A recent survey by the Search Institute into the ‘Power of Social Capital’ reported 4 key findings. One of these was that that participants in a development project had strongest developmental relationships with near-peers.
Near-peers are described as:
…individuals close in age and experience that can lend support and advice.
WHO DO YOU KNOW GLOSSARY
I like the idea of a near-peer. By setting up ‘peer learning’ we categorise people into their area of expertise, location, grade, specialism, etc. By creating near-peers, those constraints can be ignored and we can widen the net. Someone with a similar of tenure of experience in an organisation, subject area, job role, etc., can be a near-peer and hierarchical seniority . It diffuses the struggle for control and replaces the baselines we use as cultural markers with new measures that are learning and development based.
Who are your near-peers?
What relationships could you create with people who have similar experience?
How do you find them?
Lost and Desperate 
Such relationships are often not created, they just happen.
But the culture of the organisation needs to promote such relationships, with the positives for mentor and mentee (or coach and coachee) being properly recognised. In particular, the former must receive credit for this work with other expected outputs being adjusted accordingly.
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