What Is Leadership?

Leadership is not a title you can assign to someone. It’s a set of skills that you develop over time and use in different situations. A lot of people think that leadership is about making others do what they want, but it’s not. Leadership is actually about making others feel like doing what you want them to do – by showing them why it’s important.

Leadership is the quality of influencing, inspiring or motivating people to achieve a shared goal. This definition seems simple enough, but what does it really mean to be a good leader?

Leaders inspire others to follow and provide an environment to be their best.  Sounds simple but it is one of the hardest things to accomplish.   A strong leader will also have the ability to execute strategy while motivating employees at all levels of an organisation or group. Leadership is not an easy job, so being able to develop trust with your team will prove invaluable on your journey towards building a successful team.

What Makes a Good Leader?

Some people are born leaders, but not all of us. Leadership is a learned skill, and the ability to become a leader depends on your attitude and actions. It also depends on your choices – yes, you have choices as a leader.

If you’re willing to learn what makes a good leader, consider these 8 tips:

1. Focus on yourself first. As a new leader or manager of others, it’s easy to rush into building rapport with those that report to you. A common trap is to try to be a people pleaser.  I have seen this happen so many times where leaders try to be friends with their team and colleagues.
2. Improve your emotional intelligence and be aware of your strengths and weakness.  You need to understand the space you are good in and when you need support from others.  This is critical when you looked to for supporting and communicating with others
3. Be prepared to have someone you trust to debrief and confide with as you learn and grow (a coach or mentor)
4. When leading teams you need to find out what is important to them.  You need to have empathy and care about what are their goals and ambitions are.
5. The most effective leaders are those who inspire others to go above and beyond their own expectations.
6. A good leader must be willing to lead from the front, not from behind.
7. He or she must know how to adapt as situations change, and make decisions with conviction in order to ensure success for everyone involved.
8. Be prepared to make mistakes… So many mistakes, but simply learn from them.

Leadership Learning From a Horse?

I’ve learned some valuable leadership lessons from training horses.  I believe I have learnt more about being a leader and about myself from my horses than anyone else.  This is a hard concept to believe but it is true.  Having a horse that is so highly attuned to your emotions is quite a confronting experience.  You see I was a highly anxious person, so many things would make me angry, nervous or just want to run away and hide.  It is not a great way to live and the consequences for it are your health and damaging important relationships.  Also, it doesnt make for a great leader!

Controlling Your Emotions

Having a horse that is a nervous anxious horse is not a fun experience and so I needed to learn how to be calm-assertive.  This has taken years of hard work on myself, many mistakes but trying to seek out the answer.  What I discovered also makes you a better leader.   The calm assertive leader is what a horse needs but it is also what your team needs.

I have learned to lean into fear rather than run away.   Not knowing how to manage or deal with a horse is scary and intimidating, however when you understand that they are seeking a calm assertive leader and they will follow.  They need you to be brave and decisive when they are in fear.  So too do your team. This is essential when you are in a leadership role and you will always have an element of fear when you need to make decisions that have no clear answer.

Horses have taught me to experiment and play.  Because they always give you honest and immediate feedback it’s easy to find where you are at your best.  If you are too stern they say no, if you are too soft they say no, if you are not your being authentic they say no.  I horse will find comfort when you lead in your own way.  This has helped me understand how to interact with different team members differently too.

Learning As a Leader

Learning to embrace learning, and embrace the learning experience.  I love learning new things and constantly seeking answers or a new way to approach a problem.  There is a place of being curious and open is where the magic happens.  You need to find comfort in the awkward learning as will never have all the answers but if you are open to learning you can always find a way to stretch yourself and your team.  Trying to keep growing to allow your team the space to improve and grow as well.  Horses have made me incredibly curious as the more you understand, the more you want to know.  They have opened doors to understand people.

People and Teams Are Different

You have to adjust how you manage people differently.  Different people are motivated by different things and the way you manage one person may not get the best out of someone else.  Being directive with tasks and steps for one person gets them motivated as they love a list and love a step by step guide.  They need to know they are doing a good job because the instructions were clear and they want to follow them to the letter.  Trying to manage a creative like that will get the worst out of them.  Giving them exact lists and step by step instructions doesn’t allow for any creativity in how to do get a job done.  They want to understand the job and then let them go away and get the job done.  Well, I had my aha moment managing horses.  I have a horse who needs very clear instructions and he will do as he is told, however, I also have a highly emotional mare who needs you to feel an emotional connection before you ask for anything.  I am sure we have all had team members like this.  One is all business and leaves their personal issues at the door, the other needs to know about your family and the weekend before you can talk about work.

Self Awareness

As a leader you can “fake it till you make it” but with a horse, you cannot lie.  I have found a way to be more authentic with all my flaws and get more comfortable with who I am.  This space is so much better to lead from.

You Can Be a Great Leader Too

If you don’t have access to a horse and a great trainer to learn how to lead.  Focus on being your best version of yourself, and being honest with yourself.  The other thing that I would say is to embrace the fear and love the learning.