Coaching with the GROW model

GROW is a four-step shape for a coaching conversation. It helps someone reach their own answer instead of being handed yours, which is usually what makes it stick. It is a good backbone for a mentoring chat or a one-to-one.

The four steps

• Goal — what do you want from this, today and further out? Make it specific.
• Reality — what is actually going on now? Facts, not assumptions.
• Options — what could you do? Draw these out of the person before adding your own.
• Will — what will you do next, and by when? End on a concrete step.

Using it well

• Ask more than you tell. Open questions do the heavy lifting.
• Sit with a silence. The useful answer often arrives just after it.
• Resist jumping to advice. The goal is their thinking, not a demonstration of yours.

When not to

Coaching is not always the right mode. In a genuine emergency, or when someone simply lacks information only you hold, just tell them plainly and coach another day.