Convu was launched in 2019 with a mission to make good listening available on demand wherever and whenever it is needed. It’s founder, Marc Roudebush, is a seasoned trainer, executive coach and “coach’s coach.” (In addition to serving corporate clients, Marc is a member of the coaching faculty at Mind’s At Work, which trains professionals in Immunity to Change coaching, and at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he coaches doctoral candidates in leadership.)

 

In the hundreds of programs and workshops he has taught, Marc noticed that, with the right prompts and support, most people are able to provide a good baseline of listening. It intrigued him that many organizations that were committed to growth and learning and to creating a “coaching culture” underutilized this resource. Marc began to experiment with a “learn by doing” approach that could help people to learn the basics of peer coaching quickly.

 

In the Fall of 2019, in partnership with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, he launched the Harvard Chan Peer Coaching Initiative. Twenty-seven master's students enrolled; their active participation yielded a wealth of findings:

• Non-professionals can apply key coaching distinctions relatively quickly. Like riding a bike, they can get started and “learn by doing” under conditions of safety and feedback

• Participants value good listening over “answers.” They did not miss having an expert to tell them what to do. 

• Peer coaches want BOTH to trust / feel safe with their partner AND to be challenged by them

• Regularity of meetings and formality of the meeting structure were success factors

• Based on 118 individual “session reflections,” over 90% reported feeling “more motivated, engaged and empowered” after  their session 

 

The next chapter in the Convu story is the one that you can help to write. Contact us here to participate or help create Convu's next Peer Coaching Initiative. 

 

The vision is to create an open community--the Convu Commons--where people can easily connect with a “peer”--someone who is likely to deeply understand and empathize with their identity and/or situation--and be assured that that peer will offer them high quality listening. As a by-product, participants will continually improve their own listening skills, through the feedback and guidance provided on the Convu platform.