MINNEAPOLIS, May 29, 2008 — You can lead a horse to water, the saying goes, but two Minnesota-based equine-guided education coaches say horses are naturals at coaching executives to sharpen their leadership skills—without the executives ever getting on horseback.
In June, Lynn Baskfield and Ann Romberg of Wisdom Horse Coaching are launching an equine guided program for upper-level executives or entrepreneurs, building on WHC’s five years of success with equine guided corporate training workshops for clients that include Wells Fargo, Medtronic and St. Paul Travelers Companies.
“People at the top have achieved a great level of success, but that can be isolating,” says Baskfield. “Horses have no agenda. They let you know, without judgment, when you are fooling yourself and when you are on the right track.”
The basic principle of equine guided corporate coaching is that horse-human interactions reflect the human’s behavior in the workplace. Through exercises with horses—such as getting them to move from one end of the paddock to the other without lead lines or to perform low jumps—people develop insights that can help them achieve goals and reach their potential in leadership and life. Human coaches provide skilled observation and feedback.
“It’s experiential learning that sticks,” says Romberg, who spent 20 years in corporate life before becoming a life and learning coach. “Most people have had enough training sessions in paneled rooms. Horses have no Powerpoint presentations, but they’re incredibly intuitive at zeroing in on human strengths and challenges.”
WHC’s executive leadership program will be more individualized than its corporate workshops, which typically focus on team building, collaborative problem solving and communication.
A top-level executive might be struggling with deeper professional challenges such as bringing a human face to the workplace while dealing with the bottom line or trying to find answers to gnawing questions: What is my legacy? How can I be the person whose values I want? How can I run this business without running my people ragged? How can I work more effectively with my board?
Baskfield was a lifelong entrepreneur before becoming a certified coach. Both she and Romberg are also certified equine guided education coaches and have master’s degrees. They participate in on-going research studies on effectiveness of equine guided learning.
This summer’s executive leadership program will be four months long. A group of five executives will get together as a group occasionally but mostly work one-on-one with a horse. Wisdom Horse Coaching expects to expand quickly into six- and 12-month programs.
Baskfield and Romberg merged their coaching practices in 2003 to form Wisdom Horse Coaching. Their clients are in healthcare, education, insurance, banking and finance, energy, lumber and hospitality.
They are members of the Equine Guided Education Association and also run an apprenticeship program. The home base for Wisdom Horse Coaching is at Hawk’s Ridge Ranch, overlooking the St. Croix River in Hudson, Wisconsin, 30 minutes from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Baskfield and Romberg also conduct workshops in other locations convenient to clients.
For more information, please visit the media room at wisdomhorsecoaching.com
Media contact: Kathe Stanton, 651.252.1339, kathe.stanton@gmail.com
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