention of another being coming into their environment. Suppose the horse doesn’t feel safe in an interaction, either physically or psychologically. In that case, their prey instinct tells them to move away. If the horse does feel safe in the interaction, they will stay and seek connection. Once the connection is made, they are willing to follow. People are the same way.” She explains this further, “When leaders and teams work with horses in an experiential learning session, they have to step back from being laser-focused on the task. Instead, they learn to focus on building a connection with the horse so the horse knows it is safe to engage and follow them. That genuine connection can only come from a person having empathy for how the horse is experiencing the interaction and the person adjusting their behaviors if needed to make the horse feel more psychologically safe.”
The power of in-the-moment responses from horses provides vast information about the level of perceived safety and immediate feedback on the level of congruence in thoughts and actions from the leaders. Telego explains how the feedback from the horse provides a learning point to demonstrate empathy from leaders; “The real opportunity for learning here is that the feedback from the horse about whether they feel safe in the interaction is purely information. It’s non-judgmental and without bias. It’s not good or bad information – it just is. As much as people work to provide unbiased feedback to each other, it’s just not possible because of the experiences that their brain brings to the conversation.”
Leadership and emotion often focus on emotional intelligence, an essential attribute, and encouragement, a gateway to the broader discussion of emotions in the workplace. As we can experience over a hundred emotions at any moment with differing intensity levels, having space to recognize these emotions in ourselves and among colleagues is essential for any leader. Meta-cognition of emotions, or meta-emotions, occurs when an individual can monitor and evaluate their emotional experiences, helping to minimize negative emotions and reinforce positive ones. The critical takeaway is strengthening the capabilities to recognize emotions in response to situations and gaining more awareness of the reaction. Telego describes how the experience of working with horses for leadership development strengthens meta-cognition; “Leaders are often taught not to show any emotion. As much as we would like to be able to set our emotions aside from our behavior, that’s very challenging. Suppose our emotional responses to a situation create behaviors that make others feel unsafe physically or psychologically. In that case, we must shift the underlying emotions to behave in a way that creates trust and safety with others. Before we can shift our emotions, we must be aware of what predictions our brain is making that are causing the emotions we are experiencing.”
Working with horses through experiential learning programs provides immense learning opportunities, in the moment and afterward, through reflective exercises. Pohl shares the heart of the experience; “Working with horses provides a dynamic, relational problem-solving environment that makes clear to us that how we are showing up as leaders affects our ability to achieve our goals collaboratively. If it isn’t effective, a leader or group of leaders can change their approach in real time and get completely different results from the horse they are working with. It is a non-judgemental and psychologically safe way to see what works and what doesn’t work when it comes to challenging situations in the workplace. It provides low-risk experimentation and the application of new insights and innovative approaches to leadership challenges.” The power of feedback from the horses in a non-judgemental manner is potent. It provides a safe environment for individuals to reflect on their successes and failures in the exercises and make sense of the experience without judgment or baggage influencing how they ‘should show up.’ Telego explains, “This non-judgmental awareness from the horses allows participants to acknowledge the emotions they may be experiencing and respond with actions that can nurture trust and safety by allowing the participant to be authentic in what they are feeling and thinking.”
Once this self-awareness of emotional congruence develops for a leader, other avenues start to open, recognizing the value of authenticity to strengthen trust and psychological safety. This alignment provides the conditions to create collaborative cultures, nurturing creativity and innovation among teams and across departments. Having incorporated Equine Assisted Learning practices in leadership development programs, it is evident that working with horses can challenge assumptions and perceptions of power among individuals and teams. Telego shares her insights; “When participants are with the horses, traditional power structures dissipate. The horses don’t care about your title, where you are from, how much money you make, how many letters are after your name, or what kind of car you drive. They care about how you show up as a leader and whether you will build connections with them to create safety for the herd. Ego has no place in keeping the herd safe, ego is a predatory leadership behaviour.”
Pohl agrees and shares her perspective on the potential for transformation; “The experience with the horses allows leaders to see in real-time how counterproductive and toxic their overinflated sense of self might be. EAL confronts everyone’s ego because it provides honest, in-the-moment feedback about how we are showing up. Sometimes horses are the only beings who can safely give us this crucial feedback such that we can show up differently to increase psychological safety, trust, engagement, effectiveness, and performance.”
Horses have been leading their herds through uncertainty for millions of years by understanding the importance of working collaboratively to create a safety culture. Equine-assisted learning provides a powerful opportunity for people to learn from the extraordinary perceptual awareness and a heightened sense of empathy – essential for leadership today.
