Conducting Peer Assists

Abstract

{Excerpt} The experience that an organization has gained is its most important asset. Exit interviews are a way of capturing knowledge from leavers, but can only be relied upon once. Peer assists capture knowledge before employees leave, and in such ways that can repeatedly apply and strengthen good practiceas well as consistency across an organization. The formal use of peer assists as a management tool was pioneered by British Petroleum to help staff learn from the experiencesof others before they embark on an activity or project. Put simply, a peer assist is the process whereby a team working on an activity or project calls a meeting or workshop to seek knowledge and insights from a good mix of people in other teams. From the onset, the distinction between a peer assist and a peer review should be made explicit: without it participants will fall into the familiar patterns of peer reviews and little knowledge will be transferred.