Asking good questions to break down assumptions

By Sara Ferson & Ryan Kennelly, NRLI Class 24 Fellows

Greetings from America’s oldest (colonial) city: St. Augustine, a spooky location for our October gathering under a full moon! This was our third session in Class 24, and we focused on practicing empathic listening and asking good questions to help us recognize how our own perspectives may be influencing our understanding of an issue. These skills and topics paired well with the session’s natural resource issue of red snapper management in the Southern Atlantic.

One thing I (Ryan) have been recognizing in each of the three sessions so far, and more and more in reflection of my life outside NRLI, is that I lean heavily on my assumptions when approaching an issue. This session has opened my eyes to that practice and challenged me to check those assumptions at the door and learn techniques to listen and communicate more effectively. One main takeaway encapsulating this was “seek first to understand.” We learned that we must listen to the other person with intention and empathy to truly understand their perspective and then take action as - or if - appropriate. Utilizing empathic listening goes beyond traditional “active listening” and encourages you to really put yourself into the other person’s shoes, to be fully aware of what they are experiencing, to confirm you are understanding them, and to guess what their needs and feelings are.

A new conceptual framework to me was to give a person the physiological air they need – if they can’t even have their basic feelings, needs, experiences, and perspectives validated in the conversation, then the basic foundation of the conversation isn’t even there to support wherever it may lead. Another take-home message was to not quickly jump in with a suggested solution to their problem, especially before you even fully hear the problem. I (still Ryan) find myself guilty of this in my professional and personal life where I am often too focused on a whack-a-mole strategy of tackling the next problem so quickly that I don’t take the time to fully listen to a person’s concerns. That can lead to unsolicited advice that is irrelevant to the actual issue and counterproductive. If I slow down, listen, and seek first to understand, I may be able to help the person come to their own conclusion on how to deal with an issue, and help in some small way if needed.

All this plays hand in hand with asking good questions. Reading the person and the situation to ask open or closed questions, being open minded to hearing something you’re not in agreement with or expecting, and ordering your questions effectively can all help facilitate a more productive conversation.

That being said, how were we able to apply these lessons and skills to the red snapper panel? We tackled this by first analyzing the backgrounds of the panelists and strategizing how we wanted to ask our questions in the right way at the right time. We found it would be beneficial to first ask an open ended question such as, “What is your first memory fishing?”. This allowed us to see a little deeper into the back stories of the panelists and get an idea of their values. Not only is this type of question an easy opener to get comfortable with the panelists and vice versa, but it also helps us frame future questions after getting a sense of each panelist’s values.

We might not realize it, but our values shape much of how we act, the decisions we make, and the opinions and judgments we hold. By recognizing the values of those we are collaborating with, we can better understand their point of view. Additionally, this can facilitate decision making and avoid conflicts among several interested parties. With the red snapper panel, we identified the values important to each individual. One thing I (Sara) noticed is everyone on the panel had the shared value of the importance of the red snapper resource. However, the unique backgrounds shaped some other values as well. For example, Kai Lorenzen values sustainability and we could hear that come out in the panel when he discussed his research and the need for fishing restrictions. Jimmy Hull came into the panel with different perspectives and values compared to Kai. Jimmy’s passion is fishing and being on the water and he strongly values his fishing and seafood market/restaurant business. Unlike Kai, Jimmy has a financial stake in the red snapper fishery. Jimmy recognizes the importance of fishing sustainably while also balancing the issue of having adequate fishing access to support his business.

Including varying perspectives in natural resource issues is extremely important to understanding the complexity of it and preventing one-sided solutions that fail to take all interested groups into account. When these groups can collaborate and understand each other’s values, effective progress can be made.

In closing, let's all put this into practice this month. Take a moment to think about those we are working with to solve problems. What are their values? What is their background? What questions do we need to ask to better understand them and what can we do so they can better understand us? 

Kathleen Coates

Director, Resource Management Division, Northwest Florida Water Management Distrcit

Kathleen serves as the Director of the Resource Management Division at the Northwest Florida Water Management District. Among her responsibilities is overseeing the implementation of programs and projects to restore and protect water resources and ensuring their sustainability for the residents and communities which comprise the District’s 16-county area.

Kathleen joined the District in 2007 and has more than 25 years of water resources experience. She has an interdisciplinary background, having earned a Master of Engineering from the University of Florida and a Ph.D. in Forestry and Natural Resources from Purdue University. She is also a registered Professional Engineer. Kathleen is looking forward to applying the skills she is acquiring in the Natural Resources Leadership Institute to better lead and serve her team and to enhance collaborative relationships with local governments, utilities, and other agency partners.

When not working to improve water resources, Kathleen can be found outdoors hiking, fishing, and, especially, bird watching. She lives in Tallahassee with her fiancé Jerry, and their dogs Jumba, Marley, and Tate. 

Mike Davis

Major, SRA Regional Commander, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission

Mike began his career in 2008 after graduating from FWC's Law Enforcement Academy as part of Class 11. His first assignment was on Lake Okeechobee as an Officer before promoting to Lieutenant in North Brevard County. Mike spent 5 years as Lt and promoted to Captain in the Northeast region later transferring back home to the inland Captain position over Glades, Hendry, and Western Palm Beach and Martin counties. In his current position as FWC's South Alpha Regional Commander, Mike oversees law enforcement operations throughout southeast Florida. He's responsible for approximately 120 members that cover multiple disciplines, including uniform patrol, undercover investigations, critical incident investigations, K9, the off-shore patrol program, and other administrative assets and functions.

In his off time Mike enjoys spending time with his family camping and hunting and building memories every chance they get.  

Heather Nagy

Strategic Conservation Planning Coordinator, North Florida Land Trust

Heather Nagy has been with the North Florida Land Trust (NFLT) for four years and currently serves as the Strategic Conservation Planning Coordinator. In this role, Heather conducts GIS analyses to determine high priority conservation areas within the NFLT region. She also works with NFLT’s conservation partners at the local and landscape level to assist them with identifying and achieving their conservation goals. Currently, Heather is leading the development of the South Atlantic Salt Marsh Initiative’s (SASMI) “Florida State Implementation Team”. This diverse coalition of partners will work together to protect and restore salt marsh and marsh migration corridors along Florida’s Atlantic Coast.

Heather is a native Floridian and grew up in the Tampa Bay area. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida, and her Master of Environmental Management degree and certificate in geographic information systems (GIS) from Duke University. For her master’s project, Nagy researched lemur habitat in a national park in Madagascar and developed a GIS-based model of forest loss to help guide future conservation projects in the area.

In her spare time, Heather enjoys traveling, hiking in Florida and the Appalachian mountains, snowboarding and photography. 

Samantha Barquin Chief of Staff, Miami Waterkeeper

Kathleen Coates Division Director, Northwest Florida Management District

Jason Daniel Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida

Mike Davis Captain, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission

Sara Ferson Professional Engineer, Suwannee River Water Management District

John Hall President, Deeper Roots Leadership Solutions

Ryan Kennelly Sr. Environmental Specialist, Alachua County Environmental Protection Dept

Mike McMunigal Strategic Planning Basin Coordinator, St Johns River Water Mgmt District

Brendan Myers Regulatory Biologist, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Heather Nagy Strategic Conservation Planning Coordinator, North Florida Land Trust

Heather Obara Associate Director, Alachua Conservation Trust

Jyoti Parmar Organizing Representative, Sierra Club of Florida

Geoffrey Patterson Director of Agricultural Policy, Florida Farm Bureau Federation

Jessica Quiggle Assistant Deputy General Counsel, St Johns River Water Mgmt District 

Tom Reinert Regional Director, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission

Holley Short Shorebird Program Manager, Audubon Florida

Tessa Skiles Owner & Underwater Cinematographer, Karst Productions

Ashley Smyth Asst Professor & State Extension Specialist, UF/IFAS TREC

Danielle Terrell Asst Director of Central Operations, Division of Recreation & Parks, FDEP

Amanda Thompson CCI Training & Education Coordinator, The Nature Conservancy

Jacob Thompson Biologist, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Delsina Trigoura Environmental Specialist, Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida

Marnie Ward Extension Agent II, UF/IFAS Extension Citrus County

Debra Woithe Environmental Lands Division Manager, Manatee County

Natural Resources Leadership Institute

352.294.7643

jpeskin@nrli.ufl.edu

nrli.ifas.ufl.edu