Coaching Skills for Peers: Extending Influence

Many people think of coaching solely as a management technique. Although coaching skills provide managers with the means to get business results while creating solid relationships, the value of coaching in other arenas is often overlooked. Utilizing coaching skills is also beneficial when cooperating and collaborating with others, developing influence within the organization, and getting effective business results.

Peer coaching is not a new idea, but is not widely practiced. In fact, there are significant barriers to its effective use. In some organizations, the "command-and-control" style of management is so entrenched that position power seems to be the only lever available to get others to consider a request.

More and more, though, organizations are flattening out, abandoning a rigid hierarchy, and encouraging people to come together across boundaries, divisions, and departments to unite efforts and talents in ways that may not have been possible before. Eliminating territorial attitudes and interdepartmental rivalries, and encouraging teamwork provides for endless possibilities.

Peer coaching requires many of the same coaching skills that managers utilize when coaching Representatives. However, peer coaching also demands a special sensitivity to relative situations. For example, a manager may address an issue directly: "John, I need to get some numbers from you on the Simpson project."

With a peer, a less direct approach is needed. Peer coaching requires asking questions, gaining an understanding of the other person's issues and viewpoints, and identifying areas of shared interest or concern. Peer coaching doesn't necessarily involve quid pro quo - "I'll do this, if you'll do that." But, peer coaching does involve identifying areas where one team member can be of assistance to another team member, or where the combined efforts of team members provide the most beneficial results.

As with all coaching skills, the most important piece of peer coaching is listening to understand. Learning more about various priorities allows people to identify areas for collaboration, while strengthening relationships and seeing team members as valued individuals. A team member's greatest untapped resource may be the opportunity to reach across boundaries, combine strengths, and achieve personal goals as well as the goals of the organization.

Quick Tip

    PEER COACHING REQUIRES:
  • Seeing the "big picture"
  • Asking questions
  • Understanding the other person's point of view
  • Identifying areas of shared interest/concern

If you would like to read more information on coaching skills for peers, managers, and leaders, please visit CMOE or you can speak with one of our Regional Managers who will be able to answer your questions. You can reach us at (801) 569-3444.

More Resources

Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting

More Coaching Information:

Related Articles

New Definition of Retirement
A new definition of retirement is evolving. It's one that's focused on continual exploration, learning and growth.
An Example of Allowing a Desire to Arrive on Its Own
I don't know why, but it seems we trip over the "allowing" part of the Deliberate Attraction formula more often than the other two parts. The Deliberate Attraction formula gives us a simple description of how to leverage the Law of Attraction so we can attract more of what we DO want and enjoy.
A Call To Do Better
I'm calling you out. Issuing a Challenge.
The Great Marketing Reframe
From grimaces to stomach knots, talking about marketing seems to take on the sound of Charlie Brown's teacher, with so many syllables of "wah WAaah, wah WAah, wah." What does this mean? For starters, I find it terrifying ironic that, when it boils down to it, truly - marketing and coaching are actually ONE.
Is Your Life Coach Manipulating You? Five Signs to Watch For
Did you hire a "life coach" to help you sort out your complicated existence? The coach is a growing occupational choice for folks who feel the call to lead others who may feel overwhelmed or wish for personal fulfillment but don't know where to begin.As someone who belongs to entrepreneur networks, I've come across quite a few life coaches.
Smelling the Roses: Better Living Through Savoring
"Stop and smell the roses," people often say. Then they smile ruefully, because everybody knows there isn't enough TIME to stop or, as my daughter says, to "chill.
Controlling Behavior, Loving Behavior
When Zack and Tiffany started counseling with me, they were on the verge of divorce after 16 years of marriage. Neither really wanted to end the marriage, yet both were miserable.
Two Leadership Strategies: Don't Lose Your Mind & Be a Coach
Are you feeling overwhelmed, a lack of confidence or under a ton of pressure? Are you trying too hard to make something work and focusing too much on trying to fulfill other people's needs and expectations? You may have "lost your mind!"My small still voice often speaks to me in cryptic one-liners. I'll never forget the first time I heard the quiet whisper, "You've lost your mind.
Seeing Your Energy At Work
Our bodies are made of pure energy. With Quantum physicswe learn that the cells of our body are made of molecules, which are made of atoms, which are made of sub-atomic particles.
Top Ten Things You Would Never Hear a Coach Say (or then again?!)
When coaching, it's all about the client, be that as a professional coach, or a line manager/business owner using coaching skills in their own business, with their own people. But it's so easy sometimes to turn the tables and be the client.
Negotiating Difficult Life Transitions
Life is a process of beginnings and endings. In both life and nature, there are times when things move slowly and don't seem to change very much.
New Developments Make Christian Life Coaching "The" Career Choice for Work-At-Home Professionals
I have watched for a couple years now, as my wife's career has really taken off and I must admit, I am impressed. At the age of 55, having had so many life experiences, it just made me sit up and take notice that something huge is happening.
Expectations Can Get In Our Way
There are times when we truly look forward to something just as there are times when we totally dread something. What is the difference between anticipation with joy and anticipation with anxiety? Where and how does that expectation actually take place? If we think about it, the expectations take place in our minds.
Become More Self-Confident
Signs of Self-ConfidenceLet's explore the meaning of self-confidence by taking a quiz. Read the list of statements below and check which ones, in your opinion, are signs of self-confidence.
Can You Say No?
As a manager you are constantly being asked to do things - by your boss, by one of your fellow managers, by the head of another department, by one of your staff.Your working life is a constant bombardment of requests coming from all quarters.
Online Counseling - a Timely Happenstance
Online counseling may be the latest and greatest improvement intherapy. It seems to be perfect for this fast-paced world withmany workers who sit by their computer screens all day long.
Say Adios to the Fear of Rejection!
Do you ever get an uncomfortable feeling in your stomach when you have to approach someone?In situations like this does your mind go blank?This is not unusual. That feeling is often the fear of rejection.
How to Make $100,000 Dollars as a Personal Trainer - Part A for Attitude!
My name is Greg Ryan. For the last twenty years I have counseled thousands of personal trainers, fitness directors and gym owners on how be successful in the health and fitness industry.
Assertive Communication: 20 Helpful Tips
Most of us know that assertiveness will get you further in life than being passive or aggressive. But few of us were actually taught how to be assertive.
Be Better at Business - And Lose Weight, Too!
In business, individuals often secure the services of a success coach like myself to "fix" certain areas of their professional life. The desired fixes typically range from a desire for a promotion and/or a salary increase, to on-the-job performance enhancements, to improving one's personal productivity, to boosting one's level of enthusiasm about their job.