THERE are many differing schools of thought on leadership, some choosing autocratic, laissez faire or democratic styles to name a few.
Deciding on new ways to motivate employees to think outside the box is a challenge in itself. Fostering creativity amongst workers takes time.
Good leadership is central to creating an environment that encourages employees to want to progress not only themselves, but the business.
Pauline Redpath, director of international recruitment consultancy, Source-People, chose to enlist a little horse power to help hone their employee leadership skills.
She said: “Over the years, the company has taken part in various training programmes and initiatives, but what we’ve found works best is informal training days away from the office. We have found it allows the team to learn more about each other, to forge relationships which are meaningful and beyond just their assigned roles within the workplace.
“However, when we decided we wanted to take this to the next level and look at ways to build on employee leadership skills, we wanted to do something that really tested the skills of our employees and not just something that allowed them to talk about what they thought makes good leadership.
“We were intrigued when we came across the Gentle Leadership programme, a team building day in Aberdeenshire that involved participants working alongside horses to achieve a series of carefully mapped out objectives.”
According to Professor Albert Mehrabian, whose findings on human interactions have been quoted throughout human communication seminars worldwide, 93% of all communication is non-verbal.
Equine Assisted Learning teaches individuals how basic body language and motivations impact those around them and their personal performance. Horses respond to human behaviours and react in accordance to the way they are treated.
“The Gentle Leadership programme demonstrated a number of things to the Source team, but in particular it emphasised how developing a collective common goal helps employees and managers alike to really pull together and work in unity to fulfil objectives.
“Employees learned valuable lessons in work ethic, responsibility, assertiveness, communication and relationship building, all of which will greatly assist us in our everyday work back in the office. It was fantastic and beyond expectation in terms of learning and awareness.
“Finding the most effective leadership style for an organisation is dependant on a number of key factors – the number of employees and the nature of the organisation being the two basic differentiators.
“At Source, we’re constantly looking for innovative ideas that can be used to empower employees to lead and be creative at all levels. A one size fits all approach is unlikely to deliver the best results in terms of leadership techniques and although this course may not have been suited to every company, it certainly worked for us.”