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At Dunes Lakes Lodge we use our experience with horses to provide you
with a unique corporate team building solution.
Absolutely no previous horse handling experience or riding skills are necessary to participate.
Horse's are acutely perceptive, totally honest and have no hidden agendas. From a horse's viewpoint - your status in the business world is of no consequence.
With horses on your team, you can feel totally free to participate to the fullest. Your equine teammates can very accurately sense your level of trust, confidence, awareness and interpersonal skills.
Horses offer us opportunities to learn what we need to change, in order to succeed in our personal and professional lives.
This experiential offering provides memorable takeaways with learning that can be tailored to differing needs.
These may include:
- emotional awareness and competency
- leadership know how
- relationship building
- team work practices
- effective communication
- problem solving strategies
- giving and receiving feedback
FEEDBACK
"I had hoped to get my team away to relax and to do something different as a group. They, like me, had been through the trips to Waiheke and been up and down ropes on numerous occasions in the name of team building - enough is enough!!!
Dune Lakes Lodge offered an equine experience that was completely different - having a group of 'townies' out there interacting with - relating to and moving around 600kg animals was an amazing experience for the group - descriptors such as 'wow', 'fantastic', 'lovely' can still be heard in their conversations with their peers.
I personally appreciated your flexibility when trying to tailor the day to what I had hoped for, and being able to cater to different levels of confidence and adventure. I think this was reflected in the feedback form we completed that came back as a 9/10 experience!!!
As their manager, I'm really glad to have taken the time to find an exciting new adventure for the team, and thank you again for your professionalism and warmth that created a great experience for all. I think you have a gem here for others to tap into and I'm happy to talk with them if they wish to hear firsthand of our corporate experience."
One task involves entering a round-pen with an unknown horse and leaving with one that has connected with you. An awareness of the implications of body language between you and the horse, invokes a realisation that subtle energies - combined with focus and the timing of interactions - apply to relationships in your everyday working world. The experience may prove deeply thought provoking.
Take for example a team that has problems working together. When the group is not successfully working together to accomplish a task with the horse, the horse will respond in ways that might thwart the group’s efforts and clearly display areas for improvement. The facilitator will interpret the actions of the horse as indicators to the participants that they are not in control of the situation and are not working together as a team - with the horse being the integral team member.
The behavior of the participants is reflected in the behavior of the horse. A positive change in participant behavior brings positive changes in equine behavior.
We usually find that the way in which our clients interact and react with the horses is very similar to the way they interact and react with their customers, peers, or other work groups as well as their own families!
- Nathan Searle - Process Improvement Manager - FONTERRA
Within the framework of horse-focused tasks the team draws on high levels of group co-operation. A challenging assignment is put to the team and can include:
- interpreting objective
- formulating an action plan
- communication, both verbal & non verbal
- active listening
- processing the content and passing on the information and then acting on it whilst under pressure
Frustration, foibles and fun are part of the process -both successes and failures lead to greater awareness of your employees' strengths and weaknesses. Discover the dynamics at play in your team today! |
