Ground rules

Why ground rules come first

Your peer meetings change shape from one time to the next – the group picks a format depending on what people want to bring. What does not change is this set of rules. Agreed together during the opening workshops and named again at the start of every meeting, they are the constant that keeps the variety safe.

The method is adapted from Kollegiale Beratung,¹ a peer consultation format from German research and higher education, with the cross-disciplinary version developed for mixed-domain groups.² We have moved it from its original teaching setting to ours: dRTPs from different domains supporting each other into leadership.

The rules everyone abides by

• Confidential. What is said in the group stays in the group.
• Equal footing. No one speaks from rank or seniority. The least senior voice may hold the insight that unlocks a problem – which only surfaces if the group is safe enough for them to say it.
• Everyone takes a turn. Over the programme each person brings their own questions and helps with everyone else’s. It is reciprocal by design.
• You learn when it is not your turn. Helping with someone else’s challenge is not a favour – it is where you pick up methods, language and cross-domain moves you will reuse. No meeting is “about” only one person.
• It compounds. This is the same group over months, not a one-off. Trust built early is what lets harder questions come up later.

Good things to bring

Real, current, work-relevant leadership questions – leading a piece of work when you have no line-management authority; making your contribution visible; a difficult conversation with a manager or stakeholder; deciding whether to put yourself forward for a role; a structural barrier you keep hitting.

Out of scope

Deep technical or domain-specific questions (the group can't guarantee the expertise – take those to colleagues or domain experts), conflict between members of this group, and personal and wellbeing matters unrelated to work. For anything in confidence, contact the coordination team at any time.

The session frame (always the same)

Whatever format the group picks, every meeting follows the same arc. Keeping the bookends fixed is part of what makes the group feel predictable and safe.

Stage	What happens	~time
Check in	A quick round so everyone arrives and is heard, and a space to share how people have acted on the group’s advice on things they brought previously	5 min
Reaffirm the rules	Name confidentiality and equal footing out loud	2 min
Choose today’s format	Decide what the group wants to bring (see Session formats)	3 min
Run the format	The variable core	60–75 min
Close	Each person: one take-away and, where relevant, a next step	10 min

Roles (they rotate)

Assign these fresh each meeting. Rotating them means everyone practises moderating – a leadership skill in itself. Roles can also rotate during a session: when the group brings several cases, switch the moderator and timekeeper for each one, so everyone gets a chance to bring a case, listen, and hold a role.

• Moderator – every session; keeps the group to the chosen format, and does not solve things themselves.
• Timekeeper – every session; keeps each stage to time and protects the closing round from being squeezed.
• Case-giver / consultants / scribe / process observer – used by some formats; see Session formats.

Moderator tips

Protect the quiet voices – invite them in by name if needed. Lean on the timekeeper so the closing round is never squeezed. And keep a light record of who has brought a case, so turns are shared fairly over the months.

References

1. Häuser-Huth, J. (n.d.). Das Allgemeine Promotionskolleg: D1 Kollegiale Beratung für Promovierende – Kurzinformation. Zentrum für Qualitätssicherung und -entwicklung (ZQ), Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz. zq.uni-mainz.de (PDF, in German). Summarising Tietze, K.-O. (2013), Kollegiale Beratung: Problemlösungen gemeinsam entwickeln (6. Aufl.), Rowohlt.
2. Heinsen, E. & Putortì, G. (2016). Fachübergreifende Kollegiale Beratung für Tutorinnen und Tutoren. Greifswalder Beiträge zur Hochschullehre, 7, 66–75. uni-greifswald.de (PDF, in German)