The GROW Coaching Model Explained

WorkCompass is a massive advocate of performance coaching. When you speak about performance coaching, the GROW coaching model will often come up in conversation. The GROW model is a tried and tested model around structuring coaching sessions. Now if you’ve never heard of this model, here’s the GROW coaching model explained.

The Four Steps of the Grow Coaching Model

The GROW coaching model is made up of 4 steps and gets a little deep and metaphorical for a minute. This coaching model should be used as a blueprint for planning a journey. Let’s break the acronym down:

1. Goal – Where are you going?
2. Reality – Where are you coming from?
3. Options – The different routes or options to get there.
4. Will – Then you chart out the process to achieve the goal and ensure your motivation is at its maximum.

This coaching model’s power lies in its ability to lead to clearly defined results through four steps. The employee, person being coached, is active throughout the process in identifying problems and developing ideas for solutions. So, that means that anything which comes from the coaching session has a great chance of sticking and ultimately being achieved.

Like anything else, the success of a coaching trajectory depends on the time, effort and energy invested into the coaching process by the person in question. This coaching model is no different.

This coaching model is all about learning through experience, insight, reflection, making choices and pursuing them.

How to use it

The beauty with this type of coaching model is that it doesn’t require you to be an expert in your client or coachee’s specific situation to be able to coach him. With GROW coaching it offers a framework using general questions to elicit goals, obstacles, options and more. This is all achieved without the need to offer advice or force any particular direction. The role of the coach in this instance is to simply provide a vehicle which is dynamic for his/her employee or client’s development.

Applying GROW coaching to your business, organization or life.

We’ve just shared a basic outline of GROW coaching. This is not enough for a full coaching pathway development. A coach needs to combine these steps with their listening skills and rapport making talent.

However, you can start integrating the model into your business today by sitting down with your employee or client and applying these steps above along with SMART goals on small projects and gradually scaling up.