Team Building 

Empowering People Through Horses

The ability of a team to work together towards a common outcome is pivotal to the success of a company. Many companies fail to create successful outcomes because they lack the interpersonal leadership and relationship skills that create optimum functionality as a team.

When relationships or communication between team members break down, the company’s productivity suffers and outcomes become significantly harder to reach. A dysfunctional work environment leads to emotional toxicity between team members hindering their ability to work together.

Here at Skerrett Equine our Team Building workshops offer a unique and innovative approach to empowering Team Leaders and Team Members through the use of horses. With the right guidance, activities and facilitation teams can gain great insight into what they need to improve on as a team. The result leads to enhanced productivity, efficiency and more cohesive teamwork.

Why Horses For Team Building

Horses are heard animals and they rely upon each member of the herd to play their role in keeping the herd safe and cohesive. Within each herd of horses every horse will play out different roles within the herd dynamic. There are typically four roles that can be identified within the herd:

The Nurturer Companion

Some horses will play out the role of the nurturer companion, mutually grooming each horse and making sure each horse’s need for comfort and connection is provided. These nurturer companions are adept at sensing the needs of others and finding a way to provide those needs. They therefore play the important role facilitating the overall wellbeing of the herd as well as assisting herd members in maintaining functional relationships with each other.  

The Leader

Being the Leader involves making important decisions for the herd. The herd will look to and rely upon the leader in crisis situations to make pivotal decisions that lead to the safety and wellbeing of the herd. Lead horses are the ones who exhibit the calmness and confidence in crisis situations allowing them to successfully calm and direct the other herd members and lead them away from danger. The lead horse will also make decisions about how the herd moves around to find sufficient water, pasture and shelter.

The Dominant

The dominant within the herd tends to be the one that is good at bossing other herd members around. The positive attributes of the dominant are in its ability to set physical boundaries between herd members as well as breaking up fights. The dominant horse will also typically be the one that will stand up to, and fight off predators that are trying to attack and kill herd members which is a vitally important role within the herd.

The Sentinel

The sentinel within the herd is observing the environment and keeping watch for any potential threats or problems that may be approaching. The sentinel will actively gather information from the environment surrounds and use that information to benefit the herd. The information may be gathered to help the herd to make a decision, to move to better pastures or a more reliable water supply, or to warn the herd of an approaching threat.

Each role within the herd is equally important and each role plays its part in benefitting the needs of the whole. This concept of different roles within the herd correlates directly with the roles that we play within a company. The overall success of a company is directly related to the effectiveness of these individual roles being fulfilled within the company. Good team work demands a good understanding of who is best suited to fulfil each individual role within the company. A well-managed company will know the importance of each role and how that role contributes to the company’s overall success.

Unfortunately, if these roles within the company are not well defined and supported or they are out of balance, productivity and longevity will suffer. It may even lead to the company’s stagnation and downfall.

Using Horses to develop team building skills gives the participants the ability to see what innate roles they are good at and what roles they need to work and improve on. Horses are very receptive to and respond well to teams that demonstrate good communication and cohesiveness. Horses don’t care about a team’s reputation or credentials. Horses respond to how you make them feel and the way you communicate with them. For a team to gain the trust and willingness of the horse herd they need to embody a balance of all four roles, and utilise each role when it is appropriate and effective.

Our Approach

Our Approach involves selecting from a variety of experiential based activities, which will help meet the needs of your unique team. Examples of activities used for team building include some the following:

• Mandala
• Body Scan
• Leadership through Relationship
• Connective round pen
• Embodying the goal
• Merge the herd

 Find out more about these activities

Requirements

Experience or knowledge of horses is not required. The only requirement is an open mind and a willingness to engage. Even people with a fear of horses can benefit from this work. The horse is simply there to help facilitate the learning process. 

We provide the horses that will be used in your session. Our horses have had extensive groundwork training and have a very calm and quiet nature. 

What you can expect from our 1 Day Workshop

Attend our 1 day Team Building Workshop and you will receive 7 hours of horse and human facilitation with a fully accredited facilitator. Within these 7 hours, you will experience theory (principles and methodologies for effective team building), demonstrations, simulations, experiential learning opportunities, working individually and as a group, a reflective session and time for questions and answers.

Outcomes include enhanced communication between team members, enhanced leadership skills within each member’s specified role, bonding and kinship and enhanced interpersonal relationship skills. The result is your team working more effectively and efficiently, essentially creating a more harmonious and productive working environment.

All workshop materials are provided for you. This includes; workbook, relevant theory and methodology printed sheets, stationary, and a certificate of successful completion.

Our 1 day workshop begins at 9:00 AM and is structured to allow for a lunch break of 40 minutes and two 20 minute breaks for morning and afternoon tea. We provide locally sourced, wholesome, privately catered lunch as well as morning and afternoon tea. Our day is complete at 4:00 PM. 

After completing our 1 day workshop your facilitator will personally follow up within 30 days with a phone call to find out how your team is progressing.

The benefits of attending a 1 day workshop include:

• Bringing everyone together to connect for one day
• Easy to squeeze into the busy professional calendar
• Providing inspiration by being out of the office and back into nature
• Cost effective

What you can expect from our 2 Day Workshop

Attend our 2 day Team Building Workshop and you will receive 14 hours of horse and human facilitation with a fully accredited facilitator. Within these 14 hours, you will experience theory (principles and methodologies for effective team building), demonstrations, simulations, experiential learning opportunities, working individually and as a group, a reflective session and time for questions and answers.

Outcomes include enhanced communication between team members, enhanced leadership skills within each member’s specified role, bonding and kinship and enhanced interpersonal relationship skills. The result is your team working more effectively and efficiently, essentially creating a more harmonious and productive working environment.

All workshop materials are provided for you. This includes; workbook, relevant theory and methodology printed sheets, stationary, and a certificate of successful completion.

Our 2 day workshop begins each day at 9:00 AM and is structured to allow for a lunch break of 40 minutes and two 20 minute breaks for morning and afternoon tea. We provide locally sourced, wholesome, privately catered lunch as well as morning and afternoon tea. Each day is complete at 4:00 PM.

After completing our 2 day workshop your facilitator will personally follow up within 30 days with a phone call to find out how your team is progressing.

The benefits of attending a 2 day workshop include:

• Deepening the participants experience by allowing for more time to reflect and integrate their learning
• Creating a deeper bond and kinship between employees
• Additional time allows for participants to go deeper into their learning experience
• Allowing participants to refine and consolidate their newly learned skills
• Costs savings of $400

Packages

Recommendations

We are able to provide your company with the recommendation of a unique corporate experience (not included in the packages) of dinner and drinks for your team at the prestigious Yandina Station. Use this additional time to bond, reflect on the days learning, relax and unwind. Yandina Station is located in between our venue and Coolum Beach. Please contact us for additional information for your unique corporate experience.

Accomodation and transport are not included in the packages