Recently I took three courses on LinkedIn Learning that taught me about how to be a coach. One thing these three courses had in common was that they all taught the GROW model of coaching. GROW is an acronym that stands for Goals, Realities, Options, and Will. I think this is a great process to use for coaching a team member, and in this article, I will explore what I have learned about this coaching model.

Goals

One thing about setting goals that I learned from these coaching courses is that when you coach your team member to set goals, they should be setting stretch goals. These are goals that will require them to learn and grow. By accomplishing these goals, they will have accomplished something outside of their comfort zones.

Another thing about setting goals is that they should be achievable. If you set goals that are too ambitious and that are not realistic or achievable, it can be demoralizing for your team member when he fails to achieve his goals. On the other hand, completing a stretch goal will empower your team member with new capabilities, and you can celebrate your team member’s accomplishments when he achieves his goals.

When coaching someone to identify goals, there are several questions you can ask. For example, you can work with your team member to identify what she wants to achieve. You can also ask her how what she wants to achieve fits into the bigger picture of her life or career. Something else you can do is to ask her what she can focus on this week or this month to help her reach her long-term goals.

Setting goals is about identifying the outcomes your team member wants to achieve. They can be both short-term and long-term goals. By identifying these goals, you can help your team member set a direction for her life. And if she sets the right goals, she can get excited about the new possibilities ahead of her.

Realities

When coaching your team members and setting goals, it is important to identify the realities of the situation your team member is in. This includes assessing the current situation and identifying any progress your team member has made on achieving his goals. You can also identify any current or future obstacles that will hinder progress in achieving those goals. When you work with your team member to have him identify the current situation and any barriers to his progress, you then empower him to understand those barriers and to come up with a plan to eliminate them or to circumvent them.

In addition to having your team member identify barriers and obstacles, you can also work with him to identify any resources he has available to him. This could be other people or physical resources available to him. If you help him to identify resources, you may lead him to discover resources that can help him to move past the obstacles that are in his way.

Another thing to do is to have your team member identify any qualities he possesses that could help him achieve his goals. Ask questions to uncover skills or capabilities he has that he can put to use in achieving his goals.

Options

Another part of the GROW model is to brainstorm to identify your team member’s options. Have your team member review what he has already tried. Have him brainstorm the possibilities open to him. Also work to identify who could help your team member to achieve his goals.

Ask your team member what the biggest step is he could take right now to make progress towards achieving his goals. Also have him identify a small baby step he could take right now to get started. This will give him a path forward towards achieving his goals.

Another interesting question you can ask your team member is to think about how someone else would achieve his goal. This can stimulate him to think beyond his own approach and to consider solving a problem from a different perspective.

Another thing to do is to brainstorm with your team member to identify his strengths and how he can apply his strengths to achieving his goals. Also work to identify any roadblocks that get in the way of achieving his goals. When your team member can identify his strengths and any roadblocks in his way, he can plan how to use his strengths and how to move past the roadblocks in his path.

Will

The Will portion of the GROW model is about identifying next steps. You started by helping your team member to create some goals. Next you worked with her to identify the reality of her current circumstances. You also brainstormed options with her. Now you can coach her to identify her next steps.

As part of setting next steps, it is important to have your team member get clear on what she is committing to. You should also have her identify when she will accomplish it (i.e. by what date) and how you will know she has accomplished it. This builds some accountability into the process.

Other things I learned about this step of the GROW model is that you should have your team member track her progress and to identify how you will know she has achieved her goal. Also gauge how committed she is to achieving her goal. If your team member is not truly committed to the goal, she may not accomplish it.

To increase a team member’s commitment to achieving her goals, work with her to clearly articulate and understand why she wants to achieve these goals. Have her write down not just what she wants to achieve. Also have her identify why she wants to achieve it. Then the final step of the GROW model is having her identify how she will accomplish her goals. The next steps she will take to completing those goals.

Conclusion

The GROW model of coaching includes four steps: Setting goals, looking at the realities of the current situation, reviewing options, and choosing the next steps. When using this model as a coach, it is important that the person you are coaching works with you on these steps and that you lead the person through identifying the answers to these questions, not supplying the answers yourself. As I understand coaching, you are working with a team member to help her to discover her own goals and to create her own strategy to accomplishing those goals.

As the coach, you ask leading questions to direct your team member through the GROW model of coaching. You are not providing answers or creating an action plan for your team member. Instead, you are helping him identify his goals and to create an action plan himself. You are also helping to identify how he can find a way to be accountable to his goals and his action plan.

Coaching is a great way to support a team member and to help her to learn and grow, and the GROW model is one approach to coaching that you can use. From studying this model, I think it has the potential to be a great way to approach coaching and I intend to use it myself when working with the people I am mentoring. I encourage you to try this model as well if you are coaching or mentoring someone.