Peer Coaching

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PEER COACHING GUIDELINES

Over the years I have always worked directly with people one-on-one or in groups, in person or online. By creating Design Your Return, the goal was to be able to help more people by being as effective as possible even without being present. 

I’ve introduced “Peer coaching” exactly for this reason.

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Peer Coaching goals

The work of reflection that you are doing by yourself is fundamental. If you were to neglect it going directly to share your ideas with others, you would be like a twig subject to the wind.

But, once you have done your part, knowing that you have an appointment where you will share your work with someone becomes fundamental:

because just the fact of having a shared deadline, by which you should finish a task, gives you a boost and makes you more efficient

Because writing on a piece of paper is the first step in taking responsibility for what you want but saying it out loud to someone else, makes it more real and helps you realize how you were feeling while saying it (and this is precious information)

Because otherwise, you would only have your own perspective: if the other listen to you carefully, she can enrich you by offering her point of view or by reflecting on you, like a mirror. Unfortunately, we are always the last to realize things that are obvious to those around us

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How to do it respectfully

Regardless of our goodwill and positive intentions, we must pay attention to how we approach our peers. Your peer is not your friend, you don’t even know her.

Of course, any future evolution of this relationship, chosen by you, is more than welcome, but today you need to keep in mind that is a meeting with a professional topic.

Subjects of the meetings should be:

In the journey you are on, you are addressing issues that are also very personal and intimate. You talk about work but also about your values, your vision of life, what was keeping you stuck, your dreams for the future. We are exposed and vulnerable, so we need to approach each other with respect and kindness

A good rule is to ask your peer “what she feels comfortable sharing”, or to say that you will listen to “what she feels good sharing” and if you want to go deeper, ask the person in front of you if that’s okay with her

There are 6 different nationalities in the group of women participating in this test. You belong to different cultures, have different stories, different characters, even though you have a subject in common

Do not assume that the other woman in front of you has the same habits and way of relating to others that you have, but rather be curious to learn and respect her diversity. This exercise will also be very useful for you when you will start acting and interacting to realize your project, especially in a culture that is anything but simple like Switzerland

It may help you

sharing an agenda of what you want to do during the call

At the beginning of the call, establish the “rules” of the relationship

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Also, observe your reaction to the other person’s story. Sometimes the person in front of us talks about issues that are a sensitive point for us, usually, this is a sign that we also have some work that needs to be done on the topic

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