Nesta’s Creative Enterprise Programme provides practical materials and skills training for people who want to plan, build, communicate and launch a creative business. This guide to peer coaching has been developed by the Social Enterprise Academy to support learners taking part in the Nesta Creative Enterprise Programme delivered in partnership with the British Council.

Key findings

• Learning from peers at a similar stage of business development is valuable in terms of knowledge sharing and network building.
• Peer coaching (also known as co-coaching) is a confidential process where two people, who are at a similar level, support each other to work through challenges they are facing.
• Peer coaching is based on an equal relationship between peers.
• Rather than giving advice or providing solutions, a peer coach’s role is to actively listen, provide a sounding board, and most importantly, help the other person find insight and solutions for themselves.

This coaching framework has been designed for creative entrepreneurs to support each other and help each other face their business challenges. It is an introduction to the main concepts and offers guidance towards personal and organisational development. It provides an introduction to peer coaching, and describes the skills and behaviours needed to foster successful peer coaching relationships between creative entrepreneurs.