The TEC Talk Podcast: Presented by Natural Encounters, Inc.
212 episodes - English - Latest episode: 16 days ago -Join co-hosts Chris and Ari for a discussion of animal training, behavior, human-animal relationships, and all things NEI-TEC (the Natural Encounters Inc Training and Education Center), and featuring guests from the NEI team and around the professional animal care world! Email us at [email protected] if you have a question or something you'd like us to discuss on the show!
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Episodes
Episode 207: A New Model for Ambassador Animal Welfare (with Steve Martin)
April 04, 2024 09:00 - 47 minutes - 31.8 MBAri and Chris welcome back NEI President and CEO, Steve Martin, back to the show to talk about his recently published journal aritcle, "A Reexamination of the Relationship between Training Practices and Welfare in the Management of Ambassador Animals"! Steve talks about how the article came about, the steep learning curve involved in the ins and outs of creating a peer-reviewed document, the revisions we went through for over a year to get to the final product, and what he hopes the professi...
Episode 206: So...Are We Promoting Rob Parson Or Not???
March 28, 2024 09:00 - 34 minutes - 26.1 MBCourtesy of the fine folks at the HBR on Leadership Podcast from Harvard Business Review, Chris brings a challenge for discussion to the table: what do you do when a top performer on your team that is up for promotion is also known for treating their collegues badly? We share the ins of outs of the case study "Rob Parson at Morgan Stanley" to reflect on the challenges leaders face when promoting - or not promoting - a controversial member of their team, and what they can do to both mitigate...
Episode 205: Magical Moments Over Breadsticks (2024 Podcast Summit with Jon Rossi and Elizabeth Johnson)
March 21, 2024 09:00 - 1 hour - 79.4 MBZoo podcasters of the world, unite again! Join Chris on his "exciting first date" with Jon Rossi of the Rossifari Podcast and Elizabeth Johnson of the Mothering Wildlife Podcast to discuss the ins and outs of our shows! With Jon as host and ringleader, we talk about why our shows got started, how they've evolved over time, what we've learned about our audiences, how "the sausage gets made" in the recording and editing process, and our favorite experiences as animal people talking into microp...
Episode 204: Coaching for Coaches Who Coach Coaches
March 14, 2024 09:00 - 43 minutes - 35.5 MBAri has feedback on the brain - shout out to The Sea Stories Podcast (Apple Podcasts | Spotify) - so she sits down with Chris to talk about the ins of and out of how it applies to coaching people on how to coach others. We discuss the difference between coaching coaches you work with versus coaching coaches you've just met, when and how to offer feedback during a coaching session you're not in charge of, and the best advice we would give someone brand new to coaching other people. Coaching! ...
Episode 203: We 'People' All Day Long (with Kaitlyn Bohnet and BJ Rice from North Sky Raptor Sanctuary)
March 07, 2024 10:00 - 43 minutes - 24.3 MBThe TEC Talk Podcast is proud to welcome Kaitlyn Bohnet and BJ Rice from North Sky Raptor Sanctuary to the show! We chat with Kaitlyn and BJ about how they got involved with their current roles, their team's epic track suits that stole the show at the IAATE Icebreaker, why it's a strength to come to the animal field later in life with different skill sets, the importance of not being "gatekeep-y", why retail experience makes you a better person, and the joy of having the privledge of helping...
Episode 202: Fly-Offs and Shutdowns and Evals, Oh My!
February 29, 2024 10:00 - 35 minutes - 21.4 MBChris sits still while Ari flies down the road in order to talk about a wild week at That Theme Park show that started with an epic flyoff and rolled right into a new show experience AND a new staff evaluation process - just a Totally Normal Week Where Nothing Remarkable Happened. :-) If you have a suggestion for a question, topic, or guest you'd like to hear on a future episode of the show, let us know at [email protected]! --------------------------------- The TEC Talk Po...
Episode 201: They Understood the Assignment (Recap of the 2024 IAATE Annual Conference)
February 23, 2024 01:29 - 32 minutes - 18.6 MBAri is back in Florida to regale Chris with tales from the 2024 IAATE Annual Conference in Eugene, Oregon! If you have a suggestion for a question, topic, or guest you'd like to hear on a future episode of the show, let us know at [email protected]! --------------------------------- The TEC Talk Podcast is proud to be sponsored by Audible.com! To support the show and get a free 30-day trial of everything Audible has to offer, visit http://www.audibletrial.com/tectalk- thank...
Episode 200: Thanks For Nothing, Spain! (with the NEI Podcast-iversary Super Group)
February 15, 2024 10:00 - 50 minutes - 29.4 MB200 episodes, how is that possible! Ari and Chris are joined by land and by sea by Steve Martin, Amy Fennell, Scott Trauger, Cori Dawson, Brad Moore, Michael Van Horne, Adam Geltz, Shayna Gruman, Natalie Sunray, Hunter Peck, and Kevin O'Brien to celebrate a very special podcast-iversary! We share some of out favorite episodes, memorable moments, and wishes for the future of show - thank you all for an amazing 4 years, and here's to another 200! If you have a suggestion for a question, topi...
Episode 199: Balancing Wellbeing for Animals (with Margaret Rousser)
February 08, 2024 10:00 - 54 minutes - 29.3 MBFor our final show before we pass the 200 episode mark (wow!), Ari and Chris are joined by Margaret Rousser, former Conservation Manager at Oakland Zoo (and all-the-time awesome advocate for animals), to talk about the legacy of her groundbreaking talk, "Making Time for Psychological Wellbeing"! Margaret talks about her path through the animal care field (turns out she and Ari have some shared work history in more ways than one) before digging into the history behind her conference presentat...
Episode 198: Neurodivergence in the Animal Field (with Aaron Rose)
February 01, 2024 10:00 - 57 minutes - 31.2 MBChris is at the Ranch for our Professional Contemporary Animal Training and Management Workshop, so Ari is hosting alongside a very special returning guest, NEI's own Aaron Rose! Aaron and Ari talk about how to navigate the animal care field when you are neurodivergent. Aaron shares his personal expereince with ADHD, along with his tools and tips for others in the field. They chat about reasonable accommodations for neurodivergent staff and how coworkers and leadership can help support them ...
Episode 197: Show Day with the Next Generation
January 25, 2024 10:00 - 51 minutes - 39.5 MBChris and Ari discuss their day with the visiting students of Drake University's Animal Behavior Program and Sante Fe Community College's Zoo Technology Program before answering some questions from r/Zookeeping, the subreddit dedicated to folks interested in the professional animal care field! If you have a suggestion for a question, topic, or guest you'd like to hear on a future episode of the show, let us know at [email protected]! --------------------------------- The TE...
Episode 196: 3-2-1...Ambush!
January 19, 2024 01:36 - 40 minutes - 32.3 MBChris gives Ari some "daywork" by challenging her to follow the format of the "3-2-1 Thursday" weekly newsletter from James Clear, author of Atomic Habits (a great book that Chris reviewed in Episode 177) and come up with the following to share with our listeners: three short ideas, two quotes from other people, and one question for ponder for the week. If you have a suggestion for a question, topic, or guest you'd like to hear on a future episode of the show, let us know at podcast@natura...
Episode 195: Surprise Pocket Walnuts, and Other Ways to Connect (TEC Talk Takeover with Lucy Rutt and Adam Geltz)
January 11, 2024 10:00 - 1 hour - 34 MBFor this week's episode of the show, forget about Chris and Ari: tune in for the Adam and Lucy Takeover! Our special guest hosts discuss what makes a good mentor, admirable leadership qualities, how to get into leadership, and the importance of enjoying what we do! Whether you have the title of "leader" or not, they touch on how everyone can have a bigger impact on team growth than you might imagine! If you'd like to hear more guest-hosted shows, or have a suggestion for a question, topic,...
Episode 194: Setting S.M.A.R.T. Goals for 2024
January 04, 2024 10:00 - 28 minutes - 17.1 MBHello, 2024! You are 4 days old and full of hope, and will be using you as an opportunity to make New Year's Resolutions. If you find yourself in this boat, Ari shares a few ideas in this episode to help you on a path to succeed at whatever goal you set for yourself through the use of positive reinforcement. And hey, Chris jumps in with some thoughts too! We wish everyone a healthy and happy year ahead filled with accomplished goals! You can do it, because you're awesome! Reference: CBT ...
Episode 193: Bye Bye, 2023! (TEC Talk Throwback featuring The End of 2020)
December 28, 2023 18:42 - 58 minutes - 46.3 MBAri and Chris wrap up the year by sharing how our holidays have gone so far and looking back at how we ended the first year of our show: 2020 (aka "The Year That Nothing Big or Interesting or Weird or Devastating Happened). We hope everyone had a good 2023 and we look forward to being back for more fun in 2024! If you have a suggestion for a question, topic, or guest you'd like to hear on a future episode of the show, let us know at [email protected]! ------------------------...
Episode 192: A "Dichotomous Key" for Control Inputs and Welfare Outputs
December 21, 2023 10:00 - 54 minutes - 42.1 MBAri and Chris are back in the office to discuss the following question that Chris posed on the ABMA Community online forum: does more control in an animal's life equal objectively better welfare?Joins us as we explore what one might generously call a dichotomous key (does it count if each question only has one answer?) to dive into the relationship between welfare inputs and behavioral outputs, the cognative dissonance that can result from seeing "a better way," the importance of celebrating...
Episode 191: Kreepin' on ZooKreepers (From Two Continents!)
December 14, 2023 10:15 - 41 minutes - 25.5 MBAri is in Florida and Chris is in Austria, but through the magic of editing they chat "together but apart" about the NEI holiday party and some challenges we're having with our pets before tackling a few questions Ari pulled off the Facebook ZooKreepers group. Thanks for listening, join us again next week when we're both on the same continent! If you have a suggest for something you'd like us to talk about, feedback you'd like to share, or an idea for someone you'd like to see by a future ...
Episode 190: Give Them the Tools, Don't Be the Tool! (with Tim Sullivan)
December 07, 2023 10:00 - 50 minutes - 27.6 MBOn this episode, Ari chats with Tim Sullivan (Director of Behavioral Husbandry at Chicago Zoological Society's Brookfield Zoo) about how to grow great keepers and animal care staff into great leaders. They discuss "that sticky spot" when your peers become your direct reports, how to manage expectations by doing some introspection, and examining what you can control, as well as Tim's experience with "rescuer syndrome" and how he's worked to help others without being the one to fix their probl...
Episode 189: It's Almost Like Repetition Builds Confidence... (with Amy Fennell)
November 30, 2023 10:00 - 57 minutes - 31.2 MBAri and Chris are back together and joined by NEI Supervisor of Humaning Amy Fennell! In this wide ranging conversation we talk about the challenge of moving a team of human and animal learners to a new city, the dangers of forgetting to take care of yourself when you're trying to take care of others, the importance of finding the right fit in coaching and therapy, and the challenge of normalizing conversations about things that a lifetime of experiences have told us not to talk about. A gre...
Episode 188: Traditions (with the Team from Winged Encounters)
November 23, 2023 08:51 - 38 minutes - 21.9 MBWith Chris avoiding microphones for the time being (thanks, strange upper respiratory infection from the other side of the planet), Ari catches up with Katelyn Ferringer, Lizzi Fricker, Keegan Freese, and Cori Dawson from the Winged Encounters team! The gang sit down on Turkey Day Eve to revisit the progress that's been made with the young macaws they've worked to integrate into their show flocks at "that theme park" (last discussed on Episode 111, for those keeping score), to share their ex...
Episode 187: Humaning Revisited? Sweet As! (TEC Talk Throwback featuring Amy Fennell)
November 16, 2023 09:38 - 1 hour - 80.2 MBAri and Chris play a bit of catch up on our lives at opposite sides of planet Earth, describing their past few weeks and individual experiences with New Zealand's Bird of the Century vote (aka "The Pūteke Situation") before throwing things back for a replay of an older episode about trust accounts, relationships, and communication featuring NEI Supervisor Amy Fennell! Wish Ari luck back home helping to keep things running smoothly in Florida! Wish Chris luck in being allowed to come bac...
Episode 186: Enriched Experiences (with Nicki Boyd)
November 09, 2023 09:00 - 48 minutes - 29.2 MBChris and Ari are joined by San Diego Zoo's Curator of Mammals, Ambassadors, and Applied Behavior, Nicki Boyd! We asked Nicki to join to tell us all about the zoo's "Enriched Experiences" program that's taking environmental enrichment to a whole new level! She shares how brainstorming around desired behavioral outputs allowed her teams to "replace the pace" and "outplay the sway," how an analysis of natural history can help create experiences that can last for days in a habitat (it's more th...
Episode 185: When the People Lead, the Leaders Follow (with Ron Magill)
November 02, 2023 08:42 - 42 minutes - 25.5 MBRon Magill returns to the podcast this week to chat about walking the talk when it comes to conservation efforts! The Florida Bonneted Bat is a critically endangered native Florida species of bat that is only found in a handful of places in South Florida, and one of the largest populations live in the Pine Rockland habitat directly adjacent to Zoo Miami. Currently, developers are pushing to put a water park in a vital space next to this important habitat, and if plans go through this will ha...
Episode 184: Putting Rungs on Your Ladder (with Tim Sullivan)
October 26, 2023 09:00 - 1 hour - 38.3 MBFresh off his visit to NEI for AZA's Animal Training Applications course, Ari and Chris are joined by Tim Sullivan, Director of Behavioral Husbandry at Chicago Zoological Society's Brookfield Zoo! Tim talks about his journey from being a "17 year old punk" to a member of zoo leadership, the important of "getting the $#%@ out of Brookfield" to learn from other institutions, balancing the role of the employee and the role of the employer in professional development, learning that training huma...
Episode 183: Q & A with Santa Fe! (Live from the Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo's Field Trip to NEI)
October 19, 2023 09:00 - 59 minutes - 34.7 MBChris and Ari are joined by fellow NEI-ers Clarie Santiago (Ranch Supervisor), DonnaSue Evans (Chief Human Resources Officer), and Amy Fennell (Supervisor of Training) for a Q & A panel as part of Santa Fe College's field trip to the Ranch for students of their Zoo Animal Technology Program. We tackle questions about degree requirements, the best places to get specific experience, how our schedules work, our most challenging bird training projects, and our hopes for the future of zoos. A gre...
Episode 182: The "P" Stands for "Applications" (with Tim Van Loan)
October 12, 2023 09:00 - 34 minutes - 18.7 MBIt's an NEI reunion as Ari and Chris are joined once more on the show by Tim Van Loan! Tim talks about his new role as Curator of Animal Well-being and Behavior at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens, and we chat about what each of us have been doing during our week at the Ranch as NEI hosts the AZA's Animal Training Applications (ATA) and Managing Animal Enrichment and Training Programs (MAETP) professional development courses. So many great experiences, so many great stories, so many acronym...
Episode 181: Life is Life-ing Really Hard This Week
October 05, 2023 09:00 - 27 minutes - 15.1 MBChris is joined this week by his thoughts on the long drive home from the Ranch to chat about the ABMA Midyear Board Meeting, the Great Mews Project of 2023, his awe-inspiring co-workers, and 3 recommended episodes of the podcast "WorkLife with Adam Grant" (which I totally know is the name of that show). Have a question for us? A topic you think we should talk about? A suggestion for a way we should change things up in the future? By all means, let us know at [email protected]!...
Episode 180: Catching Up With Old Friends, Stepping Up With New Harpies (with Steve Martin)
September 28, 2023 09:00 - 31 minutes - 17.7 MBFresh off the plane from the other side of the Atlantic, it's the return of NEI President and CEO Steve Martin! Chris and Steve sit down to chat about Steve's visit to IAATE's 2023 UK Symposium (can't wait to give our hawks some biscuits!), some cool new training going on with a young harpy eagle at the Ranch, and our excitement about hosting the upcoming AZA Animal Training Applications in Zoo and Aquarium Settings and Managing Animal Enrichment and Training Programs courses. Too! Many! Fun...
Episode 179: "ChoiceNControl" for the Human Animal
September 21, 2023 19:41 - 56 minutes - 42.7 MBAri and Chris chat about our field's favorite term that's not actually a word - Choice and Control! They discuss what they are, how they're related, and what they mean for animal care before digging into what they mean when applied to the humans that work on our teams. So many great things to dig into here - learned helplessness, the illusion of choice, the problem with "over-democratizing decisions," and communicating expectations are just some of the many fun things we touch on - turns out...
Episode 178: DIY, AZA, and Other Paths to Leadership (with Misha Body and Dr Taylor Gilley at the 2023 AZA Annual Conference)
September 14, 2023 09:00 - 45 minutes - 26.9 MBChris is at the 2023 AZA Annual Conferece in Columbus, OH, and continues his collection of "PDC Podcast People" by chatting with Misha Body and Dr Taylor Gilley! They've both had fascinating paths through the animal care field and are both committed to helping to grow the zoo and aquarium leaders of today and tomorrow - I have a feeling it won't be the last time we have either of them on the show! For more information about what these amazing folks do, you can reach out to them at hello@mi...
Episode 177: Habits (of the Atomic Variety)
September 07, 2023 19:13 - 37 minutes - 21.7 MBWith our backstage painting project complete, Ari and Chris discuss the excellent book Atomic Habits by James Clear! Have a question, topic, or suggested guest for the show? Let us know at [email protected]! --------------------------------- The TEC Talk Podcast is proud to be sponsored by Audible.com! To support the show and get a free 30-day trial of everything Audible has to offer, visit http://www.audibletrial.com/tectalk- thanks Audible!
Episode 176: Hurricanes, USDA, Abraham Lincoln, and You
August 31, 2023 10:46 - 34 minutes - 34.4 MBWith much of Florida dealing with a very unwelcome out-of-state guest named Idalia, Chris and Ari take some time to talk about NEI's prepartions for being licensed and inspected by the USDA for the first time. We talk about the history of the organization (happy 150th birthday, USDA!), the new relationship the organization has with bird facilities like ours, and the ins and outs of all the USDA-related projects we're taking on across our 3 locations. Have a question you'd like us to answe...
Episode 175: Be a Pelican, Not a Pelican't (with Greg Peccie)
August 24, 2023 09:00 - 1 hour - 44 MBWith Ari in Minnesota hanging out with a certain cool bird show crew, Chris is pleased to welcome back Greg Peccie, Director of Animal Health and Welfare at Riverbanks Zoo! Building on our conversation from when Greg was last on the show (Episode 95, for those keeping score), we dive into the challenge of hiring, retaining, and developing people at a time when our industry is undergoing a lot of change. We discuss navigating the modern job application and interview process, the importance of...
Episode 174: Minnesota Nice (with the Minnesota Zoo World of Birds Show Crew)
August 17, 2023 09:30 - 48 minutes - 35.2 MBChris and Ari are melting in Central Florida, but luckily they're joined by some very cool people in a much cooler climate - Dan Blair, Meg Meyer, Kayla Rowand, Brianna Thorson, and Laurel Mochinski (along with special guest start Cori Dawson) from Minnesota Zoo's World of Birds Show (Presented by Wings Financial)! We get to discuss the team's experience booting up a brand new show from scratch, Laurel's history with the bird show dating back to when it was run by some guy named Steve Martin...
Episode 173: Butterflies, Immediate Butterflies (with Shayna Gruman)
August 10, 2023 08:00 - 45 minutes - 33.1 MBWith Ari taking some much-deserved vacation, Chris is joined by NEI's own Shayna Gruman! For the week of Shay's one-year work anniversary we talk about her history in the field, how the job has lived up to the expectations she had before meeting and working alongside us while still in the Moorpark Exotic Animal Training and Management program, what she's learned at our facilties in Florida and at her current gig at our show at Roger Williams Park Zoo in Rhode Island, and what she feels she's...
Episode 172: Final Thoughts on Conversing Crucially (Crucial Conversations Chapters 10-12)
August 03, 2023 11:23 - 40 minutes - 41.9 MBWe finally finished our homework! Ari and Chris sit down for the fourth and final episode of their TEC Talk Book Club to discussion of Crucial Conversations: Chapter 10: Putting it All Together: Tools for Preparing and Learning Chapter 11: Yeah, But...: Advice for Tough Cases Chapter 12: Change Your Life: How to Turn Ideas into Habits If you've joined us on our maiden voyage of the TEC Talk Book Club, let us know what you've thought about it! If you have any feedback for us, for the ...
Episode 171: Wait, Who Shot the Dog First? (The Ten Laws of Shaping, Part 3)
July 27, 2023 08:00 - 52 minutes - 50.8 MBAri and Chris are back in their office to finish off their incredibly-surface-level review of The Ten Laws of Shaping from Karen Pryor's Don't Shoot the Dog! In our wrap-up episode for this topic we realize that we don't know who first "shot the dog," we don't remember when we talked about "ending on a good note" (but we're pretty sure we did), and we don't know where our old copies of the book are and exactly how they differ from the one we're using now. Hey, we're being vulnerable, ok?!!? ...
Episode 170: Be Careful How You Spend Your Equats! (with Shareen Knowlton and Jen Rudolph)
July 21, 2023 02:55 - 37 minutes - 24.3 MBWith Ari away at the IAATE midyear meeting, Chris takes advantage of some time at the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island, to chat with a few amazing folks, Director of Education Shareen Knowlton and Manager of Ambassador Animals Jen Rudolph! We learn a bit about Shareen and Jen's paths through the field, the advatanges of starting in the field "late", the importance of eliminating the "siloing" of teams in a facilty, the influence of Brené Brown, and the value of knowing how...
Episode 169: Employee of the Month, EVERY MONTH! (with Erik Montgomery)
July 13, 2023 13:23 - 48 minutes - 35.1 MBWith Chris somewhere in Europe again (we think) Ari sits down with Erik Montgomery, Director of Operations for the Natural Encounters Conservation Fund, to chat all things NECF! Erik and Ari tak about NECF's work donating 100% of the funds they collect to various in situ conservaton programs that really need it, benefitting everything from lions and vultures to pangolins and gharials, what those three R's in the chasing arrow recycling symbol really mean, and how mining for sand on the other...
Episode 168: "The Asian Chick in the Back of the Room" (with Jennie Janssen)
July 06, 2023 12:06 - 1 hour - 38.2 MBAri and Chris are excited to be joined by Jennie Janssen, Assistant Curator at National Aquarium and President and Co-Founder of Minorities in Aquarium and Zoo Science (MIAZS)! Jennie shares her history in the aquarium industry, how a case of mistaken identity helped reinforce a lack of diversity in the field, and how her non-profit is providing a resource for people at all levels to help make the professional animal care world a more open, inviting, and equitable place for everyone. To f...
Episode 167: As Always, "It Depends" (The Ten Laws of Shaping, Part 2)
June 29, 2023 08:00 - 32 minutes - 32.9 MBChris and Ari return to Karen Pryor's Don't Shoot the Dog! to discuss another batch of guidelines from her "Ten Laws of Shaping"! Solid advice all around, with the added spice of some thoughts on where and when folks might want to consider veering away from them when it's in the best interest of the animal, the session, or the project. For this second go around, we discuss Laws 4-7: When introducing a new criterion, temporarily relax the old ones. Stay ahead of your subject: Plan yo...
Episode 166: Animal Podcasters of the World Unite (with Dr Grey Stafford, Ryan Cartlidge, and Shane Gorbett)
June 22, 2023 08:00 - 1 hour - 71.6 MBWhat's better than an animal training and behavior podcast? FOUR OF THEM ALL AT THE SAME TIME! Chris and Ari fulfill a longtime dream and bring together the hosts of the TEC Talk Podcast, the Zoo Logic Podcast, the Animal Training Academy Podcast Show, and Animal Behavior Conversations (The Podcast of the ABMA) into one giant supercast! We sit down with Dr Grey Stafford, Ryan Cartlidge, and Shane Gorbett to talk about why we started our shows, the challenges with organizing, booking, and r...
Episode 165: Once Upon A Time in Rhode Island (with Sean Hoelle, Kassidy King, and Morgan Lopes)
June 15, 2023 05:00 - 57 minutes - 42.7 MBChris is MIA (still in America, just lost his voice) but Ari soldiers on with the help of Sean Hoelle, Kassidy King, and Morgan Lopes, part of the staff of NEI's "Rhode Show" at Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island! The crew chat about how the show has been going, building new relationships at a new facility, and being TikTok famous after an epic flyoff. We also learn some things that are uniquely Rhode Island, because this may be the smallest state but it definitely has some ...
Episode 164: Staying Constructive in an Evolving Animal Field (with Lizzi Fricker)
June 08, 2023 15:21 - 48 minutes - 33.4 MBChris has the plague! But don't worry, he is resting at home and Ari is joined this week by NEI trainer Lizzi Fricker (which is definitely her last name, as we learn during this episode). They chat about how Lizzi started in the field, the culture shift that is occuring for zoo professionals industry-wide, how to communicate at high levels with your team when we aren't taught that important skill, moving beyond an "us against them" mentality to get to a solution-oriented level of professiona...
Episode 163: How is "DRSA" Not a Thing? (The Ten Laws of Shaping, Part 1)
June 01, 2023 08:00 - 35 minutes - 35.7 MBAri and Chris reconvene in their office to discuss Don't Shoot the Dog's Ten Laws of Shaping! Having not read the book in years, we were interested to look at Karen Pryor's ten suggestions for successful shaping through the filter of our current training practices and understanding of the science of behavior change. Because we can talk forever about this stuff we only get through the first 3, so this is the first episode in a new TEC Talk mini-series - how fun is that? (Also, we're making ...
Episode 162: Disaster Response (with ZDR3's Julia Wagner)
May 25, 2023 08:14 - 51 minutes - 37.8 MBAri hosts while Chris is stuck on a train somewhere in Europe, but it's far from a disaster because Julia Wagner, ZDR3's Executive Director, joins the show to talk about all things disaster response, from hurricane season to mental health support. Julia shares with us the inner workings of the ZDR3 network and how they response when a disaster strikes. This important episode will get you thinking about your facility's plans to deal with the unimaginable and provide some comfort in knowing th...
Episode 161: Best. Zoom. Background. EVER!
May 18, 2023 08:00 - 42 minutes - 28.7 MBAri is back in Orlando so Chris had to flee Florida again - too much podcasting power to keep in one city! Ari recounts her time at AZA Croc School, while Chris shares his adventures bopping around Lake Geneva in Switzerland and the his experinces with the questionable taxidermy of the UK as he tags along on his wife's work trip. Who, incidentally, is not a spy. Nope. Not at all. Have a question or a topic you'd like us to discuss on a future episode? Let us know at podcast@naturalenco...
Episode 160: Return of the TEC Talk Book Club (Crucial Conversations, Chapters 7-9)
May 11, 2023 08:00 - 53 minutes - 38.2 MBWith Ari busy teaching a training course at Croc School (who knew crocs even went to school, amazing!), our hosts meet up via the power of the Internet for another TEC Talk Book Club episode about Crucial Conversations! This time we cover Chapters 7 (STATE My Path), 8 (Explore Others' Paths), and 9 (Move to Action) - let's conversate! Have a suggestion for a topic or a theme for a future episode? By all means, let us know at [email protected]!
Episode 159: Spending Time in the Messy Middle Bit (with GRAZE's Shannon McKinney and Hannah Fulmer)
May 04, 2023 08:00 - 1 hour - 53.6 MBMay is Mental Health Awareness Month, and Chris and Ari are very excited to be joined by Shannon McKinney and Hannah Fulmer from GRAZE (Growing Resiliency for Aquarium and Zoo Professionals)! After a bit of background about their histories in the animal care field and how it lead to the formation of GRAZE, Shannon and Hannah help us dig into a lot of great topics: the importance of taking responsibility for one's mental health, looking at the "other side of the coin" to talk about things lik...
Episode 158: One Order of Show Feedback, Hold the Poop Sandwich
April 27, 2023 08:00 - 46 minutes - 33.3 MBChris and Ari share a microphone to discuss how they provide show feedback! They discuss the general format for how and when they present it, share some specific notes from shows they've watched in the past (because neither of them ever delete Notes from their phones), contemplate how starting a feedback session with a positive note is not the same thing as the infamous "poop sandwich", and share tips for how to make giving and receiving show feedback easy and welcome. Have a question or a...