When you search for leadership courses on the Internet, you actually find team management courses. Just some difference here or there in the methodology. However, there are three unusual types of trainings that don’t need you to be in a traditional classroom, neither alone at home in front of a computer. The first one we believe you already suspected it was effective, but the other two will surprise you. Take a look:
Dramatics & Leadership
No stage or spectator requires better performance than your team and your customers. That’s why a growing number of executives have been looking for theater courses to reinforce their leadership ability. “What touches an audience is the same that touches a team: passionate speech”, says Nany di Lima, professional actress and teacher at FAAP, where she receives from finance executives, IT, human resources, and consultants to physicians. The goal is the same: to improve communication in order to stand out and enchant team and customers. Here are some learnings appointed by the executives to the Época Negócios magazine:
- Creativity: Even a text repeated to exhaustion has to be recreated and bring new elements to convey the feeling of novelty.
- Focus: Reconciling speech, body language and voice demands concentration from the actor / actress.
- Communication: An executive must communicate objectively and accurately every time. Improvisation gives ideas out of left field.
- Self-control: The actor / actress gets greater awareness of what he / she feels. The training gives control in time to react to a stressful situation, for example.
- Empathy: When playing a character, the actors take a different view of themselves. They put themselves in the other’s place. A strategy needed both when negotiating and bargaining.
Leadership with horses
Fernando Rolim, veterinarian and trainer, knew the technique in US, where it’s already widely used in coach processes. He explains that “The horse reacts with no filters, so you can see transparently how to interact front of the team. The feedback with the horse highlights our strengths and weaknesses”. More than 90% of human communication is nonverbal and that’s why many of us don’t remember what we have learned when using traditional teaching methods. The best way to learn is by doing, and once horses don’t speak, the only way to communicate to them is through the action:
- Horses live in groups and each one has its leader, which firms its authority, guides the group and keeps them safe. To guide a horse it’s necessary to show your role in a non-verbal and kind way and watch carefully how the animal responds.
- When a group of horses first meets, there is dispute, but when the dust settles, it’s always the horse that has saved energy that arises as leader. It can assert its authority with a simple ear twitch or nodding.
- Horses are always aware of their environment because they fully use their senses. So, spending time with horses will help you develop your ability to perceive the situation and provide guidance and clear boundaries in an environment of mutual respect and understanding.
Maria Dalva Oliveira, who teaches with Fernando Rolim, adds: “Leadership is got with respect from the others, but first of all there is the respect for the others.”
Outdoor Leadership
This three-year course offered by the University of Cumbria, UK, includes activities such as climbing, walking, kayaking, canoeing, sailing, caving, mountain biking, winter skills, bushcraft, high ropes, gorge walking and environmental education. The program brings new modules each year, which will develop the skills, knowledge and behaviors required for leaders to work in team. On the third year of the course, you can still become instructor of the class. Among the statements of students, one of them says: “Leadership and team work go hand in hand and I have found that ensuring a balance creates a great working environment. Most importantly, I have made friends for life.” And another student concludes: “I have really enjoyed my outdoor course at the University of Cumbria because of all the experiences that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. Without trying new things, such as mountain biking and caving as part of my course I wouldn’t be the person that I am now.”
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