How great leaders build teams that coach each other

Executive overview

Most leadership thinking focuses on what the leader does — giving feedback, holding accountability, maintaining team energy. The missing piece is making those responsibilities the team's own.

Co-elevation reframes team membership as a social contract: peers commit to pushing each other toward a shared mission, not just relying on the leader to do it.

The core insight: a great leader's job is not to coach the team — it's to ensure the team coaches each other.

The back channel problem

• Back channel conversations — criticism shared about teammates that would never be said to their face — are the most damaging behaviour in high-performing teams.
• They are partly indulgent, partly cowardice; either way, they don't improve the team.
• The "meeting after the meeting" is a direct sign critical information is being withheld in the room.
• Eliminating back channels requires a new social contract, not just good intentions.

Co-elevation as the social contract

• Co-elevation means the team is committed to lifting each other toward the shared mission — celebrating, critiquing, and supporting each other.
• Most teams care about each other but don't see it as their job to raise each other up. Both elements must be activated deliberately.
• Elf Beauty's CEO Tarang makes this explicit at hiring: "You will grow further and faster here than anywhere else — in exchange, you cannot be defensive."
• The promise creates a recruiting advantage; the exchange creates accountability.

Practices over mindsets

• Don't focus on mindset change. Focus on high-return practices (HRPs).
• You don't think your way to a new way of acting — you act your way to a new way of thinking.
• Once people adopt practices and see the value, beliefs shift on their own.
• Over 3,000 teams studied to identify which practices consistently move the needle.

Building the relational foundation first

• Peer-to-peer coaching only works on a foundation of genuine care and psychological safety.
• Energy check: monthly practice where each team member shares their energy level (0–5) and what's draining it — personally and professionally.
• This shifts energy and resilience from being an individual responsibility to a team responsibility.
• Self-disclosure through energy checks builds the empathy required for candid coaching.

The open 360

• Everyone takes a turn as the subject.
• Round 1: each person says "What I most admire and respect about you is X."
• Round 2: each person says "Because I care about you and your success matters to ours, I might suggest…" — then gives candid feedback.
• The framing of care is not optional — it's what makes the feedback land differently.
• Do not run this exercise with a team that lacks psychological safety; build the relational foundation first.

The four types of peer feedback

Traditional teams only allow one type of feedback from peers informally. All four are now on the table:

1. Feedback on ideas — challenging and stress-testing each other's thinking.
2. Feedback on performance — holding each other accountable for results, not just leaving it to the manager.
3. Feedback on competencies and skills — flagging capability gaps relevant to the work.
4. Feedback on style — naming behaviours that shut down others or undermine psychological safety.

Recognising these as distinct categories makes it easier to give permission for each one explicitly.

Stress testing

• A team member presents: here's what I've achieved, where I'm struggling, where I'm going.
• The team is assigned to challenge all three parts: question the achievement, name performance gaps, surface risks, offer ideas and support.
• This turns organic feedback (which rarely happens) into a structured assignment.
• Any team member can invite a stress test without waiting for the leader to introduce it — a powerful entry point for teams new to peer feedback.

The 5-5-5 practice

• 5 minutes: the person describes a problem they're genuinely stuck on.
• 5 minutes: the team asks questions only — no advice, no advice disguised as questions. The goal is richer data and self-revelation.
• 5 minutes: the team gives direct, double-barrel advice.
• The subject's only required response: "Thank you."
• Optional close: a yes/no/maybe where the subject says which suggestions they'll act on, decline, or explore further.
• Key reframe: peer feedback is data, not a directive. Removing the authority dynamic makes the whole process lighter.

Entry points for teams not yet doing this

• Easiest path: the leader names the shift and adopts these practices explicitly.
• Alternative: any team member volunteers themselves for a stress test or 5-5-5, frames what they need, and invites the team in.
• One person going first often unlocks others — most people are waiting for someone else to take the first step.
• Leadership here means going first, regardless of title.

On celebration

• Constant drive without celebration is not a good way to run a team.
• Celebration is fuel — it sustains energy and positivity.
• Most high-drive leaders underindex here; it requires deliberate attention.