Leadership and Followership
|
|
"Lead, lead, follow, lead, follow" - I guess it could be the monologue of one of the mares I have co- facilitated Horse Assisted Education (HAE) programs with since 2011. In this article I would like to share insights from experiences with her in the subject of leadership vs. followership. She has taught me and my clients that followership is not a "second choice" activity but fundamental to every act of leadership. To be a good leader, it is necessary to be a good follower as well. It is necessary to know what followership is about and respect it.
Is leadership possible without followership? No, it is complementary. One doesn’t exist without the other. In diverse programs around the world horses assist in leadership enhancement. This has as well been my experience. I have led leadership programs with horses for over 10 years. Even though I was quite open (I thought) to horse knowledge in this subject it took me 7 years to notice that there is something missing: not enough awareness and consciousness towards followership. Followership is an act, ability and attitude. Especially now when we as humans look for conscious, authentic and wise leadership. In old practice when leadership was connected with having power and ruling, nobody cared about this subject and it was not necessary. In today’s reality, followers have a voice and the right to say “yes” or “no” towards the art, the subject and the energy of leadership. When we include this, the process of leadership insists on 50% from leadership and 50% form followership. Noticing this makes the difference.
Ariana, my horse teacher in this subject, has co-facilitated in HAE (Horse Assisted Education) development programs 7 years now. She is the lead-mare and loving mother in her horse herd. She loves teaching other horses – new horse members, youngsters, older horses who sometimes act in a way which somehow is not comfortable for the herd. She developed into a ‘horse-trainer’ very quickly. She soon realized what she needed to do: guide people towards them being a decent herd member (acting as leader or follower according to situation). This sometimes was uncomfortable for me and very challenging for participants. She requires taking the task seriously (no human joking around), 100% focus on her and being present. If not, she leaves. But when she stays one can be sure that it will be a profound lesson on leadership and followership. What does she teach? The main lesson the participants and I took from cooperation with her are:
Ariana, my horse teacher in this subject, has co-facilitated in HAE (Horse Assisted Education) development programs 7 years now. She is the lead-mare and loving mother in her horse herd. She loves teaching other horses – new horse members, youngsters, older horses who sometimes act in a way which somehow is not comfortable for the herd. She developed into a ‘horse-trainer’ very quickly. She soon realized what she needed to do: guide people towards them being a decent herd member (acting as leader or follower according to situation). This sometimes was uncomfortable for me and very challenging for participants. She requires taking the task seriously (no human joking around), 100% focus on her and being present. If not, she leaves. But when she stays one can be sure that it will be a profound lesson on leadership and followership. What does she teach? The main lesson the participants and I took from cooperation with her are:
- When we act; we take a step, we do the movement, we point with our finger, we decide on one thought, we decide on one emotion – we both take leadership and we follow. To make the step forward some of our muscles lead and some of our muscles follow. To make a decision we lead with one option and our other parts, who maybe would love to do something else, follow. If this process has a disagreement then we must put additional energy into dealing with it and solve our internal conflicts. When I work with horses it is the first area to focus on in personal development or healing.
- When we learn from situations with horses we process aspects of leadership and followership in our body, emotions, mind and soul. In these situations we also encounter our attitude and dialog (or not) with destiny. Destiny: (authenticity) one can follow or fight with it. There is no leadership option here. Horses are masters in following destiny and being in dialog with it. In a teaching context they guide as towards the same ability and attitude.
Integrating leadership and followership in every step brings joyful, powerful and meaningful ways of being alive.
I experience it as much more fulfilling than leadership on its own.
I experience it as much more fulfilling than leadership on its own.
|
Agata Wiatrowska Bio Agata Wiatrowska is facilitator, owner of Poland-based center of Horse Assisted Education – HorseSense. Basing on her many years’ experience as the manager in humans herds and being author and facilitator of leadership development programmes in many multicultural organizations she is a practitioner of leadership and integrated solutions applying them both in professional and private life. Since 2008 she teaches facilitators who wish to work with horses during development programmes. She qualifies in her programme EAHAE members. Over 100 individuals have graduated the facilitator training programmes and run their own practice. She summed up her 8-year experience in the running of horse assisted development programs in HorseSense and incorporating an innovative concept of management and leadership into them as the co-author of "Menedżer uczy się od koni"/ “Manager learning from horses” published in 2013 and “Koń jako trener"/ “Horse as trainer” published in 2016. www.horsesense.pl https://www.facebook.com/horsesensepoland/ |