I recently attended a horsemanship clinic as a spectator where I was able to observe a variety of interactions. In one such interaction, I watched as a woman tried to calm her horse down with the intent to get the horse to listen and follow direction. I noticed that the woman, lets call her Eve, seemed to be full of energy, you know the kind of energy that you see in children sometimes where they just do not know what to do with themselves. She kept moving the horse around, trying to get him to focus to do whatever it was that she wanted done. No matter what Eve did, the horse only seemed more agitated, upset and confused. Eve was getting very frustrated and so was the horse.

As a believer in leadership and communication skills training, I was quite fascinated and kept watching to see what was going to happen. Eve seemed to be giving the right cues to the horse but she was clearly not succeeding in getting what she wanted for herself or the horse.

As I observed Eve's actions, I couldn't help but think of all the times I had watched leaders and managers in organizations exhibit high energy with no clear direction. They would walk into a meeting or an encounter with their subordinates while exuding that same kind of intense energy. They would demand something and then release that energy and frustration on their subordinates by creating an unjustified sense of urgency, and then leave without further clarification.

These actions ensured that the next several man-hours or days were spent with everyone running around "like chickens with their heads chopped off," trying to get whatever it was that the manager had asked for. Then after all their efforts to produce deliverables, the workers would find out that the manager, put the fruits of their labor on his or her desk and never examined it, nor referred to it and surely had no real use for it.

I have often wondered how much valuable time and resources are spent in organizations on such useless endeavors.

Back to the horse and Eve.

I could not keep my eyes off her and the horse. You know how sometimes you get a feeling and you recognize that you have had that feeling before? Well, I felt it in the pit of my stomach, and it reminded me of, long ago, when I was that subordinate-asked to do something that clearly made little sense with no direction or real meaning and I immediately felt sympathy for the horse.

I wondered how many times I might have done the same thing to one of my horses, my children or others that I took responsibility for as a corporate leader and it was not a happy thought.

Finally, when I thought I could stand it no longer, the instructor took pity on the horse (and maybe Eve) came over and calmly took the horse and asked him with clear mind, heart and intention to do the maneuver and the horse did it instantly.

Eve stood perfectly still for a minute with a look on her face that had to be one of those "aha" moments and I could see her take several deep breaths. It was clear to me that she had now balanced herself and had become focused. She now knew (clearly in her mind) not only on what she wanted from her horse, but exactly how to ask him for it. Then in one beautiful purposeful step, she asked and he obliged, gracefully and flawlessly.

What kept ringing clearly in my heart, mind and soul was. High Energy with no clear Intention only brings chaos to any situation and to the people in that situation.

This experience helped to reinforce what I teach in my workshops. LEADERSHIP requires energy, communication, purpose and skill. All of these are critical for those in management and supervisory positions and all of these can be learned.

About the Author:

Jean Starling is a speaker, consultant/coach with mastery in various disciplines including Emotional Intelligence, Leadership, Experiential Learning and Relationship Management, with 20 years of corporate management, consulting and training experience and is also founder of the Equine Experiential Education Association, promoting interaction with horses to develop human communication skills. Contact jean@TheSpiritOfLearning.com [Phone: 360-668-1954] or visit http://www.TheSpiritOfLearning.com

Reprinted from Zongoo! Self help.