Austin Team Building Gallops Toward Trust and Success

By Solomon Masala | Team Building

Oct 16

Leadership development with horses

Team Building is Growth. Growth Builds Trust

Great leadership and team excellence employ a host of skills only sharpened with practice. To attain greatness, we must engage hurdles – growth opportunities – that build capacity. Being a high trust individual and creating high trust relationships is part of greatness. In Austin, we use native Texan culture for team building that develops the self-awareness to grow past superficial communication and build real trust. The teachers for this are horses.

Trust building in Team Building
Trust is a core to effective teams and effective business. In team building, it’s not always easy to determine how trust is being cultivated. So, we use horses in our team building programs, because of their innate ability to sense what state a person is in, offering insights on authenticity and congruence – foundational skills for leadership and team development. Self-awareness is vital for developing trust. If you know how you are impacting someone, you can make changes. Horses give immediate, honest feedback – they respond to the core behavior. If you are angry, in fear, or distracted, and pretending something else, the horse won’t buy it. Their survival as a species is based on knowing the real experience – and they’ll let you know immediately. One rarely gets that kind of powerful feedback from teammates. Trust is built from authenticity; horses offer the most powerful reflections on internal/external congruence. Need to practice “what you see is what you get?”  Work with horses. This Austin team-building program translates the real messages we send using our bodies, into words. With practice, one becomes aware of what’s really being communicated and can make empowered choices. This allows one to ‘Get Better,’ one of the Thirteen Habits of High Trust individuals (as researched by Covey).

Trust and Collaboration
Our Equine Leadership Training program addresses the ability to sense and quickly respond to the needs of a situation or group. By developing stronger sensitivity to the energies generated within team dynamics, leaders and team members can be more accurate and effective in their responses. Excellent leadership is never about power and control. Effective leaders demonstrate their care and ability to work with, to collaborate with, and to serve. The Equine process teaches leaders the real meaning of collaboration with respect and awareness – horses let you know the immediate difference between control or collaboration.

Because we use experiential learning, our Austin team building events excel at rapidly building real skill for your team’s unique development. Our innovative approach guarantees learning, thinking and behaving differently will happen. 

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About the Author

Solomon is a trainer and consultant who works with organizations and teams in a graceful, energizing, and insightful manner - transforming the individuals and the whole. Inspiring, palpable and sustainable, positive change is always a result.