Coaching for Performance - The GROW Coaching Model

Described in his book Coaching For Performance, by Sir John Whitmore, the GROW Coaching Model is probably the most common coaching model used in business today. The framework provides a way of structuring coaching sessions to ensure a balanced discussion between the coach and the coachee.

In a nutshell the framework consists of four parts:

Goal - agree topic, agree specific objectives, set aim
Reality - invite self assessment, offer specific examples of feedback, avoid or check assumptions, discard irrelevant history
Options - cover the full range of options, invite suggestions, offer suggestions sensitively, ensure choices are made
Wrap-up - commit to action, identify possible obstacles, make steps specific and timed, agree support

The GROW Coaching Model is a framework to facilitate discussion and should not be used as a rigid sequence of steps that must be followed. Think of it as a road map which you will use as a guide to reach your destination but be prepared to make diversions and detours if the circumstances warrant it.

Goal

To help people clarify their goal it can often be helpful if you ask if they can actually picture in their mind how things would be if they had achieved their goal - what would be going on if the issue had been resolved. Having a very clear, very detailed picture in your head of what you want to achieve can be an enormously powerful way of helping you to reach it.

It is vitally important to raise the awareness of the coachee about their degree of control (or lack of it) in respect of their goal. Sometimes people realise that they have much more control than they thought. Sometimes they realise they have no control over the end goal and they may need to re-define their aim as a performance goal. This may help them decide whether it's realistic and achievable too.

It also important to 'narrow the focus' and make it easier for them to find the first step(s) which they believe are realistic and achievable. Often this will be a process or a number of processes which will improve performance and lead toward the performance goal

However long the journey, it always begins with the first step; and the first step is often the hardest of all to take, so no matter how small it is it should be encouraged.

Goals should be time-phased, not too hard or too easy, and, ideally, measurable. Measurement may be by some objective or subjective, quantitative or qualitative method. If at any point it becomes clear that the goal is too easy, too difficult, or inappropriate, the coachee can change it if they want.

Reality

Using effective questions about reality helps coaches to raise the coachees awareness of their situation. They focus attention on what is actually happening and avoid preconceptions and analysis. Don't use the "Why?" question, it can be confrontational, leading to excuses, rationalisations and so on.

Effective questions allow the coachee's view of reality to become clearer, and avoid imposing the coach's own perspective. Nevertheless, good coaches will challenge a coachee's view whenever appropriate without becoming confrontational. This might best be achieved by asking open questions that invite them to look from different perspectives and in greater depth.

Ultimately, the aim of the coach is to raise the coachee's awareness and to concentrate their focus sufficiently to make some action on this issue seem possible and appropriate; in other words, to prepare them for thinking about options, the next stage in the discussion. And of course, to empower them to begin this process of change, the use of effective questions maintains or enhances the coachee's self-esteem and confidence.

Options

Questions in this section are designed to encourage creative, divergent thinking, release flair, and challenge mindsets and assumptions about boundaries, which can limit options.

'What if...' questions enable people to step outside their current perceptions of the situation. Examples such as 'What if you had more time?"; "What if you were the boss?"; "What if you had more money?"; "What if the obstacle did not exist?", "What if you knew the answer?' redefine the situation for the coachee and may produce insights and ideas otherwise blocked off to them.

Reserving judgement is a good idea, simply because prejudging ideas stops the flow and inhibits further contributions, and critically lowers confidence and therefore willingness to come up with any more ideas.

As a coach, you may want to write everything down so that all ideas are captured. However, do be aware that writing whilst listening may put the speaker off, it is best to reach some balance between writing and listening.

If you have some options of your own to offer, it is best to wait till after the coachee has run out of their own ideas. Otherwise, there is a danger of stifling their own potential for finding new solutions with your expertise. Of course, if they own the idea, they are more likely to make it succeed. If you give them the solution, they have a ready-made excuse if it does not immediately succeed.

By asking the coachee to see if there is a possible action step in each option, the coach can help break the assumption that certain options are too off-the-wall to be of any use. Even in options which seem too unlikely to be of use, the coachee may find some element which is practical and can help.

Finally, it is important to explore the costs and benefits of each option, so that a rational decision can be made about how to proceed. To help in this, it can be useful to give competing options with an arbitrary score to help separate them.

Wrap-Up

This stage is when the coach raises responsibility through questions. The conversation changes from one where the supportive coach helps the coachee explore the situation, to one where he or she generates commitment. Were this not to happen, coaching would not have taken place. All that would have happened was that coach and coachee would have had an interesting conversation around the topic.

The first step in generating responsibility is by SMARTening up the process goal that has been chosen. There is a need to be specific about what is to be done, and when it is to be done. Many people will identify the "When are you going to do it?' as the toughest question. The coach should not accept 'sometime next week' as an answer, but get it down to as specific as 9.00am next Tuesday.

The "What obstacles could you face?" question implicitly assumes that the coachee will have a hidden agenda, a fallback position, or be playing the 'Yes but...' game. By asking this question, this covert stance is forced out into the open and confronted. Asking about obstacles and how they may be overcome enables the coach to pre-empt excuses and for the coachee to have forethought about what to do if an obstacle does arise. In fact, most obstacles will turn out to be more imaginary than real.

The coachee may need support of some kind whilst undertaking his or her plan of action. Questions which help them identify and elicit this support can prove valuable.

Finally, a question to find out if the coachee is fully committed may reveal this is not so. Low ratings on commitment (seven or less) should prompt a coach to ask "What would need to happen to make it ten?" it may be only at this late stage that a barrier is uncovered, and a secondary coaching session may be needed to find ways around this - or the goal itself may need to be re-assessed.

Used with the GROW Coaching Model questions for coaching your people to higher performance.

What questions or comments do you have about this model? Please send them to resource @ mentoric.com.

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