Ten Reasons You Should Have a Peer Coach
Consider this post a public service announcement. If you don’t have a peer coach, you need to go recruit one. It will be one of the best things you do this year for yourself and your newly recruited peer coach.
How do I know that? Because I’ve had scores of leaders tell me so. As I’ve written here before, peer coaching is an important component of just about every leadership development program we offer at the Eblin Group – whether it’s the Next Level Leadership® group coaching program, the Next Level Intensive program, the Next Level Leader online course, or our Leadership Health and Resilience program. We’ve been promoting and teaching peer coaching for over 15 years now and, every year, we hear more and more from the leaders we work with about how much value they get from peer coaching.
For example, a couple of weeks ago I was leading an online check-in for about 40 organizational leaders in the Leadership Health and Resilience program and I asked them what was making the most difference for them in strengthening their own health and resilience. Overwhelmingly, the top response was peer coaching. I asked them to share in the chat thread the reasons why peer coaching is so beneficial to them.
Here’s what they wrote:
Accountability – Regularly scheduled peer coaching conversations help you stay accountable to your best intentions.
Perspective – Regular peer coaching provides a much-needed opportunity to get off the dance floor and go up to the balcony to observe the patterns of what’s really going on.
Improvement – The questions your peer coach asks you can help you identify ways to improve your performance on whatever is most important to you.
Relationships – Regular peer coaching builds a trusting, supportive, non-judgmental relationship with someone who understands what you’re dealing with.
Camaraderie – When your organization encourages peer coaching, you develop a sense of community and camaraderie that flows from everyone sharing in a common developmental experience.
Reducing Mental Clutter – Having a regular safe space to think out loud reduces the mental clutter of lots of thoughts swirling around in your mind.
Affirmation – Having someone listen to your story and point out the progress you’re making over time is incredibly affirming.
Encouragement – Likewise, having a peer coach offer words of encouragement as you take on something intimidating or challenging is an affirming momentum builder.
Empathy – It’s hard to overestimate the value of having an empathetic set of ears as you work through a problem or challenge.
Celebration – It’s also hard to overestimate the fun and good vibes that result from celebrating a well-earned win with your peer coach.
Convinced yet? One or more (it’s probably more) of those ten reasons should be enough to convince you that you need to have a peer coach. The good news is I’ve made it easy for you. All you have to do is take my 15-minute free course, How to Get and Be a Great Peer Coach, and I’ll teach you everything you need to know to get started with peer coaching.
And when you get started with peer coaching, send me a note and let me know what the biggest benefits are for you and your peer coach.
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