Peer Assist

When it can be used:

• When you are starting a new project or activity
• When you face a problem that another group had in the past
• When you are planning a porject that is similar to one that another group planned in the past^[1]

Step by Step

Before the Meeting

• Choose participants from a common background, or an experienced team
• Give them briefing materials in advance, so they have time to prepare the meeting
• Schedule enough time for the meeting
• Appoint a facilitator

During the Meeting

• Define the context and explain the purpose of the peer assist
• Discuss issues, needs, and expected outcomes of the problem
• Encourage participants to ask questions and bring out details of the situation
• Examine participants option to solve the problem
• Receive the participants feedback
• Record the ideas proposed
• Write an action list of key lessons

After the Meeting

• Explore the feedback of the participants and the options given during the meeting
• Explore options given during the peer assist
• Develop a set of lessons learned for future actions
• Update participants with lessons learned

Facilitator's Role

The facilitator plays three main roles which are the follows:

Leadership role

• To focus on providing a direction to the group when the leader fails to fulfill their role
• To stimulate and encourage constructive debate between group members
• To support members of the group, helping them to bring information, and to build new ideas
• To participate when the group is interacting poorly or in the wrong direction, by promoting new discussion
• To promote team building in a cohesive, interactive, and productive way

Referee role

• To regulate and maintain order of the group discussion, discouraging participants from talking at the same time
• To protect members, and ensure that all contributions to the discussion are treated equally
• To deal with problems, and to control people within the group, allowing everyone to participate freely
• To manage the time, and adhere to the meeting timetable ensuring completion of the agenda

Neutral role

• The facilitator is neutral, and pragmatic, because he takes a detached look at the discussion
• He encourages feedback, promoting discussion of each point of the meeting. ^[2]

Job Aids