Category: Skills

Peer consultancy

12/1/2024

‘The currency of real networking is not greed, but generosity.’ (Keith Ferrazzi)

One of the skills in Action Learning is to distinguish between a presenter who is wrestling with a question from one who has become completely stuck. In the former case, it’s often most useful simply to sit with the presenter in silence while the question does its work. In the latter, the facilitator may offer the presenter an option of ‘peer-consultancy’, if it might help break the mental deadlock. In order to do this well, however, and to ensure that ownership and agency remain with the presenter, the facilitator can follow a specific sequence of interventions and process steps:

Pause the questions for exploration phase of the Action Learning round.
Invite the presenter to crystallise the crux of the issue for them now, which may have moved on from what they had raised initially in the bidding round or opening presentation.
Outline the peer-consultancy steps for set members as a whole, so that they are clear about what will happen next and what they will be invited to do.
Invite the presenter to step back from the group to a place in the room where they can still listen-in, or to turn off their camera and listen if the set meeting is online.
Explain to the presenter that they will not be expected to respond to anything at all that they hear from peers.
Invite the peers to share insights or ideas, framed very tentatively as, ‘If I were in the (presenter’s) situation, I think I might…’, e.g. ‘…be thinking/feeling’; ‘...have this question in mind’; ‘...do X’.
Invite the presenter to re-join the group, or to turn their camera back on.
Reiterate to the presenter that they do not need to respond to anything that they have heard.
Ask the presenter, ‘Where are you at in your own thinking now?’
Move to the questions for action phase of the Action Learning round.

A few words of caution. First, beware of introducing the peer-consultancy approach without checking in with the presenter first. If the presenter is deep in thought, such a shift in approach may feel premature of patronising, as if inferring that they’re unable to work out a solution for themselves. Second, beware of any formal or informal (e.g. age, gender, race) hierarchical dynamics in a group. Presenters may feel that they ought to respond to all insights out of respect for those who shared them, or obliged to agree with ideas proposed by someone they regard as an authority figure.

8 Comments

Sharp

2/11/2022

26 Comments

‘If the blade is not kept sharp and bright, the law of rust will assert its claim.’ (Orison Swett Marden)

‘Clients value moments when a (coach) listens in a way that allows them to know that they are being heard, shares a relevant reflection, or asks a question that makes it possible to see an issue from a different perspective. By contrast, the hope that (coaching) might make a positive difference may be terminally undermined by selective or inattentive listening, awkward or self-serving personal disclosures or interrogative lines of questioning.’ (Julia & John McLeod, The Significance of Being Skilful, Therapy Today, BACP, November 2022).

Writing in the context of counselling and therapeutic practice (which I have taken the liberty of re-applying to coaching here), McLeod and McLeod comment that practitioners often associate skills practice with training at the start of their career, rather than with an on-going development journey throughout their career. Many of the skills themselves are common to ordinary human relationships. ‘(Coaching) skills can be understood as comprising the application of generic interpersonal and communication skills for a specific purpose.’

It's as if an effective coach takes normal skills, hones them to a very high standard, then applies them intentionally and in a focused way to enable change with-for a client. A challenge lays in how to do this well, with wisdom and discernment, given that there are so many dynamically-complex factors in a client relationship and context that can fundamentally influence what the client will experience as beneficial. ‘The implementation of a skill in a real-life situation requires a capacity to improvise in response to what is happening in the moment.’

This is where on-going critical reflection and development is so important, perhaps with a supervisor or mentor or in an action learning set. ‘By creating opportunities for revisiting deeply ingrained ways of relating to others, the process of developing (coaching) skills can be both emotionally challenging and life-enhancing…(including) a capacity to maintain skilful and responsive contact with clients in situations of emotional pressure, such as the client becoming demanding, angry with the (coach) or withdrawn.’ I agree. So – how do you stay sharp?

26 Comments

Peer consultancy

Sharp

Nick Wright

Archives

Categories

Peer consultancy

Sharp

​Nick Wright

​Archives

Categories

Nick Wright

Archives