I had a major leadership insight this last weekend. Thanks to my horse, Pearli. Who knew a cow horse could be so smart about leading? Here’s the scoop….
We’ve been showing for a long time. We didn’t get along, at all, until the last couple of years. Thanks to my amazing trainer, we’ve been finding our path to each other. Slowly but surely.
Then, last Friday morning at a show in New Mexico, we went backwards. WAY back. Almost as bad as it’s ever been in a show pen. Our first class was, well, just plain ugly.
My trainer walked up and flat told me I had to drop my energy or I was going to drive Pearl crazy. At first, I didn’t know what he was talking about. I truly thought I was calm and relaxed. I kinda got mad at him for suggesting that I was the one with the energy issues. She’s the one that’s bolting, after all.
I walked away, went to my trailer, sat down on the couch and felt my way into my body. Yep. High energy everywhere. Excitement about showing, ideas about my clients and work, lists of todos running in my brain. I could go on but you get the idea. I had Buzzy Brain!
My Leadership Insight
I was amped up with positive energy. What’s wrong with that? It was still amped up energy.
That energy sent Pearli into a frenzy like I haven’t experienced in years now. I couldn’t stop her on the cow work. I thought we were both going to fall over the cow. Not good.
I spent the next hour slowing everything down, consciously breathing and calming myself. By our next class, we were better. By the third class – we were back to where we’d been at our last show. But that still wasn’t good enough.
I watched some really SLOW western riding classes on Saturday evening. Consciously absorbing that energy level as my own. On Sunday, we had the best runs EVER. All four of them! All because I found the level of energy to match what Pearl needed.
Energy and Leadership
So what does that have to do with leadership? A lot.
Horses are energetic empaths. Just like we humans. Only they sense and react to energy in a conscious vs unconscious way. I was driving Pearli crazy as her leader with my high energy and scattered quick brain that was going a mile a minute over topic after topic.
If I do that to a horse, imagine what your energy does to the individuals in your team? Only in their case it’s all unconscious. So no one recognizes what’s happening.
- More than 50% of communication is in body language. Energy expresses through your body language. So what are you communicating when you’re stressed, distracted, angry or upset?
- If you’re high energy, feel what that must be like for your lower energy team members. Have you ever been around static frenzied noise that was making you nervous? Welcome to your lower energy team members when they are with you on high energy.
- If you’re lower energy, think about how that impacts your higher energy team members. Ever watch butter being churned? Yup, that’s what it’s like when you’re the energizer bunny waiting for someone slow to get going.
- Think about what it’s like for you with your leader, or partner or someone you are around a lot. Feel how their energy effects your energy and mood. Yep, you have the same reactions your team has. All humans have those energetic responses.
The Bottom Line
We all have different energy levels at different times. We also have different types of energy; happy, sad, afraid, stressed, excited, cautious, tentative, gung ho… the list goes on and on.
Every single aspect of your energy impacts every one of your team members. Differently. Because every one of your team members is unique.
Which means, as with me and Pearli… your energy effects the quality of your leadership.
When you’re working with the team, you need to be able to quickly shift your energy as you chat with different team members within the group. You need to find a balance when you’re working with the entire team, modulating up and down to match the diversity of your team’s energies.
Most importantly, we all need to recognize that our energy has impacts far beyond our conscious minds. To understand our energy, we need to feel in the moment. Not think, feel.
Let’s face it, feeling is not what we’re taught as leaders.
I’m so grateful Pearli taught me this amazing lesson.
What’s my next step? I’m spending some time learning to recognize and match my energy to the energy of my partners, my teams, my friends, my clients and yes, my precious cow horse.
