101: Peer Coaching
One-to-one coaching isn’t the only kind of executive coaching out there. Peer coaching – where groups of colleagues work together to reflect on problems or practices, build new skills and teach and mentor one another – comes with unique workplace benefits. Plusses include improved team performance, worker empowerment, and clearer expectations, all with a less-costly price tag than individual coaching brings.
It offers better accountability than one-to-one coaching and offers better feedback, too, according to Brenda Steinberg and Michael D. Watkins. Coaching groups, they say, often contain more powerful dynamics than individual coaching overall. “Whether your goal is to be bolder, develop your strategic-thinking skills, or emotionally connect with your team, your group members will give you regular input on your progress,” they write in Harvard Business Review, when you share your goals and action plans.
It can create new, positive workplace norms. “Peers, whether in teams or not, can create a habit of making one another part of their own solution, rather than ruminating in venting conversations, or commiserating together without owning any part of the needed change,” says professional-development blog ManagementConcepts.com. Co-workers engage with one another differently as a result, in an organic, whole, innate way throughout the organization. This cultural shift is especially successful when supported by senior leadership, according to the blog.
It can be hyper-charged by first strengthening certain employee qualities. On LinkedIn, Rebouncer CEO Steffen Maier suggests a peer-coaching workshop beforehand to make coaching more effective. Good listening is key, as is being open minded, willing to change and curious to learn. Good peer-coaching executives have self-awareness and are flexible to accept other best alternatives. “They recognize their strengths and weaknesses, and they gladly accept feedback, even if it’s negative,” he said.
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