ESCP ALUMNI magazine - Special Issue 2022 - 57

Career ❙ Report
2021. " Though it takes time to change, we
have all - more or less - evolved in the way we
exchange, " says the Knauf Insulation managing
director. He vividly remembers a duo
exercise in which the person on the horse
was blindfolded while the other person had
to guide his/her colleague. That day, one
of the bossiest members of the staff struggled
to guide his partner properly... as in
the office. " He understood that the way he
exchanged was not appropriate and he changed
it, " says Ditsch. " Since that day, he has improved
a lot as a manager. "
yawns, closes an eye or relaxes and lowers
the head, it is a calming sign, " says Arnaud
Camus, who can analyse 54 different horse
body signals. " We have raised horses for
30 years; we have watched them like boats
on a sea, and we have noticed that any time
a horse rolls on the floor, it means it is in total
confidence. "
" How can he guess who we are like
this? "
In 2019, Yann Ditsch took over as managing
director of Knauf Insulation - a company
specialised in insulation. He wanted
something new for the executive team seminar.
He wanted to " get out of the box " of the
business performance-oriented training. " I
wanted something both professionally and personally
rewarding. " So, he picked the equicoaching
academy, which seemed to be the
best option to improve his team's soft skills.
In July 2020, during the seminar in
Normandy, he and his colleagues met for
the first time after the first lockdown. They,
too, were impressed by the mirror exercise.
" We have all learnt something about ourselves, "
says Yann Ditsch. " The psychological descriptions
totally reflected our personalities. We were
all like: 'How can he guess who we are like
this?' "
It is mainly down to the horses' hypersensitivity.
" They are the mirror of our emotions.
They catch emotions we are not even aware of, "
explains Laurence Flichy who wrote a master's
thesis on equitherapy. Unlike humans,
horses do not have egos. Their reactions
are authentic and never judgmental. " No
matter if you are a man or a woman, young or
old; a horse is only interested in who you truly
are, " she adds. " And what you do will never be
ESCP Alumni Magazine Special issue ❙ 2022
❙ 57
good or bad. It will only be appropriate in the
context or not. " In other words, a horse is the
perfect coach.
Horses do not make any differences in
terms of hierarchy either. Equicoaching can
be a genuine indicator. It tells truths that are
hard to tell, it forces superiors to see pitfalls
their colleagues usually do not dare mentioning.
After the mirror exercise, Isabelle, who
managed to make a wilful mare trot, was
described as a " passionate and demanding "
manager by Arnaud Camus. She could have
a " the sky's the limit " sign on her office door.
Among several compliments, Laurence
Flichy made a comment: " You expect a lot
from the others and, sometimes, they reach
their saturation point, and you fail to notice it. "
Had she been told that in the past? No, but
the horse did. " It means I must work on it, "
confesses the managing director.
Realisation
Yann Ditsch enjoyed the experience so
much that he came back during summer
How can you describe a person honestly
when the horse sends negative signals, but
this person is your client? " Our aim is to be
benevolent, not judgemental, " says Arnaud
Camus. Since 2009, he has seen all sorts of
personalities. " We have seen violent people,
for instance. When a horse leaves or shows discontentment,
we try to make the person change
his/her attitude until the horse changes its attitude
too. "
Let's get back to the school with Isabelle's
" dream team " . After the coaches gave him
confidence, Patrick, who said he was " deeply
scared " of horses, was surprised to be able to
guide the horse at first try. " I have overcome
my fear, " he said afterwards. How did the
penny drop? " I felt the horse and I were a
team; I did not feel in danger. " Two days
later, at the end of the seminar, Patrick's
phobia was gone. He even considers the
idea of riding a horse someday.
❙
* The names are changed.
ESCP ALUMNI magazine - Special Issue 2022

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