The Grow Model

Just what is the Grow Model?

The GROW model is one of the most popular coaching frameworks used by career coaches. Grow Model is known as a coaching framework used in conversations, meeting and everyday leadership to unlock potential and possibilities. The grow coaching model was developed by Sir John Whitmore and his colleagues at performance consultants international. It was developed to create strong leaders.

Career coaches use the grow model to coach a client who are looking for a job or looking to make a difference in their lives. The grow career coaching model represents the left-right phase a client goes through in his growth journey. With the support of the coach, the client is able to discover skillsets, work experiences and knowledge in order to find the right job or take the right steps to improve their lives. This concept opens clients up to their own potential within this solution-focused framework.

A career coach will help you to narrow down your options and set a realistic timescale for each step you plan to take. The core of great coaching is helping your clients to increase their awareness, find options and solutions and finally to take actions. The grow approach promotes confidence, self-motivation leading to increased productivity and personal satisfaction.

The GROW Model is a simple, four-step process that helps you structure coaching and mentoring sessions with team members.

GROW is an acronym for the following components:

G stands for Goal

The Goal stage helps the coach to establish the client’s career goals and transferable skills from previous work experiences and explore the industries & job roles that he/she is interested in. it is important that the goals are as specific as possible and measurable. It ensures clarity instead of vagueness in your clients’ goals. Goals must be agreed on between all the parties involved.

Here are some Grow coaching questions for the Goal stage:

R stands for Reality

This involves the client and coach having a discussion about the current situation and what barriers currently exist between now and achievement of their goals. This step is helping you and your clients to gain awareness of the current situation. It is important that your client tries to describe the situation as objectively as possible.

Here are some Reality coaching questions for the Reality stage:

O stands for Options

This is an opportunity for the coach to determine what is possible meaning all of the possible options available for the client to reach their objective. Options could be behaviours, actions or decisions that lead the client towards her goal. Let your client brainstorm and create a long list of ideas that come to mind. Purpose is not to find the right answer but to create and list as many alternative courses of action as possible.

Here are some Options coaching questions for the Options stage:

W stands for Way Forward or Will

The last stage is to get your client to commit to specific actions in order to move forward toward their goal. In doing this, you will help them establish their will and boost their motivation. It doesn’t matter if the W stands for Will, Wrap-up, Way forward it all comes down to action and commitment of the client, because without that the three prior stages have no value. You and the client establish a clear plan for the next steps.

Here are some Options coaching questions for the Way Forward stage: