Leadership Programs - Building Relationships

The importance of building relationships is a lesson every salesperson and every manager has heard, but can afford to hear again. Watching the round-pen training takes the lesson out of the textbook and presents it in a new and unforgettable way.

“The trainer doesn’t make the horse do anything,” Tom Avery says. “You negotiate with the horse and you convince it to trust you and to rely on you for safety, security, and well-being.” And it’s all done in “horse language” —  using body language that is natural to the horse.

Watching an experienced trainer work with a horse in the round pen offers clear and critical insights into human communications, especially the need to understand how other people communicate and the importance of adapting one’s own style of communication to put others at ease.

As the trainer works with the horse, he or she describes each step, each action, and the horse’s responses. He points out the parallels between horse training and business communications, and draws out specific lessons about effective leadership, management, salesmanship, and communications.