GROWth Coaching

We all want to grow in life. We want to develop our potential and become the best that we can be. Sport stars all have personal coaches and trainers to help them with this. Over the last 5 years people realised that we need the same for our personal-, career- and business development. In this article we’ll focus on a model to help you: • Assess your current situationrn• Set goals, andrn• Draft an action plan to achieve those goals. Graham Alexander developed a coaching model that not only reminds us of our overall goal, but also give us four practical steps toward tackling any immediate stumbling blocks that may be blocking our growth. To help with this he created the GROW model. It is used by coaches all over the world to help people take control of their personal development and goals. Obviously this model, like other coaching models was specifically designed to be used within a coaching relationship. However, after you’ve read this article, you can use and apply the GROW model. You can also use online tools such as Habit Tool.com to easily record and track your goals and progress. The G-R-O-W model explained: G – Goal: What do you really want? If you are not 100% sure, begin by writing down everything that is bothering you at the moment or use the “Gears of Life” self assessment. Then decide on one goal to work with first. The clearer you are about what your specific goal is the bigger the chances that you will achieve it. A coach is invaluable in this first step. He / she will guide you by asking questions that will help you to become really clear about what you truly want. R – Reality: What is happening in your life right now? It is really important to establish exactly what is going on – on the surface as well as deep down. Ask yourself what your reality is and what makes you think about it in that way. Do you make assumptions or quick judgements in situations? Is it really the reality or just your perception of it? Keep on asking yourself these questions until you are very clear about what the specific stumbling block is that is preventing you from having what you really want. O – Options: What options do you have available that will help you reach your goal? List as many options as you can think of, in and outside of the box. Don’t judge your options, yet! At this stage you don’t have to decide what to do, you just need to generate many possibilities on how to overcome the obstacles that are standing in the way of your goal. W – Wrap-up: This is the ACTION phase. It is now time to look at all your options and ask yourself what the implications of each action step would be. Would it create any other possible barriers? What could you do to overcome these? Which option do you consider the best? Once you’ve decided on this, you need to decide on your action plan. What are the specific actions that you will take? When will you take them? How will you take them? Who will support you in this? When will you review what happened? And how will you measure if you’ve achieved your goal? As you can see, the GROW model assists you in setting goals, thinking through your current situation and coming up with an action plan. In turn, this will help you move forward towards fulfilling your potential. Although you can use this model on yourself or even with friends, you will receive the most benefit from it if you have a personal coach to guide you through it. Which ever way you decide to use this method, may it help you to continually grow and fulfil your amazing potential!