 | Knowing your weakness is not enough when you strive to develop yourself as a leader, but it is a good beginning. |
While so much written about leadership is focused on strengths, it is equally important as a leader to know your weaknesses.
Knowing if you have a tendency to be arrogant or distant, understanding if you have a need to be liked, recognizing your perfectionist tendencies…all of these traits are a crucial part of knowing yourself and how others will respond to you.
It is human nature that we want all the people and things in our world to accommodate our needs.
We may submerge such thoughts and try not to be selfish, but if there were no repercussions, most of us would have the world jumping to the tune of our agenda.
But when you work with horses, you discover that they are absolutely impervious to our needs. You cannot lead them just because your title says you are a leader.
They will not follow you because you want them to. They will follow you only if from their perspective it seems like a good idea.
If you do not make your intent clear with a horse, they will become confused and refuse to do anything for you. If you send mixed messages, they won’t try to figure out which message you really mean; they will ignore you and your needs.
To determine your leadership weaknesses, analyze your success or failure in past leadership experiences. It helps a great deal if you are able to get honest feedback.
Some common weaknesses of leaders are linked to personality traits, such as whether you are an introvert or extrovert. In other cases, leaders can be prone to over-planning and reluctant to take action, and may even lack confidence to make decisions.
Some leaders have good instincts, but cannot manage to deliver their results in a timely manner. Sometimes leaders are hypocritical: saying one thing but doing another.
Gaining insight into your leadership weaknesses means tapping into emotional intelligence.
That is difficult to do if you are depending on others to give you feedback. People refrain from truthful feedback often because they do not want to hurt your feelings, or they fear repercussions for being honest with you.
The horse has no such fears. If they do not read your communications as authentic and if you are inconsistent in your approach, they will not do as you wish. If you are arrogant and believe yourself to be important, it will not matter to them at all. They do not acknowledge any kind of social standing.
You cannot go to a horse and demand that they follow you, but express weakness and confusion. Their feedback will be adamant and immediate.
Equine education is the best possible way to get a clear picture of your leadership weaknesses. Once you are aware of them, only then can you begin a program of self-improvement to change those weaknesses.
You must first know yourself to experience real change.
HorseDream Canada, founded by Susan Wilson, provides high impact, quality leadership and team development experiences for individuals, teams, leaders and companies. It is part of an internationally renowned Horse Assisted Education Program providing transformative learning experiences around the world. HorseDream Canada is a division of I DO BUSINESS. Inc., a social purpose business. For more information, contact us at [email protected]. Watch for our new book, Leadership 93/7 coming soon!
Knowing if you have a tendency to be arrogant or distant, understanding if you have a need to be liked, recognizing your perfectionist tendencies…all of these traits are a crucial part of knowing yourself and how others will respond to you.
It is human nature that we want all the people and things in our world to accommodate our needs.
We may submerge such thoughts and try not to be selfish, but if there were no repercussions, most of us would have the world jumping to the tune of our agenda.
But when you work with horses, you discover that they are absolutely impervious to our needs. You cannot lead them just because your title says you are a leader.
They will not follow you because you want them to. They will follow you only if from their perspective it seems like a good idea.
If you do not make your intent clear with a horse, they will become confused and refuse to do anything for you. If you send mixed messages, they won’t try to figure out which message you really mean; they will ignore you and your needs.
To determine your leadership weaknesses, analyze your success or failure in past leadership experiences. It helps a great deal if you are able to get honest feedback.
Some common weaknesses of leaders are linked to personality traits, such as whether you are an introvert or extrovert. In other cases, leaders can be prone to over-planning and reluctant to take action, and may even lack confidence to make decisions.
Some leaders have good instincts, but cannot manage to deliver their results in a timely manner. Sometimes leaders are hypocritical: saying one thing but doing another.
Gaining insight into your leadership weaknesses means tapping into emotional intelligence.
That is difficult to do if you are depending on others to give you feedback. People refrain from truthful feedback often because they do not want to hurt your feelings, or they fear repercussions for being honest with you.
The horse has no such fears. If they do not read your communications as authentic and if you are inconsistent in your approach, they will not do as you wish. If you are arrogant and believe yourself to be important, it will not matter to them at all. They do not acknowledge any kind of social standing.
You cannot go to a horse and demand that they follow you, but express weakness and confusion. Their feedback will be adamant and immediate.
Equine education is the best possible way to get a clear picture of your leadership weaknesses. Once you are aware of them, only then can you begin a program of self-improvement to change those weaknesses.
You must first know yourself to experience real change.
HorseDream Canada, founded by Susan Wilson, provides high impact, quality leadership and team development experiences for individuals, teams, leaders and companies. It is part of an internationally renowned Horse Assisted Education Program providing transformative learning experiences around the world. HorseDream Canada is a division of I DO BUSINESS. Inc., a social purpose business. For more information, contact us at [email protected]. Watch for our new book, Leadership 93/7 coming soon!
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