How often as leaders do we tell our team members “don’t do that!”, Don’t say that, don’t think that, don’t go there… why do we do this? Often this is a fear response.
I went to the barn on Saturday to work with Keno. I brought him in and he was antsy, dancing around pushing me with his head. Our head trainer told me to let him go in the arena to get some energy out. I didn’t even have to push him he bucked and ran and just had fun!
When you first get around horses, you learn that if a horse bucks this is bad, if they rear even worse!! However, what if I told you this is kind of normal behavior for them if it’s done in the right situation. You see horses rear when they play and when they want to assert dominance over each other. They buck to release energy.
Learning to control that energy and placing it into the right focus is the most important piece of training for a horse or anyone.
Yes there are times when a bucking horse is a really bad thing! Just like there are times when we need to help our team members navigate situations, there are other times when we need to let them buck (the system).
I know as a leader, I am often afraid of having my team expose something I don’t know. If I tell them to be quiet and sit down then I don’t have to face the issue. However, sometimes we need to face the issue and it’s OK to say we don’t know!
For me, I won’t be riding Keno anytime soon. I need to understand him first, you need to understand your team. You need to TRUST them and sometimes you need to let them do what they want!
Leadership Simplified 