Emma has been an executive coach for the last 15 years. Over the years, she has realized that her clients achieve outstanding results when they are more active in defining their problems and exploring solutions. Emma feels that her coaching sessions are a success because she can tap into her clients’ intrinsic motivation.
How does she do this – tapping into clients’ intrinsic motivation?
Emma is a firm believer in the GROW Model. She says, “Its simplicity makes it powerful.”
According to the peer-reviwed digital library WorkplacePsychology.Net, one of the most popular coaching models in the world is the GROW Model (Whitmore, 2017).[i] The word GROW is an acronym for the four steps in the Model:
Goal – What you want to achieve?
Reality – Where are you now?
Options – What are your options?
Will (or Way Forward) – How can you bridge the gap?
In each of these four steps, the coach acts as a facilitator by asking the right questions that enable the clients to realize their own potential.
With the GROW Model, the coaching session serves as a platform for the clients to walk through their goals and aspirations, obstacles, strengths, and resources to arrive at specific actions they need to achieve their goals.
Indeed, you would have heard of this phrase:
“Don’t force people to change. People change only when change is their choice.”
When people are personally active in generating their action plan, they feel responsible and accountable for delivering results. They become more self-aware and self-motivated to stick to it. That’s precisely what the GROW model does.
How to use the GROW Model?
Do you also want your coachees to plan their journey instead of waiting upon you to offer advice or direction?
If yes, then take the following steps to structure your coaching conversations based on the GROW Model.
Step 1 Determine the Goal
The first step is envisioning a clear, well-defined goal that the coachee wants to achieve. The goal should be not just SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound, but inspiring and challenging as well. Help your coachee think about how they want things to be in the future. It could be something that they want to resolve at work or in life.
Spend sufficient time to let clients explore and refine their goals. Don’t define it for the coachee. Let them frame it their way.
This will help coachees create a personal connection with their goals.
Some sample questions to use:
- What is your goal?
- Why do you want to achieve this goal?
- Why is it important to you?
- What do you want to change?
- What would happen if you don’t achieve this goal?
- If you achieve this goal, what will you have that you don’t have now?
Step 2 Diagnose the Current Reality
As soon as people define their goal, they begin to seek ways to achieve it. Most often, they forget to familiarize themselves with their current situation. When this happens, they miss uncovering information that may prove crucial to finding impactful solutions.
In this step, help your coachee become aware of where they currently are, how far they are from their goal, and what’s stopping them.
Now, you need to be a bit watchful. Sometimes, the coachee’s views of reality are coloured by their own assumptions. Make sure they examine their current reality objectively. You can do this by asking them to look at the bigger picture, consider past feedback and analyse objective evidence to support their views.
Only then will there be an accurate and honest view of their current reality.
Some sample questions to use:
- On a scale of 1-10, where are you to your goal?
- What steps have you taken to achieve your goal?
- What has contributed to your success so far?
- What is working well right now?
- What isn’t working or what is missing?
- What stops you from working towards your goal?
Step 3 Discover the Options
Once your coachee has outlined the goal and described the current reality, it’s time to find out possible options to achieve the goal.
Encourage your coachee to think creatively about the different things they can do to achieve their goal. Remember not to judge or censure. There are no wrong answers. It’s all about being positive and enthusiastic about whatever they want to do.
You may share your suggestions but let the coachee do most of the talking.
Some sample questions to use:
- What are the possible options?
- What are the pros and cons of each option?
- What else can you do?
- What is the risk of choosing this option?
- What factors influence your choice of options?
- Which option do you think is a low-hanging fruit?
- What option do you like the best and why?
Step 4 Devise the Way Forward
By this stage, the coachee will already be confident about how they can achieve their goals. Now, you need to get them to commit to specific actions. The idea is to conclude with a clear plan of what action they need to take, by when, and what resources they need to access.
A good idea will be to establish a concrete way to track progress.
Some sample questions to use:
- What are the specific steps you are going to take?
- What is the first step?
- When are you going to start?
- How will you ensure you fulfil your commitment?
- Do you expect to meet any obstacles? How will you overcome them?
- How will you keep yourself motivated till the end?
- How will you track progress?
An important point to note while using the GROW Model is that it need not be a linear sequence of Goal – Reality – Option – Will. Depending on the need of the coachee, you may revisit any of the steps at any point. Use your intuition to determine the flow of the conversation. For example, after examining the current reality, the coachee may feel the need to revisit the goal, or after devising the way forward, the coachee may want to explore some more options. In such cases, let the conversation flow naturally.
Where best to use it?
The GROW Model is a dynamic coaching framework that is used in a variety of situations[ii]:
- It is a useful tool for managers and leaders to coach their employees to foster a high-performance culture.
- Life coaches can use the GROW Model to motivate their clients to follow the action plan to achieve a behavioural change.
- Sports coaches can coach underperforming teams to overcome their problems, improve decision-making, and inculcate a collaborative mindset.
- Coaching parents and teachers to motivate children to improve academic performance, learn new skills, and enhance personal well-being.
A quick conclusion on how to try it
It’s time for a little self-coaching!
Do you have a challenge or a goal? Apply the GROW Model to your situation. Write down the questions you’ll ask at each step. Pay attention to any hesitations or inhibitions you experience in giving honest answers to the questions. For example,
- Do you feel overwhelmed by the number of challenges? What you did to uncover the underlying cause?
- Do you have subjective biases and assumptions of reality? How did you find a way to go around these to arrive at an objective view.
- Do you get stuck with exploring more options? How do you push your imagination to come up with not-so-obvious alternatives?
- Create a template for an action plan complete with milestones, timelines, and resources.
While applying the GROW Model in your coaching sessions, use active listening skills to clarify and summarize clients’ responses, and guide them through the conversation with open-ended questions.
Links
https://expertprogrammanagement.com/2017/01/the-grow-model/
https://in.pinterest.com/pin/464011567853932794/
https://www.slideteam.net/grow-coaching-model-diagram-powerpoint-template-slide.html
https://www.thecoachingtoolscompany.com/the-grow-model-explained-for-coaches-questions-tips-more/
https://in.pinterest.com/pin/689965605387388092/
References
Whitmore, J. (2017). Coaching for Performance: The Principles and Practice of Coaching and Leadership (5th ed.). London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing.
Wilson, C. (2007). Best Practice in Performance Coaching: A Handbook for Leaders, Coaches, HR Professionals and Organizations. London: Kogan Page.
Alexander, G. (2006). Behavioural coaching — the GROW model. In J. Passmore (Ed.), Excellence in coaching: The industry guide (2nd ed., pp. 83-93). London: Kogan Page.
[i] https://workplacepsychology.net/2018/04/09/grow-coaching-model-the-fascinating-backstory/