Every leader wants their team to perform at their best. But real performance rarely comes from telling people what to do. It comes from helping them think better, see clearer, and take ownership of their next step. That’s where the GROW Model changed the way I look at coaching forever.

One Topic: The GROW Model – Coaching for Peak Performance

It’s simple: Goal, Reality, Options, Will.

And this simple structure is the reason companies like Google, Microsoft, and Meta use it to train their managers.

When I first learned GROW, what struck me most was how it shifts focus from giving answers to guiding thinking. The moment people find their own clarity, their energy changes. They stop waiting for instructions and start driving outcomes.

Organisations using coaching approaches see 221% average ROI. Teams with coaching-skilled managers experience 89% better retention. And here’s the kicker: employees whose managers received proper coaching training showed 42% performance improvement versus just 18% with general training.

The framework matters. But the skill matters more.

Let me break down how I use the model in my own conversations.

1. Goal – What do you really want?

This is where everything starts.

Many people start talking about problems. But I’ve learned that great coaching begins with direction.

When I ask someone “What does success look like for you?”, they pause, think, and start defining what truly matters. A clear goal creates motivation and reduces noise. Without this step, conversations drift and decisions get vague.

A strong goal answers:

• What do I want?
• Why does it matter?
• How will I know when I’ve reached it?

Most coaching conversations fail because the goal is unclear. When the goal becomes sharp, everything that follows becomes easier.

2. Reality – What is happening right now?

This is where honest reflection begins.

I often ask:

• What have you tried?
• What is blocking you?
• What assumptions might be limiting you?

When people slow down and look at their reality without filters, blind spots begin to show. They notice patterns, missing information, or emotional barriers they hadn’t acknowledged.

This step alone improves performance because awareness improves decision quality.

3. Options – What could you do next?

Once the present is clear, possibilities open.

This is my favourite part because I see people shift from stuck → creative.

Possible options usually fall into three buckets:

• Skills they can build
• Resources they can use
• Decisions they can make

I don’t give them the solution. I ask questions like:

• What else could work?
• If you couldn’t fail, what would you try?
• What has worked for you before?

Options create choice. Choice creates ownership.

4. Will – What will you commit to?

This is where clarity becomes action.

A coaching conversation without commitment is just a nice chat. I always end with:

• What is the first step?
• When will you do it?
• What support do you need?

When someone commits in their own words, the likelihood of follow-through skyrockets. This stage connects intention with behaviour, and small wins start compounding.

Why GROW works

Research consistently shows that structured coaching improves performance, retention, and satisfaction.

But the real reason GROW works is simple:

People don’t need more instructions. They need clarity, confidence, and ownership.

GROW gives leaders a practical way to guide without controlling, support without micromanaging, and develop people without overwhelming them.

As a leader, parent, manager, or mentor – you can use this model anywhere. The more I’ve used it, the more I see its impact: better thinking, better decisions, better outcomes.

If you want one coaching framework that fits every conversation, GROW is the one I’d pick every time.

The Real Challenge

The hardest part of GROW isn’t learning the framework. It’s resisting the urge to give answers. it’s slower at first. Telling someone what to do takes 5 minutes. Coaching them through it takes 30 minutes. Your experience wants to speak. Your expertise wants to solve. Your ego wants to be helpful.

But real leadership isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about building people who can find their own. That’s the shift GROW demands. And it’s worth making. Because the alternative – solving every problem, answering every question, being the bottleneck for every decision – doesn’t scale.

Building capable, confident, autonomous people? That scales infinitely.

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Two Quotes to Inspire

Clarity grows the moment we stop giving answers and start asking better questions.

Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximise their own performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them.

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One Passage From My Bookshelf

In the fixed mindset, everything is about the outcome. If you fail or if you’re not the best it’s all been wasted. The growth mindset allows people to value what they’re doing regardless of the outcome. They’re tackling problems, charting new courses, working on important issues. Maybe they haven’t found the cure for cancer, but the search was deeply meaningful. The growth mindset does allow people to love what they’re doing—and to continue to love it in the face of difficulties. The growth mindset helps people see setbacks not as a failure but as a form of learning.

📚From “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” by Carol S. Dweck