As an association CEO, I’m always on the lookout for experiences that will help my staff and me grow as individuals—personally and professionally—and as a team. In my 40-plus years in the for-profit, nonprofit, and association spaces, I have seen plenty of opportunities for this type of learning, especially before the pandemic. I have tried all the old standbys: games, a book club, various exercises, rope courses, trust falls.

Now, in our post-pandemic world—where work may be fully remote or hybrid, and staff see each other more virtually than in person or are still adjusting to new rules of engagement with coworkers, members, and other stakeholders—it’s more important than ever to find new and creative ways to connect as a team and grow as leaders.

Get in the Saddle

As association leaders, we are faced with unique challenges that demand our ability to recognize, understand, and respond to others’ emotions while simultaneously managing our own. Successfully doing so requires strong emotional intelligence skills, but perhaps most importantly, empathy.

Research suggests that empathy is a combination of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral characteristics. Thus, empathy, more than emotional intelligence (EI), is the key leaders’ ability to differentiate between emotions and use that information in decision-making.

In my experience, nothing teaches this better than equine-assisted learning. EAL is an educational experience with horses. There are three types: EAL in education, EAL in personal development, and EAL in organizations. EAL in organizations is focused on leadership and team-building. Studies have found that interactions with horses helped individuals become more aware of their emotional responses and develop better emotional regulation skills.

“Horses are mirrors that reflect back our emotions and behaviors,” says Katie Navarra Bradley, an EAL-certified coach. “Unscripted horse behavior gives leaders and emerging leaders instantaneous feedback on how they are showing up to those they lead, helping deepen their EI skills, which is for leading teams today.”

Through EAL, individuals and teams interact with horses during exercises guided by certified professional facilitators. All the activities are done on the ground, and participants don’t need horse experience. Each exercise helps participants gain a new perspective on why trust, empathy, collaboration, and understanding leadership styles—their own and other’s—are essential to building healthy, successful teams.

How Can It Help You?

Today’s fast-paced world means that we must find new ways to engage our staff and our members—while attracting and retaining young professionals, embracing rapidly changing technologies, navigating economic uncertainties, and ensuring diversity and inclusion.

As a result, we must be adept at conveying our vision to those we lead and our members and have the courage to make hard (and sometimes unpopular) decisions.

Research has shown that EAL can help us hone critical skills for success as an association leader, from setting healthy boundaries to improving our communication skills, our leadership presence, and being open to changing direction, so that we can prepare ourselves to tackle these challenges while avoiding burnout.

“Bella [Navarra Bradley’s teaching horse] taught me that you can’t always force things to go in a particular direction just because you may think it’s where you need to go,” says Theresa Wutzer Moore, CMP, the associate director of the New York State Council of School Superintendents. “You first have to calm yourself, take your cue from whom or what is happening around you, and then find a direction that may not be the original goal but ultimately ends up being the place needed.”

Getting out of the office and spending the day around horses is a fun and a welcome break, but the real power comes in translating the experience into improving interactions with colleagues.

“Leadership training utilizing horses was eye-opening for all the team members and is a fresh perspective on handling different employee styles and situations,” says Kevin Brasser, former plant director of Quad Graphics in Saratoga Springs, New York. “Most of our team had 30 years of service at Quad and have been through many types of leadership classes, but nothing like we experienced with the horses.”

For more information on EAL, contact Katie Navarra Bradley at katiethecoach.com; or to find a facility near you that provides EAL, go to e3assoc.org/find-a-e3a-practitioner. Note: Some facilitators work out of their home barn and others leverage connections countrywide to bring their services to your area.