Y

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

TEN SUGGESTIONS FOR SUCCESSFUL

PEER COACHING
By Dr. Robert M. Fulmer and John E. Brock

K! Suggestions isnt quite as strong as commandments for a title.

Although we have research-based data to support our conclusions, we
do lack divine, mountaintop revelations or tablets of stone. Still, peer coaching
is clearly an emerging strategy used to develop leaders and establish a coaching culture in organizationsespecially in high-tech firms.1 A peer-coaching
relationship can be less expensive than professional executive coaching, often is
more intimate and honest when compared to a boss-subordinate relationship,
and provides a more diverse perspective to issues and needs. It also places coaching at a collegial level, and builds coaching skills as part of a developmental
experience.

Research Overview
One of the principal findings in a recent study conducted in collaboration with
Duke Corporate Education, Human Resource Forums, and Bay Area Executive
Development Network was that most companies want and need to create coaching cultures, but struggle to build it into the corporate DNA. The respondents
were clear: Leaders and team members recognize the need for coaching to help
them succeed in their work and careers. They are not quite so sure about why they
should be involved in the coaching process.

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We discovered two reasons for the coaching capability gap. First, most leaders
are problem solvers who are rewarded for their expertise. Alteras Kevin Lyman
suggests that the company culture has typically been a master/apprentice
arrangement in which the apprentice learns but is often dependent upon his or
her technical or functional leader to give guidance and be the expert solution
provider. Many leaders mistakenly call this coaching. Unfortunately this approach
creates a dependency model rather than an empowered organization culture.
Second, a coaching capability gap also exists because many organizations
reward their leaders for individual achievement rather than how well they have
enabled and developed others. At Microsoft, there is a major emphasis on
individual commitments as the key measurement of performance and advancement. Sue Larson explains: The focus is on shipping products or on getting
things done . . . but there isnt as much focus on my role as a senior leader in
developing the talent below me.
If you are hired and rewarded for being the smartest person in the room,
wheres the incentive to enable and instill this capability in others? The key to
developing a coaching mindset is for leaders to be recognized and rewarded for
making the transition from being all knowing to being all developing.
Our research revealed three strategies for building a coaching culture. The
first focuses on development for coaching skills in leaders through programs and
training. Indeed, this was the second-highest ranked approach for developing
leaders in the study. Yet few organizations are satisfied with the return on this
investment. IBMs Beach reports: We have coaching workshops . . . but the
practice of coaching is not as pervasive as it needs to be. We dont use the skills
enough, and we dont give leaders enough utilization time to do it.
Efforts to develop coaching skills are important, but programs without a supportive organization climate are likely to create frustration.
The second strategy introduces the benefits of coaching through bringing
expertise from outside the firm with external executive coaches. Firms familiar with outsourcing production find this a natural solution. This approach has
merit but increases cost, lacks scalability, and doesnt develop internal coaching
capability.
Peer coaching is the third and most rapidly growing strategy. Many firms
have found success and improved program ratings from involving their leaders
in this approach. In many company cultures, this can be much more accepted
and respected than using outsiders. Microsoft uses peer coaching in both its highpotential and college hire programs. Shannon Wallis, who runs the high-potential
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Ten Suggestions for Successful Peer Coaching

program, explains: Peer coaching works particularly well for the millennial generation. They dont feel intimidated by it . . . Structured peer coaching . . . ensures
learning and feedback beyond specific educational events and gives participants
an opportunity to share their Microsoft work and career experience in a way that
is not afforded by a manager/subordinate relationship.
Microsoft creates opportunities for this type of coaching and uses a rigorous peer-coaching process that encourages participants to hone coaching skills
with program peers. The most productive topics for this approach include career
advancement, handling difficult team members, managing up, and strategic influence. Peer coaching is popular and successful at Microsoft where leaders see the
benefits of coaching and being coached. Peer coaching may be an optimum strategy for introducing coaching skills and building a coaching culture and mindset.
Peer coaches cannot be expected to have the same coaching skills, or even
to use the same techniques, as experienced professional coaches. They need
guidelines and techniques that are relatively simple to understand and implement. We will introduce key techniques for effective nondirective peer coaching;
however, peer coaches should develop a coaching mindset in their work. This
includes showing commitment to the goals, questioning that leads the coachee to
make and assume responsibility for choices (rather than dialogue that leads to the
coachs solution), and an intention to assist the coachee in learning rather than
teaching. Frequently, an outside professional coach can be helpful in teaching and
guiding the beginning efforts of peer coaches.

The GROW Model

The essential activities of coaching were originally described in the GROW
model, a simple but powerful framework developed by Sir John Whitmore to
guide coaches in structuring conversations.2 Other authors in this book are likely
to cover this or other guides for coaching activity in greater detail, so we will
provide an abbreviated description of the GROW model, representing stages of
a coaching conversation. A coach assists clients in:
1. Goals: identifying and clarifying goals of the coaching conversation and longer-term goals;
2. Reality: describing the reality surrounding each goal, including previous efforts,
anticipated obstacles, and feedback;
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3. Options: exploring potential actions and alternatives for pursuing the goal, and
the reality surrounding those actions; and
4. What is to be done, when, by whom, and the will to do it: making the goal a priority, identifying the support needed, and committing to take concrete actions.
A coaching conversation typically centers on some of these elements. A coach
asks questions and guides conversation that help clarify and choose what the goal
is, understand reality as it relates to the goal, generate and examine options to it,
and then choosing what is to be done, when, by whom.

The Ten Suggestions

While the GROW model describes the essence of what a coach does, the following best practices can help a new peer coach understand how to use the model
effectively in leading coaching conversationsand to be more successful in this
key leadership skill.
1. Practice inquiry and active listening rather than giving advice or problem solving.
Inquiry is simply asking questions using the four elements of the GROW
model as a guide. Active listening is seeking to understand what is being said
and restating or paraphrasing what was heard in order to check understanding. Whereas problem solving and advice involve the coach in developing
ideas and solutions, active listening is more effective because it provides the
coachee with space to generate insights and develop goal-focused plans.
Active listening is easy in role playing, but difficult in an actual conversation without practice and conscious intention. Practicing this skill in routine
conversations, as well as coaching projects, will prepare you to combine active
listening and inquiry with the GROW model.
2. Practice visual thinking3 (also called picture thinking). Visual thinking is a process of starting without assumptions and forming a picture (without words)
in your mind of what another person is telling you, then asking questions
that will help you complete the picture. Thinking in pictures can allow you to
process information more quickly and accurately, while enhancing the ability to understand complexity. Try to start without seeing pictures that reflect
your own assumptions, beliefs, hypotheses, biases, judgments, or comparisons.
Listen only to what the other person says, picture it without adding details,
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Ten Suggestions for Successful Peer Coaching

and ask questions that complete the picture. This method precludes the use
of a questionnaire as the queries must be motivated by curiosity about what
is said.
For example, a colleague begins a conversation by reporting difficulty in
motivating a direct report. Without using visual thinking, I immediately use
my vast knowledge and experience of motivating people and consider all
the knowledge I have about that person or my assumptions about him. This
imagined sketch of the person provides a whole set of assumptions, beliefs,
and preconceptions. Almost immediately, I am halfway to solving the problemunencumbered with little actual knowledge. This solution is likely to be
inappropriate and robs the coachee of a true learning experience.
By using visual thinking to guide the same conversation, the process
moves without preconceptions, assumptions, or beliefs about the direct report
or the situation, potential solutions, or my theories. Instead, picture a blank
sketch of the parties in the situation. The first questions may be the same as
without visual thinking, but the thought process and the conversation will
take different paths as you develop a picture of the people and the problem.
You may ask questions such as: What would it look like if he were motivated? What would he be doing differently? What does it look like when
he is unmotivated? What else does he do? Why is he not doing what you
want? What have you tried to motivate him? Did he do anything differently? Why? This process continues until you have a vivid picture of the
current situation. Be careful to avoid assuming more than what the colleague
says. She will need to describe her options in sufficient detail for you to picture
the employees possible responses. At the end of the conversation, she may not
have a clear solution, but at least she will have thought through the issue, clarifying an appropriate goal and actions that may achieve the goal with a better
degree of clarity than would have evolved with a more directive approach.
Using visual thinking is a journey of discovery rather than a journey of
confirmation. Hypotheses only muddy the water. Stay open to knowing who
the person is, what they want, and why by understanding their reality.
3. Insist on an overarching goal at the beginning of the coaching relationship and an
objective for each conversation. A few points on goals and objectives may be
helpful:
a. Two parties begin a coaching relationship by establishing a contract in
which they agree on the overarching goal(s), and time frame of their work
together. This goal must be chosen by the coachee rather than imposed.
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Coaching for Leadership

A coachee who is going through the motions to satisfy someone else or to

meet a requirement will not bring the same energy and attention to the
work as one who is focused on achieving an important result.
b. The objective of each conversation should be in support of the overarching goal as chosen by the coachee.
c. Encourage a tie between goals and objectives to specific desired outcomes. For example, I want to be more effective at sharing my thinking
about decisions with team members is a more productive goal statement than I dont want my team to be confused about why I made this
decision.
When coachees state a goal, ask them to imagine that the goal is fully
realized, then follow with What would achieving this goal actually get you?
This question can be repeated until the answer is intrinsically important
rather than a means to an end. By connecting goals to desired outcomes, the
coachee develops clearer focus and priorities.
Throughout the coaching process, continue to use the GROW model as
a guide rather than challenging the coachee. The primary function of coaching is not to challenge people to do something better or differently. People
who have voluntarily entered a coaching agreement need to be heard and
questioned skillfully rather than constantly challenged. By effectively creating the parameters of the coaching agreement, both parties are aligned to
achieve the same goal. The coachs job is to remain curious and ask questions
about the goal and the reality surrounding that goal, discuss optional paths to
achieve the goal, inquire about the coachees willingness to take the actions to
reach it, and agree on how to be accountable. The coachee is better served
by your remaining in the role of a curious and very active listener than by
constant challenging. Help me understand is more effective than why in
the world did you . . .
4. Be judicious in sharing information, tools, or your perspective. Coachees should probably talk two or three times as much as the coach. When and how often to share
your thoughts will depend on the coachee, the situation, and on your experience and knowledge of the specific situation. A good rule for any coach is to
ask only open-ended questions. By practicing this approach, the coach stays
in a facilitating role rather than being the expert. Try to offer information,
tools, or perspective only when absolutely necessary. Coaching is an unnatural

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Ten Suggestions for Successful Peer Coaching

conversation that calls on the coach to assist others primarily through effective
listening and questioning.
Often, a coachee will ask, What would you do? or What do you think
I should do? Again, resist the urge to provide an answer and ask what they
would like to do or continue to ask questions exploring the goal and reality
of the situation. These questions will help generate new insights and options.
5. Focus on clear distinctions. Coaching is often about helping others make and
adopt clear distinctions that will assist them in achieving their goals. For example, a coaching conversation about motivating others might include distinctions between leadership and management, between intrinsic and extrinsic
motivation, or between making a personal choice to pursue a goal versus an
imposed goal.
Similarly, any coaching conversation may involve developing a clear distinction between objective reality and subjective perceptions, assumptions,
conjecture, and fantasies, or between what she can influence and what is outside her influence. Focusing on obstacles versus focusing on a goal is another
critical decision in goal setting. A conversation about leadership, politics, or
change could require a clear distinction between abuse of power and intelligent use of power.
At a deeper level, distinctions between obsession and an appropriate level
of attention on problems or goals may come into play. Common obsessions
include business problems but often include resentment of others or a fixation on protecting or enhancing personal image. A coach who sees the need
to make such a distinction clear must do so carefully, of course, without judgment, and keeping responsibility for judgment and decision making squarely
with the coachee.
6. Confidentiality and integrity are paramount in any coaching relationship. In a peercoaching relationship, these qualities are exponentially more difficult than
a relationship between a manager and an external coach. In peer coaching,
both parties must share responsibility for defining what information is to
remain private, what cannot remain private because of responsibilities to the
organization, and what information is impossible to hold in absolute confidentiality because the information may influence future decisions. Both parties also share an additional responsibility to avoid sharing information that
could put the other in an awkward position. Discussion of confidentiality in a

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Coaching for Leadership

peer-coaching relationship should occur frequently to ensure that both parties

are clear on the boundaries.
Discussing disagreements or people problems are common issues in
coaching and can present the full range of confidentiality issues. Talking
carelessly about other people can lead to damaged reputations, create barriers to effective collaboration and communication, and generate distrust.
However, conversations about dealing with others can be handled in a way
that maintains trust and integrity. The key is to examine reality by asking the coachee to identify and consider the interests, views, assumptions,
and capabilities of others as they relate to the situation being discussed.
By bringing in these perspectives, your conversation is grounded in reality rather than opinion and conjecture. Thus, you give credence to other
points of view, and your coachee can discuss the conflict or disagreement
without unfairly maligning the other party or avoiding responsibility by
placing blame.
7. See reality as it is, not as you wish (or fear). Work with data and avoid letting
hearsay, assumptions, opinions, or fantasies hijack the coaching conversation.
Here are a few areas where beliefs and desires outside objective reality may
be discussed if they are or will become reality:
a. A desire for someone to be different from who he or she is, or for their
decisions, interests, and goals to be different from what they actually are.
b. A wish for circumstances to be different from reality.
c. Beliefs about ones own strengths or limitations, or those of others.
d. Inaccurate beliefs about what is (or is not) within ones control.
Unchecked assumptions, inferences, and biases should be always be questioned or verified. Ask how your coachee knows this to be true. Ask questions like What did you see, hear, or read to reach this conclusion? Discover
the underlying thinking by asking, Tell me about your thought process . . . I
am curious if you made an assumption or inference to reach that conclusion.
If appropriate, ask Is there another meaning or interpretation you could
make from this data? Encourage the acceptance of reality (what they have
actually seen or heard) and uncover other possibilities by asking exploratory
questions. Dont forget that emotions are implicitly a valid part of reality and
who we are. Encourage, accept, and explore the coachees expression of feelings, perceptions, and concerns.

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Ten Suggestions for Successful Peer Coaching

8. Address potential obstacles to action plans. Ask what obstacles might prevent success
in taking the action being discussed. To help realistically predict obstacles, ask,
If we are talking about this in two weeks, what might prevent you from taking
the planned action?
Obstacles may not be intellectually challenging, but dealing with them
involves taking the time to anticipate, making a plan to deal with them, and
taking actions consistent with the plan. Sometimes, it may feel unnecessary
or even overly negative to ask about obstacles; however, providing space to
recognize obstacles and plan appropriate actions is a key part of the coaching
conversation. Frequently, goals are not achieved because of small things that
could be easily addressed. Peer-coaching conversations can help identify the
need to take these seemingly small actions.
9. Build in accountability. To support the coachee in achieving goals and following
through on commitments to action, always make a note of the commitments
and goals that have been created. Follow up in the next conversation to see if
the action was taken and what results ensued. You can also help the person
you are coaching by encouraging them to develop a habit of holding themselves accountable for commitments. Encourage them to establish reminders,
mileposts, or metrics to remind and reinforce the agreements they make to
themselves and others.
10. Feedback provides learning for everyone. Peer coaching provides a unique opportunity for both parties to give and receive feedback. Build observation and
feedback into plans to work together. If you have difficult feedback or lots of
feedback, schedule a separate meeting for providing the feedback and helping
the coachee understand it.
Remember that you are also part of the learning process. Ask for feedback on your coaching. What could I do next time to be a better coach for
you? might open the door for more receptiveness in exchanging meaningful
feedback. Your willingness to accept feedback is likely to increase openness
of your partner.
There are many causes of ineffective feedback, including lack of trust in
the relationship or in the intentions of the person delivering or receiving the
feedback. A coachs preparation for a conversation involving feedback should
include asking, What is my intention in providing this feedback? Am I giving
this feedback in order to advance my own goals, hurt someone, unfairly boost
the other persons self-esteem, or to save face?

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10

Coaching for Leadership

Conclusion
Peer coaching is an increasingly important and popular means of building
coaching skills and creating a culture of positive development. The skills are
similar to any coaching assignment but can be less expensive and a learning/
developmental experience for all parties. Thousands of pages have been written
on effective coaching, as they have with the original Ten Commandments.
Our suggestions may lack the authority of the original and are not likely to be
the last word on the subject, but they can point the way to the Promised Land
of successful coaching.

Notes
1. Robert M. Fulmer and Brian Hanson, Developing High Tech Leaders: Whats Different
and What Works, HR People and Strategy 33, no. 3 (2010).
2. Sir John Whitmore, Coaching For Performance (Boston: Nicholas Brealey, 2002).
3. Robert, Fritz Elements: The Writings of Robert Fritz (Newfane, VT: Newfane Press, 2007).

Dr. Robert M. Fulmer is academic director of Duke Corporate Education and

has held endowed professorships at Trinity University, the College of William &
Mary, and Pepperdine University. He is author or coauthor of over 150 published
articles and forty books, monographs, and editions. He has conducted executive
programs or coaching assignments in twenty-five countries.
John E. Brock is an independent executive coach and leadership development consultant in Durham, North Carolina. He is also a coach and facilitator in leadership programs for Duke Corporate Education, where he previously
directed the development of custom programs for the worlds leader in executive
education.

Coaching for Leadership, Third Edition. Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights
reserved. Reproduced by permission of Pfeiffer, an imprint of Wiley. www.pfeiffer.com.