Peer coaching and the gift of feedback
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been building up my coaching experience with a range of clients, clocking up my coaching hours and developing my approach and style. I’m at the stage where I’m preparing for my final assignment and coaching qualification with Henley Business School.
A really useful way of gaining more experience and knowledge is reciprocal peer coaching. This is when we pair with another coach and take turns to coach each other. This could be a one-off round or take place over a series of sessions.
Peer coaching is helpful for several reasons. It gives coaches an opportunity to experiment with tools and techniques, to try things out in a safe space and to learn from each other through giving and receiving feedback. It’s also a great way to build up our number of coaching hours for accreditation with coaching bodies, for example the International Coaching Federation (ICF). Another key benefit is more practical, and that is preparing for our assessment.
In the last month, I’ve made various new connections with other coaches who are also going through this process as part of Henley’s Professional Certificate in Executive Coaching (PCEC). We have to prepare 30-minute recorded sessions, with transcripts, so that we can discuss them with our coaching supervisor in one-to-one sessions. Finally, we submit our best recording as part of our assessment.
These are genuine coaching sessions, not role-play or staged in any way. I’ve been finding them really helpful, as a coachee as well as a coach, because I’ve had the opportunity to work with some different coaches and they’ve helped me raise my own level of self-awareness and to motivate me to take action. For example, the fact I’m writing this post is thanks to one of my coaches.
In some ways, the need to produce a 30-minute recording feels a bit like a driving test, in that during this relatively short time we have to display various core competencies which a trained assessor will listen out for. The rules are strict about the timing (no less than 27 minutes and no more than 33).
At Henley we’re using the ICF Core Competencies and our tutors have been developing us based on the Professional Certified Coach (PCC) Markers. The stage before PPC is actually the ACC level (Associate Certified Coach), but Henley is already stretching us to aim for the higher standard.
Trying not to crash the car
I have found the experience a bit stilted at times — some of us can be a bit self-conscious as we try to tick as many boxes as we can while not crashing the car. Although the ICF makes it very clear that the markers should not be used as a checklist in a formulaic manner for passing the evaluation, it takes some time to get used to this. That’s why my approach has been to do as many of these practice sessions as possible, and with a range of different coachees. I’m noticing my confidence and ability is growing over time.
I’m feeling reasonably comfortable with the mechanics of being recorded. I’m used to using Zoom for coaching and for other meetings. For me, it’s the time pressure and the knowing that I need to give clear evidence of my coaching competency. This awareness of the compliance aspects can get in the way of having a natural coaching conversation.
An unexpected benefit though is how helpful this process has been for gathering feedback.
Ultimately, I’m not worried about the assessment. Before long I will have a suitable recording for submission. What I really want is to become a better coach, so that I can really serve my clients and help people. That’s what’s drawn me into coaching — and, thankfully, that’s a key motivation of other coaches too. What I’m discovering is that coaches tend to be really good at giving and receiving feedback.
As someone who has been in the workplace for over 20 years, I’ve managed a lot of people and have had a range of bosses. It’s remarkable to reflect on how little feedback I’ve actually received over that time, never mind feedback that is genuinely useful.
This week I’ve had the opportunity to work with a coach from another cohort who has been particularly generous with his time and with his feedback. My first recording fell short of the timing requirement, so he was kind in offering me another opportunity the next day, bringing me a different topic for the focus of our coaching conversation.
The feedback I received afterwards was incredibly useful and some of the most actionable feedback I’ve received in a long time. Given that this was from someone I’d only just met, it was even more remarkable.
It can be really difficult to receive feedback from another person — whether it’s praise or constructive criticism. The most important thing is to establish trust. If you have trust between you, and the feeling that the other person cares about you and genuinely wants to help, feedback is golden. I really appreciate the detailed and thoughtful feedback I’ve received this week, and it has spurred me on to want to further my development.
Far from being a box-ticking exercise, I have learned more about myself as a coach and have some tangible ideas about what I need to do to improve.
