Doing No Harm: Perceptions of Peer Coach Training at a State College

Drawing from the wildly successful use of the executive coaching model in the private
sector, this session will describe how one public institution created their own coaching program,
and equipped not faculty or administration, but rather students to coach each other. This study
explored the motivation of the coaches to devote their time to this effort without financial reward
or recognition. The presenter designed, proposed, promoted, and instituted s2s Coaching.
The purpose of this case study was to explore the perspective of student coaches in the s2s
Coaching program at Palm Beach State College following completion of training in the spring
term of 2013. An additional research question was to assess the coaches’ perspective of the
coach training and their motivation or interest in becoming a student coach. Lastly, the
recommendations of the coaches for future coach training sessions are assessed. Coaches were
interviewed and document review was included in the methodology.
Among the findings that emerged was the discomfort that the coaches felt in maintaining a
professional or institutional role while delving into potentially personal matters, which in their
normal discourse would make them a friend. This fuzzy line between coach and friend
engendered discussion and recommendations for future training and discussion of this topic with
the other coaches. The findings are revealed by a discussion of these categories.