Leading with Clear Intent

Recently I was invited as a guest of Murray Wright on his Leadership Moments Podcast to have a conversation about conscious leadership and how the EAL program support us to be more aware of ourselves and how we impact others, to be more present and make more conscious choices and decisions rather than reacting from old patterns of behaviour. I thought I would share an extract from the transcript where Murray asks me how horses have shaped my own approach to leadership, as this is often a question people ask me when we first meet.

MURRAY: Is there another ‘aha’ moment in that period or whatever time that you’ve had, that you’ve gone, “Ah, now I understand. This is what leadership is about.”

JACKIE: It was definitely with the horses. Before I became a facilitator I went and participated and did some equine therapy myself. And that was really ‘aha’. I went from a personal development point of view but what came very clearly back to me was my confidence in my own leadership. The first session I had with the horse, it was around directing the horse to go in a certain direction and for me it was humorous, looking back on it. I was quite emotional at the time where I would be , “Okay. Let’s walk to the left,” and then the horse would be like, “No, thank you. I’ll go to the right.” And I’d go, “That’s okay then, let’s go to the right.” You know, partly it is I wanted to be liked and I wanted to have connection and I wanted a relationship with the horse. That’s important, but the agenda at the time was to go in a particular direction. We have to go this way right now. And how do I do that without giving up connection and relationship, you know? So, for me that was a really powerful insight into, if I’m not clear about what I want and what I need and what I expect, No one’s going to follow me.

MURRAY: That’s such a powerful thing because….alot of people you work with and you’re coaching and they’re not clear or they don’t make it clear what they need and what they expect from people and suffer all ends of frustration and let-down. So, what you’re saying is so important. We do have to be clear about what we want, what we need, what we expect.

JACKIE: Absolutely!

MURRAY: As well as, obviously asking other people, “What is it you need from me?” “What is it you expect?” And where you can’t meet expectations, having that discussion about what can be met or not.

JACKIE: And the goal for me is now leading through connection or leading through relationship. One is not at the expense of the other. When I talked before about my role as GM of House retail chain and investing in the franchisee relationships, it was to get somewhere.So all could be working towards a common vision. I think the importance of being clear about, not only where you want to go but how you want to get there. So that’s the value side. I know what you work on so much, Murray, is identifying my purpose and my vision, but equally identifying my values of, “How do I want to work with others?” “What’s important to me,” and “What do I believe in?” And if I’m clear about all of those things and I connect with people around that, then it’s smooth to follow.

JACKIE: The followership then just seems to happen. Just coming back to the horses, we encourage the participants to just use their body to be super clear about where they want to head and what the direction is, build trust with the horses and then they lead them. And then eventually at the end of the program they’re leading them without a rope.

It brings people such joy to know that they can lead without dragging someone along or getting them to follow because they’re in that role of authority holding that lead rope. For some people that is a revelation because they don’t necessarily believe, “If I’m not in this position and I don’t have this title, and I don’t direct you to do things, you’re not going to do them.” So, to be able to see there’s a different way was for me very powerful personally, to learn that skill and practice that and now I am able to share that insight with others.

To listen to the podcast in full go to https://murraywright.com.au/leadership-moments-podcast/jackie-smith/