What are Peer Coaching Circles and how do they work?
How (and why) did they get started?
What Circle participants say about Peer Coaching Circles
How can I get involved?

What are Peer Coaching Circles and how do they work?
Peer Coaching Circles are small, highly focused learning groups of between 4-6 members with comparable levels of responsibility from organizations of similar sizes.  Members meet monthly for three hours to discuss current projects, share insights and materials, support and challenge each other, and develop action plans.  Circle members come to meetings prepared to work on individual goals or problems related to their organizations, such as coping with staff, dealing with symptoms of burnout, or planning a new program.  Each member commits to taking action between meeting to address their goal. Trained facilitators ensure highly focused meetings and tangible results for each member.  Regular evaluation occurs about the process, outcomes and facilitation.

Peer Coaching Circles are based on state-of-the-art principles of adult learning that indicate people learn best when they actually apply new information and materials to real-world, current challenges.  The same principals indicate people learn best when they share ongoing feedback about their experiences, and that the person with the problem is the expert on the problem.  Peer Coaching Circles provide participants the opportunity to learn from their own and others' experiences and to immediately test and apply their learning in the workplace. 

Who participates?
Circles are comprised of individuals with comparable levels of responsibility from organizations of similar sizes.  Depending on our pool of applicants, IAAF may consider:

• A group for executive directors with 5 years or less experience in the top job
• A group for executive directors with more than 5 years experience in the top job
• A group of development staff members only
• A group of mid-level arts professionals
• A group for board members only
• Or some other configuration that suits the community the Circle is based in

Where will these Circles meet?
In 2006, four Circles will be established in partnership with Local Arts Agencies throughout Illinois.  An additional two Circles will be formed in the Chicago area. 

When do they meet? 
Circles meet monthly for about three hours. The first meetings will be scheduled for September of 2006.  Meeting times will be determined based on the preferences of the participants.

What is the fee to participate? 
The program fee is $100 per individual participant.  You or your organization must be a member of the Illinois Arts Alliance to participate in the program. 

Will fees cover all of the costs of the program?
Participant fees help to offset expenses but do not cover the entire cost of the program.  Program support has been generously provided by the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts. 

Will everyone who applies be accepted?
Participation is limited to 6 members per Circle in communities with a Local Arts Agency program host.  If IAAF is unable to accommodate everyone who applies, we will begin a waiting list for 2007.

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How (and why) did they get started? - a Peer Coaching Circle program history
In 2001, with support from The Chicago Community Trust, IAAF commissioned the Cultural Policy Center at the University of Chicago to complete a literature scan for materials examining leadership succession in the nonprofit arts.  Our initial plan was to gather models and best practices and make these existing resources available to our constituents in Illinois.  To our surprise, the scan found that no such arts-specific material existed.  Existing guidelines and tools designed for other nonprofit fields were often drawn from for-profit models.  While these were helpful, they did not address the unique complexities of arts management, where leadership is often divided between artistic and managerial. 

Having identified an absence of succession-related planning materials, IAAF engaged two researchers to modify a job satisfaction survey conducted by CompassPoint, a San Francisco-based service organization, and administer it to executive directors and emerging leaders in Illinois.  IAAF's survey garnered an astonishing 65% response rate - an early indicator of the high interest level in this topic.  Though survey results indicated a relatively high job satisfaction level, one respondent summed up her dedication to a job that often creates a great deal of stress thusly: "This is a job I love, but I wouldn't wish it on anyone else."  The survey also warned of an upcoming generational transfer of leadership that the surveyed organizations were clearly not prepared for - 70 % of executives planned to leave their current posts in the next five years, and three out of four organizations surveyed had no succession plan in place.

Using these survey results as a springboard, IAAF launched a series of discussions, focus groups and further research.  The results of these efforts are a number of programs designed specifically to meet the stated needs of the community.  Specifically, our constituents indicated the need for support systems for new, mid-career, and well-established leaders of arts organizations to overcome some of the challenges of stress and isolation that seem to be an inherent part of these positions.  In response, IAAF developed and implemented Peer Coaching Circles, a program based on a model developed by Authenticity Consulting and piloted with great success in the arts community by the New York Foundation for the Arts.  During 2005, IAAF piloted three Circles - two in Chicago and one in Rockford.

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What participants say about Peer Coaching Circles
Arts professionals, like many of their colleagues in the nonprofit sector, chose their profession based on their passion for the work and a desire to make their communities stronger.  But much like the fabled cobbler's children who have no shoes, the combined stresses of fundraising, managing finances, high stress and long hours regularly sap the pleasure from a job chosen specifically for its capacity to create and sustain joy.  Peer Coaching Circles are geared toward making the life of arts leaders better by improving individual arts professionals' ability to do their jobs and empowering them to renew their passion for their work.

The clearest testament to the effectiveness of IAAF's Peer Coaching Circles is this: two of the three pilot Circles continue to meet even after the close of the formal pilot program, and their facilitators, who were provided a stipend for the initial pilot period have chosen to continue meeting with their groups on a volunteer basis. 

Evaluations from the three pilot groups indicate that Peer Coaching Circle members have experienced:

• increased productivity as a result of effective support from other Circle members,
• an improvement in overall motivation
• increased learning through networking and exposure to the diverse perspectives of their fellow Circle members

In addition, many members indicate that having time set aside specifically to deal with challenges - be they personal, professional or both - is enormously energizing. 

Here are some Circle members' comments about their Peer Coaching experience:

• "Simply creating a structured way to consider problems/challenges is hugely beneficial.  It gives a much needed perspective on bigger issues and underlying problems.  Because it's difficult to get out of a routine, day-to-day way of thinking, it's very valuable to have these monthly set-asides where that's "my job': giving thoughtful consideration to the "big issues.'" 

• "Just the sheer knowledge that I am not alone, that others have the same or similar challenges and struggles [is a benefit].  I have learned a lot from the group because even though we are all arts organizations, we have different approaches to problems and past experiences."

• "Just to be able to have two hours once a month to decompress out of the office is a great benefit to me - [it is] just as good as getting a massage." 

• "This is a very beneficial program that can increase capacity and effectiveness of organizations."

• "Because of the partnerships formed [as a result of Circle membership], several arts organizations have grown and improved."

• "Being accountable to the Circle in achieving goals is very motivating."

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How can I get involved?
In autumn of 2006, IAAF will launch a second round of Peer Coaching Circles. IAAF has partnered with Carbondale Community Arts, the Decatur Area Arts Council, the Evanston Arts Council and the McLean County Arts Council to establish Circles in their communities. In addition, four new Circles will be established in the Chicago area.

If you are an individual interested in becoming a Circle member, please contact either Lisa May Simpson if you live or work in the Chicago area, or the host site in your community (see above) if you are in Bloomington, Carbondale, Decatur or Evanston.

Click here for a Member Suitability Assessment to see if you're a good fit for the Peer Coaching Circle model.

If you have questions about Peer Coaching Circles and how the program is run, please see "What are Peer Coaching Circles and how do they work?" (above) or contact IAAF program director Lisa May Simpson at simpson@artsalliance.org or 312.855.3105 x15.

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Illinois Arts Alliance/Foundation
203 North Wabash
Suite 1920
Chicago, Illinois 60601
Phone: 312.855.3105   Fax: 312.855.1565
info@artsalliance.org