Effective peer coaching forums aren’t just conversations—they’re structured environments for clarity, insight, and strategic momentum.
When high-performing leaders sit around a table, strong opinions and sharp experience can create breakthrough insight—or stall out in complexity. The difference is in the format and facilitation skill of the independent coach.
Over the past 10 years, we have intentionally observed and studied coaches who deliver value in rooms full of experienced decision-makers. One of the most practical formats we’ve seen is used by seasoned Coach Rick Johnson in Phoenix Arizona. Over the last 20 years, he’s led structured peer groups that consistently produce clarity, direction, and high-value recommendations in under 60 minutes.
This article explores what makes peer forums work—not as theory but as a repeatable, high-impact structure that coaches can incorporate into their practice.
A Clear Peer Coaching Structure Is What Creates Depth
When strong minds and strong egos share space, ideas multiply—but so can assumptions. Structure is what keeps the group focused and the conversation moving toward something meaningful.
The most effective peer forums follow a disciplined, two-stage flow:
1. Clarifying Questions (Not Advice)
Participants ask only questions—no opinions, no solutions. These are designed to expose the root issue, not just clarify surface details. Skillful questions challenge assumptions, reveal friction points, and shift focus from symptoms to causes. They are curiosity based, open, reflective questions.
Examples:
- “What patterns are repeating?”
- “Where is tension showing up most?”
- “If this problem were solved, what would be different tomorrow?”
This step often goes 2–3 rounds, one question per person, no interruptions. The person presenting the issue just listens. No responding, no defending.
It is vital for the skillful facilitator to ensure everyone’s “ego is checked at the door” to create authenticity, transparency and a “flow state” for the group. Not an easy skill to develop, but there are key characteristics that coaches can embrace and practice to accelerate their skill level.
2. Recommendation Rounds (Without Debate)
Once the issue is clear, the group moves into recommendation mode. Each participant shares one recommendation per round. It’s short, experience-based, and specific.
Examples:
- “One approach others have used is…”
- “In similar situations, this move has worked well…”
- “This could be a place for a counterintuitive strategy.”
The Facilitator’s “skill of inquiry” wins the day in this round, along with their ability to manage strong type A personas that often wish to contribute more than warranted in the moment. Finesse is key.
Why This Peer Coaching Format Works
- It creates safety without softness.
Clear boundaries eliminate the risk of grandstanding, tangents, or interruptions. Everyone contributes. Everyone learns. No one dominates.
- It respects the intelligence in the room.
You don’t need filler. You need structure that unlocks sharp thinking, fast. “We are the smartest person in the room” reigns.
- It keeps things moving.
Sessions last an hour. Every minute has a purpose. This makes it ideal for coaches working with busy executives who need depth without drift. Urgency accelerates value creation.
How Coaches Use This Format
Gravitas coaches apply structured peer formats in a variety of ways that scale with their practice:
- Client Peer Forums
Monthly or quarterly sessions with multiple clients, creating shared insight and strong retention. - Roundtable Intensives
Strategy-focused sessions, often run as part of a retreat or facilitated workshop. - Internal Executive Teams
Use the format to facilitate leadership alignment within organizations. - Productized Offerings
Some coaches use this structure as the basis for a recurring, premium group program or peer advisory model.
The format is easy to replicate across settings and client types, allowing coaches to deliver consistent value with minimal prep.
Real-World Peer Coaching Example
One CEO came into a peer coaching forum convinced she had a strategy problem: her growth plan wasn’t sticking. The room entered three rounds of clarifying questions—no advice, just focused inquiry. Patterns began to emerge. It wasn’t the strategy itself, but the execution that kept stalling out. More specifically, it was her COO’s reluctance to commit to a direction.
By the time the group entered recommendation rounds, the issue had shifted from “What’s the right plan?” to “How do I have the conversation I’ve been avoiding?” That pivot unlocked clarity, action, and ultimately, movement.
This is the kind of insight peer forums are built for. It can be exposing a blind spot or finding the right solution. It’s not just faster decision-making. It’s sharper diagnosis.
Situational Flexibility
Not every issue requires a deep dive. Some conversations are transactional or experiential: “Who are you using for X?”
In those cases, the coach can shorten the format, move to recommendations faster, or even skip formal rounds. The value isn’t in rigid adherence—it’s in knowing when to adjust.
Situational flexibility is also a vital skill for a masterful coach, facilitator, and best developed in their own peer forum with other coaches, honed in role playing and “on the field of play”.
Why Peer Forums Matter
Structured peer forums aren’t just a tool—they reflect a belief that real insight comes from disciplined inquiry, not one-way advice. When done well, they create the conditions for:
- Accelerated insight – Participants get to clarity faster by separating the signal from the noise.
- Cross-functional perspective – Diverse industries, management experience and leadership styles surface new ways of thinking.
- Better decisions, not just more input – Because the process slows things down before speeding them up.
This isn’t about consensus or cheerleading. It’s about challenge, curiosity, and the space to think clearly—with others who are committed to the same.
Trust as a Performance Lever
High-performing peer groups don’t work without trust. But in executive settings, trust isn’t built through vulnerability exercises—it’s earned through structure, professionalism, and repeated respect for the process.
The real value comes when participants know the room is safe, time is honored, and every voice carries weight. In that environment, people don’t hold back—and the group gets to the truth faster. Trust isn’t a soft concept here. It’s what allows sharper feedback and faster progress.
Expanded Peer Coaching Use Cases
While peer forums are often used for executive groups, the most successful, seasoned coaches are applying the same structure in other strategic contexts:
- Founder councils – Helping startup leaders think beyond operational decisions.
- Innovation roundtables – Facilitating collaboration across functions in large enterprises.
- Advisory board prep – Sharpening client thinking before board or investor discussions.
The model flexes. The value holds. The Coach grows, develops and matures. Experience matters.
Final Thought
When peer forums work, they don’t feel forced or scripted. They feel clear, energizing, and focused. That’s the result of intentional design—not personality or luck.
For coaches looking to scale their impact, deepen their value, and protect their time, structured peer forums offer a proven path forward.
And, they create tremendous “professional joy”…a Trusted Advisors highest state of satisfaction beyond income, success and learning.
Rick Johnson is a Senior Seasoned Coach based in Phoenix, AZ. He and his partner John Cosgrove have facilitated high-performing executive peer groups for over two decades through his firm, Arizona Growth Advisors.