Coaching is a partnership with clients. The process supports the client to think wider and deeper. It awakens their inner creativity to achieve extraordinary results in their personal and professional life. During the coaching process, clients become more aware of their own potential and improve their quality of life through their performance.

The International Coaching Federation (ICF) is a professional organization that has set the “gold” standards for coaches. For more information, visit the ICF website at: 

www.coachfederation.org

You’ve probably heard the phrase “a picture is worth more than a thousand words.”

Basically, this sentence expresses the value and efficiency of visual communication. The truth is that most of our perceptions of our surroundings are made by what we see. Our brains are very interested in analyzing information visually. 

Accordingly, if the information is expressed with the help of an image, its effect and duration will be more in the mind of the audience.

Visual representations are used to describe what happens during a particular process. Having a model with a written description of the process helps the coach explain what he or she is doing in a session.

Having a clearly defined model makes it easier for potential clients to understand what will happen in a typical coaching session. Having a coaching model can also show the differences between coaching and other professions.

After you have coached a number of times, your model will repeat itself. Of course, you probably haven’t thought about it that way. By creating a model that visualizes this process, you will find it easier to talk to potential clients about what you are doing. 

You can use this model as a marketing tool, for example, you can use it on your website to show what your coaching session looks like.

Coaching is a combined discipline rooted in various approaches or philosophies and professional practice. As a result, different models and methods of coaching have emerged that differ depending on the approach from which they are derived. 

Many educational organizations or departments of universities have their own unique methods of teaching that promote the use of these methods. Many professional coaches also come up with their own ways and share it with other people involved in the coaching profession.

GROW model is one of the most recognized models of coaching, and some would say it has been one of the most popular and common coaching models. The GROW model has a simple yet powerful framework for structuring coaching sessions.

One of the most important tasks of a coach is to enthuse the clients to be their best. By doing so, you help them make better decisions, solve problems that hinder their progress, learn new skills, and expand their abilities at work.

Your content goes here. Edit or remove this text inline or in the module Content settings. You can also style every aspect of this content in the module Design settings and even apply custom CSS to this text in the module Advanced settings.

Goal: Look at your clients, the behavior they want to change, and the topic they address in the meeting as a goal.

Reality: Ask the client to explain the current reality and situation in relation to the purpose of the meeting.

Options or Obstacles: After seeing the current reality, it is time to decide what to do, or in other words, consider all possible options to achieve his goal.

Will or Way forward: By examining the existing reality and discovering the options ahead, now commit your clients to do certain things to move forward and towards their goals.

The model was originally built by alleys named Graham Alexander, Alan Fine and Sir John Whitmore in the 1980s.

One good way to visualize the GROW model is to consider how you plan a trip. 

First, you decide where to go (Goal) and determine where you are right now (current Reality). Then you check the different routes to the destination (Options). In the last step, (Way forward) you will make sure that you are committed to this journey. You decide that you are ready to face the obstacles that may come your way.

TIP: Two important skills that a coach uses are to ask powerful questions and the other to actively listen. 

Ask open-ended questions such as “What effect did it have?” In this way, you allow the client to explain and talk about their thoughts and feelings. This in turn helps you to listen more deeply to what is being said. Keep in mind that the silence of the client is usually a valuable time for reflection, so postpone the next question and give him or her a chance to gain new insight.

At ICE, we believe that each coach is unique and brings their own model and method of coaching. For this reason, each coach develops their own model during the associate (Level 1) and professional (Level 2) coach training programs. Each coach is encouraged to be curious and identify their unique talents as a coach. The coach finds patterns that demonstrate their specific methods of managing a session. It is common during the start of this journey to start using a model that you relate to (such as the GROW model). You can then discover the variations of that model over time that are unique to you.

Taymour Miri is an ICF master coach and a Gallup certified strengths coach and more recently one of the first 136 coaches world wide to be awarded an Advanced Certificate in Team Coaching. He has 30 years’ experience in leadership roles and 20 years of experince in coaching. Taymour has trained over 1,500 coaches across five continents and is the founder of International Coaching Education (ICE).