Commentary
Don’t let the cowboy hat and big beard fool you. Ashley Nicholls is an Australian turned Canadian and 2026 Nuffield Scholar <Link>. He says the ways we’ve learned to work with animals may be the missing framework for team cohesion and communication. The concept of low-stress people handling Nicholls promotes is based on the work of Temple Grandin, a renowned animal science professor, applied to managing people and teams.
In barns (stables, kennels, clinics), we know better than to storm in loudly where 93 percent of what we’re doing is completely non-verbal, shares Nicholls. The same applies to spaces with coworkers.
Source: Bovine Veterinarian, March 2, 2026. Link. “Employees. Team members. Colleagues. They have blind spots. They have a flight zone. They hide pain. And at the end of the day, their priority is survival — it’s just workplace survival,” says Nicholls.
If we’re willing to treat <animals> with patience, intentional movement and respect for their stress thresholds, why wouldn’t we treat our teams the same way?”
Also see: Low-stress people handling, YouTube, The Beef Podcast Show. Link. [30:08]
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