#400 giddy up

One of my birthday presents was a horseback ride -- something I did yesterday for the first time ever.  On a picture-perfect day, we went out to a stable in the country and I came face to face with a full-grown horse for the first time.  He was beautiful!

The owners helped me climb into the saddle, then they gave me about 30 seconds of lessons and left me alone in the indoor ring to get comfortable with him.  "You're the driver," he said.  "You need to tell the horse where you want him to go."  

Here I was with about 1200 pounds of pure muscle, and this little rope was supposed to communicate to the horse all my commands.  It was amazing, but it worked. Just the slightest tug on the rope told the horse whether to go left, right or stop -- and he did just that.

I think horse riding is a good model for your organization.  You need to outline expectations and parameters to others so that you can transmit them with very little intervention.  With just a nudge or gentle motion from you, you staff should know what you want them to do.  It makes for a wonderful ride.

-- beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
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