Many of us assume that coach and mentor relationships must occur between an employee and a manager or member of company leadership. But mentor relationships between peers—especially people with different skills and experiences—can be incredibly powerful for personal and professional development. Coaching is a collaboration, something done with another, not at them, and it can unlock growth for employees on both sides.
Because the GROW coaching model is so adaptable, it’s quite useful for peer-to-peer mentorship conversations. GROW stands for Goals, Reality, Options and Will, and this framework establishes a structure for these mentorship conversations while giving employees some freedom to ask their own questions and set their own expectations.
For each step in the process, the person in the “coach” role asks open-ended, neutral questions to help their peer gain insight into where they are currently and where they’d like to go.
Here are some possible questions to ask for each step in the GROW process:
- Goals. What do you want to achieve? What will be different when you achieve it? Why do you want to achieve this? Why is it important for you to accomplish?
- Reality. What is happening now? Who is involved? What is their desired outcome? Is your desired outcome the same? What is most likely to happen in the future?
- Options. What could you do? What ideas do you have based on past successes? What haven’t you tried yet?
- Will/Wrap-up/Way forward. What will you do? When will you do it? Who else needs to be involved? When should you expect to see results?
The GROW coaching process builds self-awareness and accountability, and when encouraged throughout an organization, it promotes a culture of learning at every level of the organization. When used peer-to-peer between employees with different roles, skills, perspectives or experiences, it also allows employees to see and understand themselves from a new angle.
Watch the video ![👇]()
Want more? Check out our professional development options.
The post GROWing Through Peer-to-Peer Coaching appeared first on Xenium HR.