For the past two years, Kroger has partnered with UNC to provide a two-week leadership development experience for approximately 90 of our district and regional managers. TeachingHorse has been, by far, one of the most unexpectedly impactful parts of the program. I must say, when it was first presented to me that we would be taking this high-level, often skeptical group of leaders to an equestrian farm to work with horses, a few questions came to mind, like: Will our people take this experience seriously? What do horses have to do with how people work? How will this experience provide insights that are applicable to their roles? I, personally, do not have a lot of experience with and am afraid of most animals, so my initial hesitation was not only from a business impact perspective, but also from a place of fear. For me, this added an additional layer of skepticism that our team or I would get anything out of the experience. But, after my first meeting with June and her team from TeachingHorse, I completely understood why they were selected to be a part of our program. The team explained the background and expected outcomes and walked us through the process in a way that put me at ease. June encouraged me throughout the various exercises when she could sense my fears were getting the best of me. June did a great job of making the experience personal and impactful. The approach of working with others through the eyes of horses is just short of genius when you think about it. Understanding how roles emerge within a herd and the impact of attention, direction, energy, and congruence on creating confidence in others really spoke to our company and our leaders. Knowing that how we work currently isn’t getting the results we need, our leaders welcomed this new perspective on the role they play in achieving results with others, especially in times of uncertainty. I would recommend this experience to any organization going through change or driving connections in the ever-changing needs of the company, its customers, and workforce.
SHANTAVIA WEBB Manager Kroger Leadership Academy The Kroger Company
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