One of the most powerful leadership styles we can use is the coaching style. Unfortunately it’s also the least used of all the styles which is a terrible shame because it can have a tremendously positive impact on your team and the environment. The GROW model is a very simple tool to help you get started on how to coach people in your team to higher performance.
PLEASE NOTE: Before coaching anyone it’s important to ask for permission first; for example, if someone presents a problem to you, you might ask, Would you like to talk through that? Would you like to discuss a way forward? And so on… Don’t skip this step!
It’s also important to follow the process so when the person gets to the end they have a good understanding of how to move forward.
GOAL
What is it that the person wants to achieve? What’s their objective/goal for for the conversation? Here are a couple of useful questions for understanding what the person’s goal is:
What would you like to be different between now and 3 months [or whatever time-frame is applicable]?
If the person is struggling with a particular situation ask them, How would you like it to be? Make sure their answer is stated in the positive; i.e. what they want, not what they don’t want.
REALITY
This step will help the person articulate where they are currently. What’s the reality of the situation…for them? If things are going to change it’s important to understand the starting point. Useful questions might include:
So, what’s the current situation?
What does it look like now?
OPTIONS/OBSTACLES
Here it’s important to find out the things that the person has tried. You might expect that if the person has a problem or wants to make a change that they’ve attempted a couple of things to make the problem situation go away. Understanding these will also help determine what kind of obstacles they might be encountering. Once we understand what they’ve attempted in the past, and what obstacles they are facing, we can help them come up with new options.
What are the things you’ve tried to change the situation?
What blockers/obstacles are getting in your way?
What else do you think you might be able to do? What else…? Keep asking this one until they run out.
WAY FORWARD
This is the last step in the model and it’s the call to action. Nothing changes without taking action so it’s important to secure this step.
What can you do today to achieve your goal?
What’s the first thing you can do to make it the way you want it to be?
The above is a very simple coaching model that can be used to help people overcome communication challenges, mild conflict or to develop a new skill. Please be mindful of attempting to coach someone where deeper personal issues might be involved. It’s always important to refer them to a real coach, a counselor or to the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP).
If you’d like to take your personal and professional life to the next level please contact us at any time for a free consultation.
