by Julia Felton | Sep 4, 2012
Today I am sharing what one of my amazing clients Carly Hope, the Sales Angel wrote about her experience with Horse Assisted Leadership Transformation on Sunday at one of my Success Unbridled Retreats.
“At the start of this year a horse and business whisperer signed up for a coaching call with me. At the time, I didn’t know how or why she and her horses would be part of my life but I knew for certain that they would be. Yesterday I took my VIP group to spend the day with Julia Felton and her wonderful herd of horses and it was truly life changing.
On arrival in the depth of the Sussex countryside, my sat nav said “you have arrived at your destination”and in that very second a large and impressive hawk swooped down and hovered above my car. I later googled “symbolism of the hawk”and the list read
- Attention
- Vision
- Power
- Energy
- Leadership
- Intensity
This is no coincidence as we experienced these things in abundance over this special weekend.
On Saturday evening I set out to meet the herd for the first time. As I walked into their field, I tried to regulate my breath and energy to match the magical stillness in the air and it took a while. When you get on the level with these amazing animals the results are powerful (beyond any spa day) there was an awareness available that I have never before experienced…one that isn’t freely available in this busy life we lead.
I can’t help but find amusement in humans, busying ourselves with ipads and shopping, spending our time immersed in social media…..and yet I have never felt better than sitting still in a field with these clever animals watching the herd chew grass.
I realised in that moment that we have so much to learn from these beautiful horses.
The next day we greeted my VIP clients and my friend Allison Marlowe and the fun started. We spent the day immersed in deep learning, never about the horses and always about ourselves. The horses gently nudge us into alignment, so that our actions meet our heart and our thoughts. They teach us to be in the moment, to enjoy the simple things and as one of my clients beautifully observed to just let go and have a big poo.
As I drove home on the evening the M25 was filled with Olympic traffic but the sun was setting in the distance and I didn’t see the traffic. I didn’t feel like I was in the same body that had made the journey the previous morning.
I almost hesitated to write this note, it is hard to put into words how emotionally beautiful it was to be with the horses, how healing their field is, and how I have learned more about my next steps in life then I could from a traditional classroom.
I know in my role as a sales trainer that whole body learning is essential – that the masculine principles of “how” to do things don’t always work in isolation. That to be truly successful we must address the feeling behind our actions. I believe the horses give us the opportunity to get close to our truth and move forward. The divine feminine is the gift of gentle yet powerful leadership, I am committed to seeking mentors who embody the principles and inspire me..
I just didn’t know she would be a pony!”
One of the most profound things that this amazing about this group of successful women entrepreneurs discovered during the day was the power of teamwork. Accustomed often to working alone the team exercises they undertook with the horses really drew the group together and everyone began to realise the power of collaboration. We even uncovered the Talent Dynamics profile of each person and based with this knowledge everyone could figure out how best they could add value to the team during the exercises with horses. It was amazing to watch.
I will be running days with the horses in September around the theme of what horses can teach us about authentic sales, along with Carly Hope do if this speaks to you let me know and we will send you more details.
by Julia Felton | Aug 14, 2012
Nature Gives Us Clues
If you were going to pick a model from nature for how to create and operate as a great team, which animal would you pick?
How about lions, tigers, hippos or bears?
Those species are known to eat their young, or the new guy or gal on the team, in our analogy. That doesn’t make for good team building!
How about wolves or hyenas?
These animals are known to constantly have ego fights for dominance—definitely not good for trust and the morale of a team.
How about salmon?
Certainly their long struggle to swim upstream in dedication to duplicate (procreate) the team has to be a good role model, right? Yeah, well, the only problem is, once they have finally done the quiver (seriously, that’s what they do—they align themselves next to each other and “quiver” while they each do their part of the act), they die. That can’t be good if every time new people are brought into your team the leaders die. So salmon are out.
I know what you are thinking… eagles, right?
Eagles are good role models for soaring to individual heights, but they are poor team players. They are known to be territorial, pretty hostile toward one another and constantly stealing prey from one another. Get this… momma eagle usually lays two eggs and most often the bigger of the two siblings (which is usually the female, as they come out bigger) kills the other sibling while mom looking on (harsh, right?). No, you don’t want the new recruits killing each other or the leaders stealing sales and clients from each other. Eagles, team players? Not so much.
No, the animal species you want to learn from and emulate in working together as a team are… ducks.
Ducks, because they work together to accomplish feats that seem unimaginable and impossible for most any other animal.
Ducks fly distances of hundreds or even thousands of miles, a distance almost no other animal can travel and it’s possible only because they do it as a team.
As you know, ducks fly together in formation. As each duck flaps its wings, it creates uplift for the bird following and that is perpetuated throughout their V formation. Each duck takes its turn leading the flock in flight. When the lead duck gets tired, it fades from the front and is enveloped back into the fold of the flock and naturally another bird takes the lead. By working together, the whole flock adds 71% more flying range than if each bird flew alone.
Like ducks, people naturally gravitate toward organizations that will shelter and protect them and make their life easier than if they were left to fend for themselves. I have found that people want to belong; they want to be a part of a team. It gives them a sense of purpose, where they can be a part of something bigger than themselves.
I also find that most people perform to their greater potential when on a team than when on their own. They rise to meet the expectations of the team; if left alone to their own motivations, they wouldn’t push themselves nearly as hard.
I find that lots of people do more for the recognition of others than for their own satisfaction. Thus, team environments are a powerful force for drawing out the best within our individual potentials for achievement.
Amazing feats are created when the collective whole becomes greater than the sum of the individual parts. That occurs when teamwork is working well.
So in business, people who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier when they travel on the thrust of one another.
As leaders, it is our job to cast the vision and enroll others to share in that vision. As teams, we need to help one another and to offer encouragement and support as the success of the individual creates uplift for the rest of the flock… or team.
Over the next few posts I will reveal the single most sabotaging factor of why teams even made up of great people will fail, and the two most important ingredients for building great teams who perform way beyond their individual capabilities.
Do you perform better when supported and challenged by teammates? Why?
Want to better understand the dynamics of your team, then take a Talent Dynamics profile test and find out?
Inspired by Darren Hardy of Seeds to Success
by Julia Felton | Aug 8, 2012
If you want to build a successful team for your business, you need to avoid the five causes of team dysfunction. Patrick Lencioni, a leadership expert and organizational consultant, shares the five team dysfunctions and what you should do about each.
- Absence of trust. “Team members need to be able to admit their weaknesses and mistakes, to acknowledge the strengths of others, and to apologize when they do something wrong.”
- Fear of conflict. “Great teams argue. Not in a mean-spirited or personal way, but they disagree when important decisions are made.” Avoiding conflict only leads to mediocrity.
- Lack of commitment. “When team members openly share opinions on a decision, they don’t wonder whether anyone is holding back. When the leader has to step in and make a decision, team members will accept that decision because they know their ideas were heard and considered.”
- Avoidance of accountability. “The best kind of accountability on a team is peer-to-peer. Peer pressure is more efficient and effective than going to the leader, anonymously complaining and having them stop what they are doing to intervene. Members of great teams confront each other when they see something that isn’t serving the team.”
- Inattention to results. “Team members have to be focused on the collective good of the team. Too often, they focus their attention on their department, their budget, their career aspirations, their egos. Great teams put the tangible results of the team ahead of their individual needs.”
Talent Dynamics is the best way I know to get teams into flow and to build accountability and trust within an organisation. If your team suffers from dysfunctionality then get in touch now to find out how Talent Dynamics can help your team
by Julia Felton | Jul 7, 2012
What is it that all successful people have in common? They have focus. An unrelenting determination to make it to the finish line no matter what. Certainly having a great reason why you are doing what you are doing is important but what I observe that often drives some to succeed where others fail is deadlines. There is something magical about committing to deliver a product/service by a certain date and then meeting that target. It motivates us and keeps us going. From my own experience I certainly know that I am so much more focused and productive if I have a deadline. As business owners I know you appreciate the importance of meeting your clients deadlines – we wouldn’t dare miss these, would we – and yet many of us fail to set deadlines or have focus in our own businesses. Kind of bizarre isn’t it that we don’t practice for ourselves what we do for others.
In his book Botty’s Rules, entrepreneur Nigel Botterill describes an interesting analogy about focus and deadlines. He likens being in business to a race like the Grand National. As a jockey you would not swap horses in the middle of the race. Great jockeys are focused on the finish line (the deadline) and with a rugged determination push their horse onwards to win the race. They are in the moment and nothing can stop them. They never consider changing horse mid-race and yet business owners (particularly entrepreneurs) often do this. They look for the next new shiny object or project that they can get involved in, without ever finishing the project they are currently working on.
Jockeys only ride one horse at as time, and as business owners in my experience it is best just to focus on one project at a time. Keep the deadline short so that you can see the finish line and be motivated to achieve this. For small business owners there is nothing more demoralising that looking at that To Do list that simply keeps getting longer and longer because you start new projects without finishing something else first. If anything will quash your desire to succeed it will be this as you can easily become overwhelmed.
If you recognise the traits of lack of focus and being attracted to new projects without finishing the one project you are working on right now then you may well be a Creator, as a creator is someone who loves new things but is notorious for starting something and not finishing. I should know as I am one!. To be successful in business all Creators need to work alongside people who are good finishers and can get into the process of meeting the deadlines. The visionary approach of the Creator needs to be balanced by the detailed and grounded approach of a Trader.
To find out which business profile you are and who else you need on your team to be successful take the Talent Dynamics Test here. It takes just 15 mins to complete the test and it may change your life and the way you do business forever.
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