Andy Scantland On Being Your Best At Work [Podcast Ep. #16]

Transcribed from the episode audio by AI, so it may contain mistakes.

Ravi0:18Welcome to another episode of the Motivated Life podcast. I'm Ravi Raman. On today's episode, I'm proud to bring you, Andy Scantland. I've gotten to know Andy over the past few months as an active member of the coaching community here in Colorado, where I'm based. And Andy has a really interesting story. He transitioned into coaching from a career in marketing and advertising as an executive level leader. And I'm always fascinated when people make radical career shifts. And particularly what would inspire someone to move off an exec level successful career track and really make their life's work helping others.

And so we get into what inspired Andy to do exactly that. We also talk quite a bit about some of the keys to high performance in the workplace when it comes to individuals and also when it comes to teams. And we discuss why it's so important to focus more on your strengths than simply fixing your flaws when it comes to really helping yourself stand out at work. And we meander along a number of different topics as well. I think you'll really enjoy it, especially if you're interested in just figuring out how to be even more effective and be your best in the workplace.

So I'm going to keep this intro short and really dive right in. So let's give a warm welcome to Andy Scanlon. Andy, how are you doing? I'm

Andy1:50doing great, Ravi. Good to be with you.

Ravi1:53Awesome. Well, I'm really excited to have this conversation and talk a little bit more about the work you do and also your journey into coaching. So why don't we just get going and I'd love for you just to tell me a little bit about yourself and your background. I know you had a career in marketing and advertising before moving into the coaching realm. So let's get started just by hearing more about your backstory. I'm sure.

Andy2:20My vision for my life when I was exiting school was I wanted to create commercials for Coca-Cola. That was my dream. And I never got to do that. But what that evolved into was creating really compelling communication on the part of organizations. And so I started in the ad agency business. If you're familiar with that, I was on the account side, work with organizations like American Express and people like that. And then after about a decade or so of that, I decided I really didn't like the lack of control you have from the agency side.

because you could put forth the greatest ideas in the world, and you really didn't have control over whether they ever saw the light of day. So I switched over to the client's side, became director of marketing in a couple of places, moved into head of marketing communications and business development and then strategy. My most recent role was head of strategy, business development, and marketing for an education technology company. And I, which was great, I really enjoyed the work. I love the people, love the mission of the organization.

But what I noticed was that I was a lot more gigged or jazzed by watching people accomplish things and watching teams achieve what they sit out to do than it was around the discipline of marketing and business development, things like that. It wasn't that I was burned out or anything. I was just, I just didn't see the energy in it anymore. And so I started studying leadership. and from leadership, that led me to kind of a new life purpose, which was around helping people identify and achieve their potential.

And then that led me into how can I do that in service to people? And that led me to coaching. Wow.

Ravi4:21So that idea of finding your life purpose, I know there's a lot of listeners out there wondering, what's their next step, what is their purpose? it would be great just to hear a little bit about that transition. Like, how did you really uncover that sense that, wow, your purpose was about helping people as opposed to the marketing side?

Andy4:43It came through a lot of personal development work. I spent time with a place called the Hoffman Institute, which is a very deep personal development process. And also through the process of, of Coach Training Institute and the coactive model of coaching. And a lot of the drive behind that is really understanding what it is you want to bring to this work. And they work very hard on getting really concise and clear about the impact you want to have in the world. So that's really where that came from.

Got

Ravi5:22it. I mean, it sounds like you had a successful career before even you won I heard you were nominated for a Clio or maybe you won which isn't it like sort of like the Oscars in the advertising industry and yet you decided to transition I am curious on the Clio thing what's the story behind that it

Andy5:44was a long time ago first of all and yes it's a fairly high prestigious thing in the ad agency industry and I won it and I was part of the award for a space in the nonprofit world. I got a chance to do some pro bono work for the United Way. And they were looking for ways to really activate their donor base. And we looked at their research. And what we noticed was that while people gave money in order to feel better about themselves and to serve the world.

What really inspired them into action was hearing the stories of the people who benefited from it, And so we came up with a series of commercials basically public service announcements which allowed the people who benefited from the United Way dollars in a really, really genuine way in their lives and how the impact of that donation impacted their world. And it was really among the first work in the nonprofit world in which you actually brought the recipients of the dollars face-to-face with the donors, And the one that the instance that really had the biggest impact was.

We had a child who was, who was death and, through the work of the United Way, had learned to speak and communicate and had become mainstreamed into his school class, and he talked about the impact that had on his life, and we heard stories about people pulling their um, pulling the cars to the side of the road and calling united way and making a donation from hearing this child speak about the impact it had in his life. So that's, that's the story behind that, wow.

Ravi7:48and so and so now fast forward you're a coach full-time is that correct

Andy7:53Coach, yeah, and leadership facilitator, yes. Leadership

Ravi7:57facilitator. So tell me a little bit about your practice right now, who you work with and the kind of things you do.

Andy8:03I work almost exclusively with corporate leaders, primarily in the technology space, also in health care and education, a little bit with government. And the folks that I deal with primarily are folks who are really engaged in stretching and growing for the benefit of their teams and their organizations and their customers. Got it. They have more impact in the world. Yep.

Ravi8:34Well, you know, the listeners, I'm sure are interested in a couple things. One is just how to improve their own performance at work, but also for the managers out there, how to improve the performance of their organization. So maybe that's something we can start stepping into now in our conversation. what are you seeing in your coaching practice as some of the keys to improving, let's start with the individuals, to improving individual performance on the job?

Andy9:04It's a great question. I think the number one thing that I'm seeing and the research supports it is that when people step into their strengths and spend more time operating from where they're really powerful and uniquely brilliant and less time trying to fix their flaws, they make greater progress and faster progress and have more impact. It's not a matter of ignoring what they're not great at. It's a matter of leaning into their strengths and finding strategies to mitigate what they're not great at. So they spend less time there and they can spend more time doing what they're really terrifically brilliant at.

Ravi9:51That seems counterintuitive, right? Because, like, I totally get it. And I'm seeing the same thing in my coaching. But I feel even in my corporate experience, there's a lot of conversation around fixing flaws, understanding what's the weakest link, doing a 360, getting constructive, critical feedback, and trying to fix that. Why is that maybe a fool's errand to spend a ton of time fixing flaws?

Andy10:21I'm eager to hear if you agree with this. I get that, but I get that question a lot. So, so we can, we can absolutely improve by focusing on our weaknesses. I call this the American high school report card syndrome. When you, when you brought home your report card in high school and you had four A's and a C on it, where did your folks focus?

Ravi10:46Yeah, exactly. It's like, what, what wasn't an A?

Andy10:52And there was probably a reason why you got that C. It probably was because you weren't either engaged network or it just didn't come to you as easily. But if you'd focus much more strongly on the A's, you could have made much more impact in the world. So the reason I think it's important, the reason it's why it happens differently is because we can we can just move faster focusing on what we're really great at. There's a study done, this is way back in the 50s, where a Nebraska school was trying to work on how to improve the reading capability of their students.

And so they gave both a group of excellent students and a group of weak reading students, a speed reading course to see if they could improve their reading skills. And the poor readers improve significantly. In fact, they improve something around, I forget the exact number, but something. like 25 to 30 percent. Significant, right? The good readers improve their reading by 160%. We just make more faster progress focusing on what we're already great at and honing those skills.

Ravi12:08I see a lot of truth to that And also the fact that you know a lot of the problems today do require exceptional talent and skill, and harnessing one's strength actually from a career perspective seems to position people much better for a workforce that's increasingly competitive and where there are unique and hard problems that need people with unique strengths and unique combinations of skill, where everything's not an A but maybe something's an A plus plus, even if there are a couple Fs, And we just get, I think, further as a society there.

If we have people focus on where they have innate skill and also innate interest in that intersection. So completely on board with that. Yeah. So, okay, so in the personal side, in terms of improving performance, focusing on strengths is really sort of what I'm hearing you say, not dwelling too much on fixing flaws. Is there anything else that comes to mind is, and honestly, focusing on strengths is a big one, but anything else from an individual performance standpoint that you're seeing is really important for people to focus on?

Andy13:20I think it's, and this is a lesson I learned the hard way in my corporate world but step into your most authentic self, show up powerfully, but show up powerfully as yourself. I had the experience of and I don't know if you had this as well I felt like I had to be a different person at work than it was at home, And I don't know what that exactly looked like, but I felt like I had to be more professional, more polished, say exactly right things, always thinking about doing exactly right thing, and about two decades in, I for some reason figured out that if I showed up, there's the same person in my entire life that I could devote a lot more energy to doing the the good work and less energy about protecting myself and showing up in a particular way that I hoped other people would like.

So I guess the short answer to your question, ravi, is find out who you are and then show up in that person as authentically and as powerfully as you can. Yeah.

Ravi14:20It takes a lot of energy to be someone else. Oh, absolutely. I can relate to that. And now if we think about from a team perspective, for the managers out there, what are you seeing as some of the keys to improving team performance, either as a manager or as a virtual team manager?

Andy14:38Well, I think the research is showing is that to create the greatest performance out of your team, create a team that. that brings multiple strengths to the table. Create a complimentary team that's brilliant at a lot of things that support your work rather than a lot of folks who are just alike with very similar skills. And then help them to lean into each other for what they're really great at and for maybe what they're not so great at. I got to do some work with a small education technology company and we had this wonderful experience of them listing each individual listing their strengths down the left side of the page, here's what I'm really great at.

And by the way, here's what I need to lean into other people for. And it created this great vulnerable space and they were able to move forward much faster because they no longer had to feel like that each person had to do everything well.

Ravi15:37It can also break down some of the group think that happens when you have people all from the same backgrounds with the same skills looking at the same problem. when you just have some diversity and point of view.

Andy15:50Right. Isn't it wonderful to be in a meeting where you can call on somebody and say, hey, Bob, I know you're kind of the teacher in the room. From that place, what do you think about this problem? Hey, Mary, you're the real technician here. How would you go about solving this? And you're right. It results in far more ideas and maybe an innovative approach that hadn't come to the table yet.

Ravi16:15Yeah. And I can see how simply being as people are comfortable and feel safe being authentic in their work, they're able to share more of their interesting ideas that might be the oddball ideas in a group setting. And that can be really reinforced the group dynamic as they're authentic as individuals. So I can see, I can see how that can have a, create a positive, positive feedback loop in a way.

Andy16:42I think that's true, Ravi, but it does create a little bit of a challenge on the manager's part because he or she needs to make it a safe spot for people to bring their stuff to the table.

Ravi16:53Well, this is a good segue because, you know, I've heard from many people that the leap from I see to manager, individual contributor to manager, is one of the hardest leaps he can make. In fact, I forget which CEO said this. But one of the tech CEOs was interviewed about his career and was asked, what are the hardest, what would have been the biggest, most challenging times in your career? And he said, well, there's two. The first is when I was promoted to a manager for the first time.

And the second is right now when I was just made CEO. And it's something I also witnessed working with clients who are on a growth path and maybe new managers that there's, there seems to be this leap. going from, okay, it's my career to now it's our, our mission. What can people do to improve their management skill capacity and make that growth curve a little less harsh?

Andy17:51I think I would suggest a couple of things. One is think very hard about what intrigues you about being a manager. If it's around supporting people, seeing people grow about supporting people and the with their careers. Terrific. If it's around more money, more title, you may want to think, twice because you're going to be frustrated and the folks who work for you could be frustrated. So that's number one. Think hard about why you're stepping into that space. The other thing is let go of this belief that many of us were brought up with, that we have to have all the answers.

In fact, think of it from the other side of the coin, which is the belief that my folks are capable and resourceful and whole and they probably have most of the answers themselves. They need more of the confidence to bring those answers forward and if I, if I show up in a way that's inviting to that, I'm going to get I'm going to get more higher performing people and people who have the confidence to solve their own problems.

Ravi19:06A mentor of mine told me when I first became a manager in my previous job, no helping. And I was like, what? Because up until then, I was both in school and college and in work, having the right answer was the thing. And having it quickly in being right. But then realizing, look, the more you help, the less independent, the less resourceful team members start becoming. that is such a hard thing to do though when someone is trying to learn something could be so much easier to just dive in and do it yourself or just direct people tell them what to do

Andy19:44It's a tough one, right? Yeah, I think you and I probably run into this a lot. It's. It's often easier just to solve people's problems than it is to have them solve them for themselves. But that but I see that as a relatively short term gain, right. I'd rather have people who have to work through it a couple of times and gain confidence that they have the capacity to do this And then from then on they know they can solve their own problems And suddenly they're not bringing you challenges, questions, problems.

They're bringing you solutions and ideas. And that's a big leap. And that's when you've moved, in my mind, that's when you've moved from manager to leader, when you've got a team who's bringing you solutions. and ideas.

Ravi20:35Yeah, and people feel better when they're on, actually, when they're on a learning curve, one thing I've realized, when people are on a learning curve and challenged just beyond their skill, which often means they don't know the answers. That's what lights people up. It's the opposite of the disengaged workforce, according to the Gallup measures, something like, what is it, 70% of people are disengaged in their work or not engaged at least. It's the opposite to that. Right. Man, that's so right. Practiced. So from a coaching perspective, you've worked with different companies and leaders and teams.

I'm curious if you'd be willing to share what you're most proud of achieving as a coach. And I mean, just in terms of creating results for clients, what are you most proud of? Wow. That's a hard

Andy21:24question. I guess what I'm most proud of is when, you're not. When people, when my clients, you know, I think we agree on this, that we don't give a lot of answers to our clients. We create clarity so the path kind of lays out in front of them and they're seeing their own answers. When I've gone through that process with a client and we, together, we've developed an action plan and they've put that action plan into practice. and they've both seen results from that and learned, expanded their world based on that.

That's a really great moment.

Ravi22:07What do you look for? I'm curious when you're, and I get this question quite a bit from people who are exploring coaching or even thinking of hiring me, they ask, well, what do you look for in a client? They'll ask me for that as a coach. I'm curious for you, what do you look for in an individual or team that has you say, wow, there's really, like, this is a place where I can really help them and we can really go somewhere in the coaching. Is there anything you look for, any certain qualities for the individual or teams you work with?

Right.

Andy22:36I think number one is a desire to stretch and grow. That they don't, that person or that team doesn't feel like they have all the answers, that they have more places to grow and gain in the world. And they're open to different perspectives on how to get there. The other side of that, of course, is what kind of people would you not want to coach, right? And I think it's the person who's forced into it. It's the person who's doing it as a duty rather than as an opportunity.

Ravi23:18A couple cases where people were voluntold to get a coach. In some cases it works, but there's always this. uphill journey it feels like has to happen. So yeah, I think about it as being being coachable, someone who's open to grow, open to seeing new things, open to trying new things also and not just doing things they've always done. Okay. So just as we sort of wind it up here, I'm, well, one more thing about coaching, because I think you would have an interesting perspective. what advice do you have for people who are looking to find a coach, right?

So there's what we look for when we work with clients, but also individuals looking to find a coach. Right now there are thousands and thousands of coaches out there. What do you think people should think about in terms of helping them find the right coach for them?

Andy24:13Well, I'm often asked, you know, do you have experience in this particular industry? Do you have experience in this particular function or discipline? And I think that's nice to have, but that is by no means of requirement. I think what's more important is having someone that, A, you have great chemistry with, that you feel like you fit with, and B, someone who, to your point, a second ago, is willing to challenge you a little bit and challenge you in a way that serves you. and hold you in such high regard that they perhaps can see in you more potential impossibility than perhaps you're seeing in yourself right now.

Ravi25:05Chemistry piece, how do you typically do that with clients? I typically have a complementary conversation to see if we're a good fit, if I can help them, if there's some chemistry. How do you go about figuring out the whole chemistry? equation.

Andy25:25Very similarly. I've heard it said that being with the wrong coach is like being on a bad date for six months. Because you're trying to stretch and share of yourself and with somebody who just doesn't feel like the right person. So yes, I do the same thing. I offer up a what I call a sample chemistry session where you can actually get into some real coaching. And at the end of that, if the person feels like it's it's a good fit it likely is

Ravi25:55makes sense so you've talked a bit about stretching and growing and i'm with you there and that's what personal growth is all about for you personally if you'd be willing to share

Andy26:05where are you

Ravi26:06sort of stretching and growing yourself right now personally

Andy26:09um i'm uh it's that's a point that's a great question um i wish i wish i'd been asked that um more often where my i'm i'm trying to let it go some beliefs that I've had for a long time, especially around money and how the universe flows. And just to be specific about that, because that may sound a little woo-woo for some people. But I've always had the belief that everything I got, I had to earn and work hard for. and what I'm finding now is that the more that I allow, just step into what I'm really meant to do and how I'm supposed to show up in the world in service, the more things show up for me.

And that typically results in less rigor, or that's the wrong word, less hard, quote, hard work, and more doing what I'm supposed to be doing. And I have to get used to that.

Ravi27:15I love that you're bringing this up because it really hits home for me. And also it's a hard thing because so much of our upbringing, education, and work, context is about setting a goal and achieving. In other words, if it's meant to be, it's up to me. And what I'm hearing you share is maybe not everything is.

Andy27:38Maybe not everything is, right. and and maybe maybe in some time and I'm not against hard work by the way I still work very hard but what I find is if I'm really beating my head up against the wall maybe I need to step back and figure out figure out maybe this is not where I'm supposed to be spending my energy

Ravi27:59as we wind it up I'm always curious what people are feeding their minds through reading or podcasts or whatever like what are you consuming now and mulling over and contemplating, are there any books that you're reading now? And also, I'd love to know if there's any that you might recommend to listeners relating to high performance in life or at work, or maybe even the aspect you shared about regarding money and just not just using hard work as the only tool to get ahead. So what are you reading and exploring now and what would you recommend to others who are listening?

Andy28:34Yeah, there's a couple of things. I love that you ask this. And some of these things, I'm sure people will be very full. familiar with. I spent the last year becoming certified in what it's called brain-based coaching. And basically what that is, is attaching the biology of our brains attached to behavior. And so a book that's really good and really easy for, it's non-technical, for people that kind of understand this, is called the Quiet Leader by a guy named David Rock. He leads a thing called the Neuroleadership Institute.

So that's the Quiet Leader. Another book that I've recently gotten into is The Meaning Revolution by Fred Kaufman. And he subtitles it The Power of Transcendant Leadership. And it's around really stepping forward into showing up as authentically as yourself in your leadership. So that's a great one. And then I actually spend a lot more time in podcasts and things like that. So these are things you're probably familiar with, Ravi. I listen to the hidden brain.

Ravi29:41Yep, that's a good one. Shankar Vedantham, NPR, I think. Yep.

Andy29:45I listen to Radio Lab, which is kind of a science-driven thing, but for us normal people, which is great. And I also listen to a lot of Adam Grant kind of stuff.

Ravi29:58And, of course, Motivated Life with Ravi Raman, right? That's it. That's a new one on the list. All right, cool. Very cool. Andy, I really appreciate you taking the time out of your day to share your journey into coaching, how you help people and some things people can apply. There's some really simple practical things that can make a difference that you shared regarding covering, focusing on strengths, not trying to fix flaws, being authentic and seeking a diverse team to raise team performance and many other things.

So thanks again for joining and how should people connect with you or find you if they're interested in learning more about what you and your company does?

Andy30:42Sure. My website is upside dash partners.com and you can reach me anytime at A Scantland at upside dash partners.com.

Ravi30:55And can you spell, so it's A and then spell your last name? Sure.

Andy31:00A, S-C-A-N is a neighbor, T as in Tom. And can you spell? And can you spell? So it's A, and then spell your last name? L-A-N-D at Upsine-Spartners.com.

Ravi31:09So we're here in the greater Denver area in Colorado. Do you work with clients? Where are most of your clients and who do you work with?

Andy31:19I'm very fortunate. I get to work with people all over the world. A lot of them are based in California, obviously, but I'm also working with folks in the U.K., in Israel, in Australia, in Asia. And it's interesting you ask about that because the big, big aha for me, as I stepped into this, I kind of expected people from different cultures to show up differently in their challenges and their problems and their desires. And what I found is people have the same needs wherever they are in the planet.

And it's really been gratifying to know, you know what, I struggle with the same insecurities that my partner in.

Ravi32:05India does. Yep, we're all humans. Well, thanks again, Andy, and we'll talk again soon.

Andy32:12Thanks so much, Ravi. It's been just a pleasure being with you. Thank

Ravi32:14you. That's it for today's podcast. If you're enjoying the podcast, please leave a review in whatever podcasting app you use, and I'm looking forward to speaking with you again soon in the weeks ahead. Take care.