times with the vet and farrier. While focusing on your role as a riding instructor, the following information provides a general outline for negotiation strategy.
One-Sided Solutions are Never Successful
Don’t Avoid Conflict, Negotiate It! By Christine Olsen
I
t is virtually impossible for an individual to live their life conflictfree. Conflicts vary in sizes and styles, and the way people handle them vary even more. Reasons why conflicts become damaging to a relationship is not only because of content but also from destructive conflict management styles. Every relationship encounters conflict. As riding instructors, conflicts may arise between our students, boarders, barn staff, other instructors, farriers, veterinarians, show personnel, and various vendors. It is essential to manage these conflicts
constructively in order to maintain positive relationships.
You Already Have Experience The good news is, you are already well experienced. You have negotiated with your family on what you will have for dinner. You have negotiated the price of a car, loan payments, and directions on the best way to get to a destination. As a horse professional, you have most likely negotiated the price of a horse, a rental or purchase agreement on a stable, show dates with your students, or scheduling
The most successful negotiator will not look at the two sides as winners and losers, but rather as teammates, working together to achieve a uniting goal. Both sides must come into agreement for both to be winners. You are already aware how essential it is for a horse and rider to get along with one another in order to achieve success. This must also be true for the relationship between instructor and student. A successful relationship is not dependent on the personality types and friendship in this case, but rather if both sides are able to communicate openly and honestly without retribution. In this relationship there is no room for strong or weak sides. It is a common perception that riding instructors and trainers are superior while their students are inferior. With this imbalance, students will always be at a disadvantage when it comes to negotiations and will never feel satisfied. Always remember to set your ego aside and strive for an equal partnership with your student. Happy customers at the end of the day are better customers. They will attract the right students that you want to fill your barn. On the flip side, some instructors feel like they need to give their services away
Conflict
A student notifies her riding instructor that her schedule at work has changed and she must also change her lesson time she has kept for several years. She requests moving her time from Wednesday nights at 6 to Tuesday night at 6. The instructor only teaches children on Tuesday nights and has no availability for the rider at that time.
One sided
The instructor yields in an effort to make the client happy and adjust her Tuesday schedule to have the rider come in at her desired time.
One sided
The instructor refuses to move her lesson time, telling her student that she can bring her riding clothes to work and she can make it to the barn in time for her lesson. For goodness sake, can’t her husband make dinner for once?
Both parties
While Tuesday at 6 is currently unavailable, there is some availability on Thursday night and some times available on the weekend. When the student started considering these options she thought about her Saturday schedule and imagined herself being more relaxed and less pressed for time. Together they made the decision to move her lesson time to Saturdays at 2.
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Summer 2020 | Riding Instructor
