<%@LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> HARP Partnership - Team Building

Corporate Equine Assisted Coaching

A new opportunity to learn communication, leadership and motivation skills is now available through the HARP PARTNERSHIP. Using a unique blend of Equine Assisted Learning and the facilitators experience in marketing, teaching and alternative therapies we can provide a stimulating and sometimes entertaining self development programme lasting half, one or two days.

Once you have identified an area of development that your team may need we can tailor a programme for your specific goals. Or perhaps you feel that your group could simply do with refreshing yet challenging day to clear out the cobwebs and bring a breath of fresh air to their joint thought processes.

We specialise in getting people to think outside the box!

Equine Assisted Learning is a rapidly growing field in the USA where it has been recognised as a useful tool in improving productivity in the corporate world.

However, we believe that it is not just productivity for the company that needs to be improved. If your team is feeling motivated because their self esteem has a been enhanced then your benefits will be twofold. A happy, enthusiastic team reflects well on the company to the outside world as much as the end of year profits does to the shareholders.

 

What can the Harp Partnership Equine Assisted Coaching do for your company?

The HARP partnership can provide help to your company in the following areas:

Harp Partnership sessions are bespoke. You tell us what you require and we will bring together a team which will fulfil your requirements. Written assessments for individuals and the team can be arranged.

 

How can horses help companies improve productivity?

Horses have defined roles within their herd, but they don't recognise hierarchies in their human 'herd'. This means that there is no bias their behaviour based on team roles or position. they respond according to the dynamics that occur during the session.

The tasks that we set during a session are designed to explore:

Many of the issues have positive and negative aspects which all manifest during a session with the horses who become neutral messengers. For example - is the way you communicate flexible enough to recognise that some people may respond to your 'orders' more productively if they were presented differently.

One of the great benefits of Equine Assisted work is that it is not blinkered to simply fulfilling the brief. From the moment

people start interacting with the horses many things become apparent. Time and time again our clients stop for a moment and realise that their ‘issue’ has surfaced within minutes of the session commencing. We can enable you to really understand what is going on within your team.

We recognise that in the current economic climate  the need to maximise companies opportunities and potential is vital.  The Harp Partnership teambuilding and Equine Assisted Coaching approach can help your company make that extra step.

       

How does a session work?

The individual or group are invited to observe the horses we are working with.  There are generally two or more facilitators depending on the number of participants. One of us is focused on the participant, the other on the horse/s. 

Our health and safety talk is usually brief – sessions are often conducted in an open field!

We explain the principles of understanding the zones of a horse, hooves and teeth. We explain how horses express themselves with their ears and tail – their body language.  It is important to recognize that we do not want to instil fear at this point, just recognition.  Like cars, horses can be beautiful, comfortable to ride around in, safe to be with. They can also run you over! Be sensible, be aware,,.. be peripherally aware,  be alert.

We invite the individual or group, to choose which horse/horses they want to work with. Then we ask them to bring that animal to where we are standing. A session with an individual lasts up to an hour.  Work with groups, depending on the objectives, lasts from 1 ½ hours to 3 days.

This form of interacting with horses can be extremely intense.  One client said that she covered more in one hour with the horses than she did in 18 months of counselling.

A business man who initially couldn’t see the potential of this work was astounded that from the minute he started ‘working’ with the horses his leadership skills were challenged.  And having dismissed it as frivolous, he did find himself laughing but learning a huge amount at the same time.

NB Taking feedback on our behaviour as individuals and as a company can be hard – the horses make it far more palatable.

  

Testimonial

This workshop proved to be a very rewarding and cost effective corporate training experience.  We benefited collectively as a team and as individuals by enhancing our leadership and communication skills.

Performing group tasks with horses in a novel environment enabled me to observe my team in action, identifying specific strengths and weaknesses highlighted by their performance of tasks outside their typical "comfort zone".

The follow up report and action plan developed with the professional psychologist on the programme helped me think through how to translate the key learnings of the away-day into Lighthouse's daily business routine and development roadmap."

James Edsberg,

Director, Lighthouse Global

(Management Consulting Services)

Please click on Case Studies for more reports.