The GROW Model of Coaching

The GROW Model of coaching delivers a method of looking at how the coaching conversation develops. It gained popularity as a result of John Whitmore using it in his book 'Coaching for Performance'.

The first question "What do you want?" can often be quite a challenging question to answer because clarity is frequently missing. So this is where the coaching conversation is key to success, because it's goal is to enable clarity. When there is clarity around not only what is wanted but what is really really wanted then you can move on to the next question "What is the current situation?"

This second question again is about developing clarity so the gap can be evaluated between the current situation and the desired or wanted situation. Once you know the gap you can then begin to explore the various options by asking the third question "What could you do? / What options do you have?"  This question enables you to generate a range of options for closing the gap.

Now of course closing the gap requires you to take action so here the coach asks "What will you do?" You may notice there is a difference between what you could do and what you will do. Implied in this question is also what are you willing to do to achieve you goal. Are you willing to do what it takes?

So the key is finding action steps you can take that are easier than you had thought and that you can achieve. Then noticing the results and recycling with the questions again until it becomes second nature and you do this process automatically. When this happens of course your success rate accelerates. Some times people may think this is a straight line process whereas in fact more often than not, it is not. Focus, persistance and action are the keys to success.