WHITMORE’S GROW MODEL
Use this when you want to help people to make better decisions and solve problems related to their career.
John Whitmore suggests that the GROW model is a simple but powerful way of structuring a coaching session. He likens it to thinking about planning a journey in which you decide where you are going (the Goal), establish where you are at present (the Reality), explore the various routes (the Options) and be committed to reaching your destination (the Will to succeed). The model can be depicted as:
The various constituents of the model can be summarised as:
Establish the Goal: Look at the behaviour that the other person wants to change and express this in terms of a goal that they want to achieve.
Examine the current Reality: Encourage the individual to avoid trying to solve problems before considering where they are at present.
Explore the Options: After exploring the reality, turn the person’s attention to determining what is possible.
Establish the Will: Now that the options are clear get the individual to commit to specific actions in order to move forward towards achieving their goal.
Whitmore stresses the importance of the coach not considering themselves to be an expert in the other person’s predicament and not trying to solve their problems for them. He describes the ultimate role of the coach as being a facilitator who helps the person to select the best options.
HOW TO USE IT
The metaphor of organic growth is a good way of thinking about the model. The essence of good coaching, using this model, is asking good questions. Here are some useful questions that you could ask your client in each stage:
- Make sure that their goal is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound (see Theory 97) by asking them: ‘How does this relate to their career objectives?’ ‘When will they know that they have achieved their goal?’ ‘How confident are they that they can achieve this objective?’
- Don’t allow them to start coming up with solutions before they’ve even considered where they stand at present. Ask: ‘What is happening to them now?’ ‘How do they feel about what is happening?’ ‘What have they been doing to date to address the issue?’
- Avoid coming up with the options. Remember these may be your options as to how you would tackle the situation. You should however get the individual to consider the viability of each option by asking: ‘What are the possible repercussions of adopting this option?’ ‘What could they do if something goes wrong?’
- Having explored the options, you now need to get the individual to commit to specific courses of action by asking ‘What will they do next?’ ‘When will they do it by?’ ‘How will they know that it’s been done?’
Notice that all of the questions asked are open questions. Make sure that when the person you are coaching responds to your question you listen in an attentive and non-judgemental manner. In this respect your body language may be more important than what you actually say.
QUESTIONS TO ASK
- Have I made absolutely sure that the individual appreciates their present situation before embarking on any developments?
- Have we explored all of the options and have I got them to commit to action?