Coaching Questions to support you in using the GROW model as a leader
Another great method for setting good goals is the GROW model. It is a simple but effective tool that enables you as a leader and coach to have a conversation with your employee about goal setting.
It links into SMART because the first thing you do is explore the GOAL your team member wants to set.
GROW is an acronym for:
G – Goal
R – Reality
O – Options
W – Way forward.
Tips on using GROW
Goal: First of all, set a SMART goal and make sure it is written down.
Reality: As part of the goal setting process, explore the REALITY of the situation. Where is your employee in their development at this moment in time? What evidence do they have to confirm that this is true? What is happening on a daily basis that provides information that this is really happening?
Options: Once your employee has defined their GOAL or “where they want to be” and the REALITY of the situation they are in a position, they need to look at all the OPTIONS for getting where they want to go. It is important at this stage that they explore every opportunity; there should be no limits here. Allow your employee to think without limits: “If there were no barriers, what could I do?” In other words, allow them to brainstorm and get all their ideas out of their head and onto paper.
Way forward: Once they have a long list of possibilities to choose from, you can ask your employee to commit to taking two or three of those opportunities and turning them into actions. This becomes the WAY FORWARD and creates an action plan for the achievement of the goal. This means the dream has become a goal with actions attached to it. To get the process started, ask your team members a series of questions so they can start thinking about what goals they want to set.
Goal
What do you want to have written down on paper by the end of our session?
What area of your performance would you like to focus on today?
What will be the impact on you of achieving this goal?
What is important to you right now?
What do you want to achieve?
When do you want to do it by?
What do you want instead of the problem?
On a scale of 1-10, which is the most important issue to you?
How will you know when you have achieved it?
Reality
Where are you now in relation to your goal?
What do you already know to be true about the situation?
Tell me what is happening at the moment.
How much control do you have of this situation?
What is holding you back?
What have you tried so far?
What is stopping you from getting what you want?
What do you need to know that you currently don’t know?
Describe the present situation in more detail.
Options
What could you do differently?
What might others do in this situation?
Who else do you know that has already achieved this?
What options do you have? What else? (Keep asking this question until they can’t think of any more options.)
What can you do to change the situation?
How can you affect the outcome?
What else might you do?
What else can you bring from your past successes?
What advice would your best friend give you?
Way Forward
What are the first steps you need to take?
What potential obstacles are there?
How are you going to overcome those obstacles?
When precisely are you going to take each action step?
What support do you need, and from whom?
What is the next step? x Who needs to know?
When will you start?
When will you know you have achieved your goal?
On a scale of 1-10, how committed are you to taking action?
On a scale of 1-10, how motivated are you to take action?
As you can see, these questions encourage people to be specific about their goal; they are able to articulate how they are going to measure their success, they can say how they will achieve the goal, what the relevance is and over what time period they are going to deliver it. Using these questioning methods, it’s possible to set a SMART goal that takes someone into their learning zone, is congruent with their core values and satisfies their motivators – all in as little as 30 minutes.
It is always good to remind an employee that when they achieve their goal, they will also be contributing to the achievement of a bigger organisational goal.
Remember to review the goal on a regular basis, so if any plans aren’t working, they can be adapted, and any successes can be celebrated. Book some meetings in your diary and try it out with your team. See for yourself how easy the process is, and then invest in a 30-minute session with a coach so you can go through the same process yourself.
After all, every coach needs a coach!
Download the GROW Coaching Model worksheet at https://www.accendocoaching.co.uk/resources