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My intent is to Educate, Celebrate and Elevate the Consumer Relations function in CPG (Consumer Product Goods) companies, especially for Brand Specialist and Analysts roles and responsibilities... !
Welcome to the My Curious Colleague podcast with your host, me, Denise Venneri. We'll be talking all things consumer relations with a focus on consumer product goods organizations and the brand specialist and analyst roles and responsibilities. So if you like CPGs, like I like CPGs, marketing, insights, and caring deeply for your consumers, Well, take a listen. Hello, my curious colleagues. This week, I'm curious about who you are through understanding yourself via personality assessment tools with a dash of coaching.
Denise Venneri:And with me this week to do just that is my colleague, Andrea MacLean, founder of ACM Coaching Group. Hi, Andrea, and welcome to the podcast.
Andrea McClean:Hi, Denise. Thank you for having me on the pad, podcast today. It's my pleasure.
Denise Venneri:Oh my gosh. My honor. We've known each other for a while and just kind of hitting and missing over the years, connecting, so this is this is great. Let's begin with you sharing with us how you got to this point in your career, and you've done so much.
Andrea McClean:Thank you, Denise. I, you know, I think like all of us, we get to the point where we do some reflection and, you know, what's next in our career, but, but actually to get to the coaching, this started about 8 years ago, I actually was on the SOCAP board and you and I have been so cap members for many years. So I was on the board of directors and we had an off-site where we had to do Gallup strengths finder. And, you know, we had the group, kind of debrief in terms of how we work together based on our strengths. But then we also had individual sessions and the woman who did my debrief, she said, you know, based on your profile, I think you'd make a good coach.
Andrea McClean:And that was 8 years ago and I kind of parked it in my head. I never thought about it. You know, I kept on with what I was doing with my corporate career. But then a couple of years ago, I started thinking about, you know, what's next, what do I really want to do next? And then I remembered the comment about being a coach and it felt like I had been coaching my whole life.
Andrea McClean:And interestingly, a new colleague had joined our company and he had come from a very different environment and he had to get used to the culture and how to navigate. And 1 day he said, you know, before I go into a meeting and I say things, I think, you know, what would Andrea do? And then I realized, you know, I'm, I'm really a coach. So, so, you know, yeah. So I, you know, when and did all of the certifications actually have 3 now, I think I need to stop.
Andrea McClean:But, Yeah. So I, you know, when and did all of the certifications actually have 3 now, I think I need to stop. But, yeah. And then, you know, set up the coaching group because I figured I had to formalize it if I was going to practice. So that's how I got to where I am.
Denise Venneri:Oh my goodness. That's great. And you also have a 9 to 5. Job. Yeah.
Denise Venneri:To, doing some other things that we may have to save for another episode. You know, why why is it so important to, you know, be coached? Or I guess the outcome is understanding yourself. It and and having someone help you understanding of it. Understanding yourself.
Denise Venneri:It's a little bit of, like, early employee experience. I think you were ahead of the curve, frankly, but it's even more important now. Why do you think there's this shift to understanding yourself and how you interact with others? You know, what are the the benefits to that overall, would you say?
Andrea McClean:Yeah. Sure. So I think, you know, and again, you know, based on coming up through my career, there are times when you believe that you need to be like somebody else or fit a certain mold. And I think the more you understand what your strengths are, what your personality type is, how you can really be a team player or a leader, I think all of us, when we really understand who we are at the core and how we either interact with others based on who we are, or, you know, find out what motivates us, then we can figure out what our places or what our role is in the team and in the organization, and then we can be better contributors. So I think everything starts with knowing who you are and not trying to be like a cookie cutter or a carbon copy of somebody else.
Andrea McClean:And, and that's where different personality assessment tools can help.
Denise Venneri:Right. Okay. So let's build off of that. And if you wouldn't mind, I like examples. I like breaking things down.
Denise Venneri:It helps me understand better. Let's let's pretend, or why don't you share with me? I we don't have to pretend. How would you approach coaching for internal folks? So, like, really get into it.
Denise Venneri:What's the first step? Like, who reaches out to who? Does a company say, hey. You should go and coach so and so, or does an employee feel, alright, they may not be bringing their whole self to work and they reach out to you. And then what does it look like from there once, you know, the the 2 people are together?
Andrea McClean:Sure. So it it can act actually go either of the 2 ways you just mentioned. So it could be that a company could say that we have a program and we need some coaches and, you know, here's what we want you to help, whether it's, you know, in my case, I've coached internally to help women develop and grow and become more confident in themselves and figure out how they're going to best demonstrate their leadership skills. So that could be the company engaging you to coach, but then you could have others who you meet maybe through a mentorship relationship or otherwise who say, you know, can you help to coach me? Here's where I, you know, I think I have some opportunities for growth.
Andrea McClean:I go into a meeting for example, and I, you know, kind of afraid to share my opinions and then, you know, I can kind of unpack the what's driving that, you know, what are the belief systems that they might have about themselves, why they're feeling that they're not either empowered or, you know, confident enough to say what they want to share. So, so it can go either way. And for me, my coaching is about everybody being unique. So I start with the individual and what, what do they want to accomplish out of a coaching engagement or a coaching session? I mean, for some people it could be 1 session and they're fine.
Andrea McClean:You know, that's just what they needed to kind of give them a spark to keep going. And then for others, it might be, you know, 3 or 6 sessions. So again, it's not a 1 size fits all from, from my perspective, it's really what the client is needing based on where they want to go or how they want to grow.
Denise Venneri:Love that. So session 1. Mhmm. You know, is it how long is that, and what are you accomplishing in session 1?
Andrea McClean:Yes. And you
Denise Venneri:can choose on the session 2. What it, what does that look like? And when does this assessment tool kind of come in?
Andrea McClean:So session 1 typically is what I call this discovery session. And for, you know, any coach will tell you that it's about 15 minutes. It's a free session and it's really to get to know the client and for the client to get to know me because I'm not the coach for everyone. And neither is everyone my client. There's gotta be a synergy and, you know, you've gotta have that chemistry to work together.
Andrea McClean:So that that's the first session. If you want to even call it a pre session where you kind of get to know whether or not, you know, are we going to be a good partnership here? And, and can I really help this person? Are they willing to take the accountability and do what's necessary to experience the growth that they're desiring? And then from there, session 2 could be around what are the goals they want to set for themselves and then use of some assessments.
Andrea McClean:So 1 of the assessments lately that I have been introduced to and got certified to coach is principals. And, you know, there's Myers Briggs, there's disc, there's Gallup, strengths finders. There are a number of assessments out there, but what I really like about the principles you assessment is that it, it looks at how you think, what motivates you and how you work with others. And so it gives you the opportunity when you understand who you are and how you think and what motivates you and how you work with others. It gives you the opportunity to flex at times, if you need to change some of the traits, to be able to connect with somebody else who might have a different personality type.
Andrea McClean:So it's a, it's a pretty thorough assessment that gives you really good understanding and context of how you can operate, not only in the work environment, but personally as well.
Denise Venneri:I believe taking the test is free.
Andrea McClean:Yes, it's free. It's a free assessment at, principleschool.com.
Denise Venneri:Okay. Well, maybe what's next then is kind of using because I did go out to the to the website, and they talk about architects archetypes.
Andrea McClean:Architize. Yeah. Mhmm.
Denise Venneri:Yep. And there's maybe 9 or 10. But they seem like, you know, familiar words. It wasn't Mhmm. I know I back in back in the day, Myers Briggs, I thought, you know what?
Denise Venneri:This is this is too high level for me. I can't even understand what it's like. So, dig onto disk a while back too, and that's like 4, 4 archetype types. Well, we can't struggle with that word. But this seems like right in the middle there.
Denise Venneri:So let's let's bring this to a real example. If you're comfortable sharing, you know, someone, you don't have to mention their name, that you've coached. Take me through the details, you know, how you move forward. And then, of course, I'm gonna assume it's a successful outcome and what are they doing today. So there's a lot packed in that 1.
Andrea McClean:Yeah. Sure. And and just to kind of hone in on what you were saying about the archetypes and you know, how it's in simple language, things like, are you a leader? Are you an advocate? Are you an enthusiast?
Andrea McClean:Are you a giver? Are you an architect? Are you a producer? Are you a seeker? Are you a fighter?
Andrea McClean:Are you a creator? Or are you an individualist or even a peacemaker problem solver or inspirer? So, so I'll give you the example. I had a client, she was an account manager and her top 3 archetypes were primarily, she was a peacekeeper, but then followed up, that she was then a problem solver and an inspirer. So those are the top 3 archetypes and that's what you get in the report.
Andrea McClean:What are your top 3 archetypes? So as a peacekeeper, she was good at understanding where everybody was coming from emotionally and, you know, she was able to communicate well and she could bring people together and adapt her behavior to suit whatever circumstances, you know, existed in the work environment. And she also remained calm when there were any tense situations, but there was a growth opportunity for her because she didn't want to state her opinions and ideas, you know, in a forceful way, at least she interpreted it, that it would be forceful. And she was overly reliant on compromise to, you know, to get things sorted or move, move things along, as an ideal solution. But she, you know, could sometimes be taken advantage of by others who were less giving.
Andrea McClean:And so, you know, she, she wanted to support through problem solving and she was very industrious and, you know, she was very professional and, you know, again, very supportive, conscientious, responsible, and good at motivating people to kind of get behind any challenging issues and work to resolution. And then when we started to look at the, you know, how she preferred to think, how she engages with others and what motivated her
Denise Venneri:Yes.
Andrea McClean:From her thinking patterns, she was detailed. She was reliable, but she was also creative. Those were her highest scores and her lowest score was being practical. So, you know, she was more of the blue sky, but, you know, practical, wasn't the strength for her. And then how she engages with others.
Andrea McClean:She was very nurturing. She was humorous and leadership was, was a strength for her as well, but her lowest score was tough. So going back to where I was saying that she, you know, she didn't want to rock the boat, so to speak, in terms of, you know, making any decisions that she thought, you know, would be kind of, you know, maybe not, not perceived as, as well, she wouldn't want to be perceived as tough. So, so again,
Denise Venneri:you know, she did
Andrea McClean:want to be perceived as tough. And it came across because that was 1 of her lowest scores in terms of how she related to other people and then how she applied herself. Or this has to do with the motivation side of it. Her highest scores were that she was, she was energetic and she was composed, but her lowest score was that she was autonomous. So again, not wanting to be the 1 to make that tough decision or to say, you know, well, this is what we have to do again.
Andrea McClean:She was too reliant on compromise because she wanted to keep things calm. She didn't want any tension in the team. So when we looked at the results, you know, she realized that, she was, she could be bold if she felt like the team was behind her, but she wasn't being bold if she felt she had to make a decision. And, and at this point she was an account manager and she had some aspirations to become a leader. So, you know, she figured out that she could create contingency plans and she gravitated towards new and innovative approaches when she was setting goals.
Andrea McClean:And she would also strive beyond what seemed possible or what others thought was possible. And because she had this capacity to remain calm and, you know, collected when there were tense situations that was for her a good way to kind of keep the team motivated, even when there was a lot of turmoil happening or a lot of change happening in the business. And so she realized that she needed to be able to flex and be more tough at times when, when the situation called for it and to realize that, you know, it wasn't that she was being necessarily, you know, disruptive to the team that actually by being tough, she could make those decisions that could move the team forward. As long as she was explaining why she was making the decision and, you know, what was the whole context behind why that decision was made. And so, you know, she, she actually sat with that for a little while.
Andrea McClean:And then she came back to me and I got this beautiful thank you note from her saying that it was extremely valuable, this information, having done the assessment, and then me walking her through and coaching her through the assessment, because it showed her some blind spots. It showed where again, she wasn't taking that leadership position when she needed to, but she was more reliant on compromise and always getting everybody to agree on the team. And she actually got confidence and was promoted to shortly thereafter to lead a team. And, you know, she said, because of what I learned about myself, I realized where I needed to change some of my behaviors and flex as we call it in order to be able to communicate more appropriately and be the strong leader that I needed to be at times in this team, new team setting. So for me, that was gratifying to get a thank you note, you know, that was saying this was great.
Andrea McClean:And here's how I plan to apply the learnings as I move forward. So this is where I think tools like whether it's principles, you, which is what I'm talking about today, but any tool that can help you to better understand yourself will only help increase, you know, the, the confidence that you have and your capability as a leader or a team player in any organization, particularly when you're in a customer service environment, you know, I'm thinking that, you know, when you think about the types of calls that come in, so a call center and the person who's on the other end of the line, I think if you understand how you communicate and you're able to understand how they're communicating, I think you can create a better bridge and be able to have a more productive conversation in that environment.
Denise Venneri:Oh, interesting. I love that, sort of applying it to the contact center environment. Obviously, knowing yourself and knowing the tool, you can kind of guesstimate where the consumer is coming from. You know, obviously, you don't know their types and all. I said it correctly correctly, but you can begin to shape, okay, I think you're aware of your reaction to something.
Denise Venneri:Right. Mhmm. Now you could, you know, adjust that. Yeah, that's an interesting application. Love that.
Denise Venneri:I also I loved your example. Who couldn't, you know, sort of relate to some of the things you said? I know I'll just talk about my generation. You know, peacekeeper Mhmm. Was, you know, a big a big thing.
Denise Venneri:And it took me a while to sort of break out of that. I know personally. But the other thing I learned was just this permission, getting to know yourself deeply, and the the 1 thing the 1 big thing she needed to work on about, like, being a little bit more forceful and her fear of being pigeonholed. I love the idea of the flexi because Mhmm. You know, it just kinda frees you up.
Denise Venneri:Like, oh, okay. I don't have to be that person all the time because that's you're not really what I'm comfortable with. But in choiceful places, I can I can be this person? And, you know, it kind of freeze to me, as you were saying, it kind of felt very freeing. And I love it.
Andrea McClean:And actually, it's interesting that you're using the term freeing because in the principles you, terminology it's called free trait. And so, you know, it's a free trait when you demonstrate, you know, or, or flex to be able to connect with somebody else. But the truth is just, as you said, if you're free trading too much, that can cause stress. And, you know, so you don't want to be the other person, you know, for an extended period of time, but there are times when you might have to flex and be somewhat like that person to communicate and to build that bridge so that you're able to move something, whether it's a project or a meeting forward.
Denise Venneri:Love love that story. Hey. I know we had talked about perhaps pulling together an offer for our listeners. Is that something you wanted to share at this time?
Andrea McClean:Absolutely, Denise. So, for anyone, well, it's for 10 people, the first 10 people who will direct message me, and you can find me on LinkedIn, you know, or an Instagram, Andrissy McLean,
Denise Venneri:Okay.
Andrea McClean:But it's, it's either, or you can go to my website, as well. Www.andracmcleendot
Denise Venneri:com.
Andrea McClean:Okay. And, the offer is for 10 people. First 10 people is either to get a free 15 minute debrief session. So I would ask you to take the principles you assessment first, and you can get to that through principlesu.com. So take the assessment and you can get a 15 minute free debrief session with me to, again, walk through the report and explain, you know, how, how to interpret it and how you, you know, can, can show up as yourself, but where you might need to flex at times.
Andrea McClean:And then all, or you can get a free copy of my book, decide to be your future self. I don't know if you want me to show the book, but here it is. So yes, so it's, it's either or either the free 15 minute coaching session or a free copy of the book and, US mailing addresses only just because of the cost of postage.
Denise Venneri:Got it. That's so generous of you. Thank you so much for that. I appreciate it. I hope everyone excuse me.
Denise Venneri:I just talk right over you. I hope everyone or at least the first 10 people will take advantage of that. I may secretly go in into your GM under the domain perhaps. But, anyway, this has been great. I sadly, we're wrapping up here.
Denise Venneri:I know there's so many other aspects of your career that we could have you back for another session, so I throw that out for you to to think about. But this has been awesome and I really appreciate you taking time out of your afternoon to to chat with me.
Andrea McClean:Well, thank you, Denise. It's, it's been my pleasure. And, you know, again, I want to empower particularly women to become their best authentic selves. I think, you know, I want to leverage my experience over the years and I really want the next generation and actually people in my generation to decide to become their future selves and become their best selves based on all the tools that are available today and coaching that's available. So thank you so much for having me on.
Denise Venneri:If you've learned even a kernel of an idea or was inspired by this episode, please consider rating and reviewing the podcast on Apple Podcasts. Be sure to share out the hashtag CPGCX because CPGCX really and truly rocks.
Denise Venneri:You have been listening to the My Curious Colleague podcast with Denise. Thank you for your time.