Active and engaged listening is a super power when it comes to having difficult conversations - this is what Ashley and Morgan learned while sitting down with Vance Crowe at the Virginia Farm Bureau Young Farmers Winter Expo.

Vance's introduction to agriculture was an interesting one: he is the former Director of Millennial Engagement for Monsanto. His primary role was to address complaints and questions about controversial topics like GMO's and pesticides. In this podcast, he shares that often being curious about someone's perspective helped cool down conflict to eventually find common ground. Storytelling is one way people can connect and find belonging. He's leveraged that curiosity and the art of asking the right question into his own business, Legacy interviews. He privately records individuals and couples to give future generations the opportunity to know - and learn from - their family history.

How does this relate to a young farmer? We have difficult conversations all the time - whether its with our spouse as we are analyzing what to do next with our farm business, talking through a family farm transition plan, or even just problem solving with our boss (on or off the farm). Asking the "right" question could make a huge difference in the outcome of those conversations.

On this episode, Vance gives our audience real-world examples of how asking non-confrontational questions can build trust over time. He outlines listening pitfalls we should avoid in order to be better engaged.  He gives tips on how to communicate through conflict and how to (literally) sketch out a problem in order to solve it.

If you've been looking for a way to build your listening and communication skills with the people closest to you, you've got to tune into this episode.

An added bonus: you'll hear the best blind date story ever!

Check out more content by Vance by checking out The Vance Crowe Podcast.

This episode pairs perfectly with the Farm Farm Succession episode with Dick Wittman. Check it out here, if you haven't already.

Share your thoughts on our social media at vafbyoungfarmers or email us at vayoungfarmerspodcast@gmail.com