One of the unintended consequences of the constant right-sizing and flattening of our organizations ...

1. Use Your Staff Meeting for Peer-to-Peer Coaching
One of the unintended consequences of the constant right-sizing and flattening of our organizations
is that we now live in a world where managers just don't have time to do all that's required of them
in their daily jobs, let alone find time for coaching their employees.
Yet coaching is a critical job for any manager who wants to improve her team's performance.
Research shows that training alone can improve performance by 22%, while training accompanied
by coaching (that is, collaborative problem solving, feedback, and evaluation) can improve
performance by 88%.
So what are time-constrained leaders to do?
In our research at Ferrazzi Greenlight, we've found an extraordinarily rich and robust coaching
resource sitting around us each and every day -- our peers. And the ideal venue for peer-to-peer
coaching is already built into our schedules -- the staff meeting. You can use staff meetings the way
a sports coach uses practice time: to run new plays and build new, better habits. The time devoted to
coaching during staff meetings can also propel team members to encourage each other "off the
court."
The staff meeting is one of the only times when all of the "players" are together on the field. It's also
the one time the manager has total control of the agenda and can micro-coach the movements of the
team, so that new muscle memories are built under her watchful eye. On a winning sports team, the
coach certainly spends time with individual players, but also has group practices where the team
runs plays with the coach, who sometimes gives the entire group advice, and sometimes singles out
individuals. Coaches then do the same during actual games.

2. Further Reading
The locker room conversations and peer-to-peer encouragement and correction that happen among
great sports teams occur because the best athletes know that it's not just individual performance
that matters -- it's the collective team performance. If they fail, they fail together. Our research has
shown that the same peer-to-peer dynamic can be used in business as a powerful driver of
performance.
We recommend these ways to unleash effective peer-to-peer coaching in staff meetings:
1. Shift the meeting from report-outs to collaborative problem solving.
Change the structure of the meeting from individuals reporting their own performance and
successes to collaborative problem solving, where the leader or a member of the team brings a topic
for group discussion.
The importance of this exercise is that team members begin to see their peers as a rich source of
advice -- one that they might not have gone to before. This type of collaborative problem solving
usually yields better decisions -- and is a more enjoyable way to work. Just be sure to follow a few
rules:
Set the topics in advance.
Distribute a one-page topic description beforehand for people to reflect on, which includes a specific
question that you want the group to address.
In the room, break into small groups of three or four to debate the topic, in order to gain higher
degrees of candor.
Don't take decision-making control away from the individual who brought the question to the table.
This should be a rich source of diverse input, not an abdication of the responsibility to the group,
and not an exercise in reaching consensus.
2. Facilitate periodic, open 360-degree reviews.
In "Open 360s," each team member gives very honest, constructive feedback to peers. The sessions
are designed to get individual feedback and instill greater candor and intimacy within the team in a
safe, and even caring, fashion.
Each individual hears from everyone at the table about what they admire most about his or her
performance for no more than 30 seconds each. This sets up respect and safety and helps the
individual welcome input from team members. Then, there is a second go-round where individuals
offer constructive criticism. This time, each person shares in this way: "Because I care about your
success, and your success is critical to this team's success, I might suggest ... "
Here are a few rules of thumb for the person receiving the feedback:
After each go-round, you may ask clarifying questions. You may not be defensive. You may not push
back.
There is no obligation to change. You don't necessarily have to do anything with what's suggested to

3. you.
At the end, say, "Thank you," and recognize that all this data is yours to chew on and do with what
you will.
This exercise is a smart way to open up, through a formal process, the peer-to-peer feedback that
should exist at all times. It also helps people see that their team members are resilient and that,
perhaps, they can accept this kind of feedback at other critical times. When you couch feedback in
service of others, instead of punitively or judgmentally in service of oneself, you lead with the
affirmative and establish a level of respect that breaks down potential hostilities.
Professor James O'Toole and my late friend-professor Warren Bennis found in their research that
teams who practice and exhibit candor in the workplace outperform their counterparts. They also
discovered that whatever momentary discomfort leaders and employees may experience is more
than offset by the fact that the unveiled information helps them make improved decisions.
3. Give 'em homework and hold 'em accountable.
Have each person in the room identify one behavior that they personally want to work on between
now and the next meeting. Have everyone "buddy up" with another person in the room and require
that, between now and the next meeting, they speak by phone, or in person, two or three times to
check in on progress on their self-selected goal. As the leader, you have to assure that this offline
peer coaching actually occurs by asking individuals to share their successes, or to request additional
peer support if they feel stuck.
As leaders, we all know that we need to do more coaching. So let's use the forum we've already
established -- the staff meeting -- to encourage our team members to complement our efforts. Those
who adopt this strategy may find themselves on the rare dream team where members can look at
each other across the table and can say, "I'm not going to let you fail."
Want to help with our research? Please answer this survey so we can see how many companies
perform these practices.
http://feeds.harvardbusiness.org/~r/harvardbusiness/cs/~3/y2oLlwq5lsc/