GROW coaching model example: one invented session, written up box by box

A GROW coaching model example, taken through to the write-up: an invented session, no real client, no real coach, run through a four-box GROW template in Ember Console, the session-report builder for coaches I build, now in closed beta.

A question list gets the answers out; it does not say whether the write-up is wrong. Each box below has a rule its text can fail.

GROW is credited to Graham Alexander, Alan Fine and Sir John Whitmore, UK, late 1980s. Performance Consultants sets out the four stages: Goal, Reality, Options, Will.

What does a GROW coaching model example look like once it is written up?

Four boxes, each with its own instruction and its own pass-or-fail test. The template is the one built in GROW coaching model questions as box prompts.

Box	Prompt and test	What came back	What I fixed in the editor
Goal	”One sentence, the client’s words, with their date.” No date, it fails.	”I want to chair the Thursday pipeline meeting by 31 March.”	Cut “the client indicated that”.
Reality	”Only what the client said is true now.” Fails on a word nobody said.	”Chairs two of six. Goes quiet when finance pushes back.”	Deleted “lacks confidence”.
Options	”The options the client raised, in their order.” Fails if one is mine.	”Co-chair twice. Script the finance answer.”	Removed a fourth option, mine.
Will	”Only what the client committed to, with an owner and a date.” Fails on “will try”.	”Ask finance for the numbers on Wednesday, 11 March."	"Will try to ask” became “will ask”.

The draft arrives seconds after the session ends, and then a person reads it, which the Ember landing page describes this way: “Refine the report directly in Ember’s editor, and your next report will be created with those past edits and preferences already in mind.”

How do you run your own GROW example through a template?

Build the four boxes first, then write a test a draft can fail.

1. Name four boxes: Goal, Reality, Options, Will.
2. Write one prompt per box, in your own words.
3. Write one test per box a draft can fail.
4. Run the session recording through the template.
5. Read each box against its own test, then fix it.

Step 3 does the work: with no rule under Reality, “lacks confidence” stays in the report. The GROW coaching model worksheet is the paper version, and T-GROW puts a Topic box in front of Goal.

What is not stated yet?

The fact sheet behind this piece has four questions on it, and all four read “not stated yet”:

• A box, exactly: a named section with one prompt and one eval, or something wider.
• How many boxes a default template arrives with, and whether I can add or reorder them.
• What an eval may check: length, wording, a named fact, a rule I typed myself.
• What I see when a box fails its last rework, and how many reworks it gets first.

Nothing states whether a box can hold a table or a checklist, so every box above is plain text.

Write the test anyway. A box whose test you cannot picture failing is a heading.

Questions people ask next?

What is an example of the GROW coaching model?

One session in four sections: the goal in the client’s words, what is true now, the options the client raised, and the commitment with a date on it. The invented session above runs that way.

What are the four stages of the GROW model?

Goal, Reality, Options and Will, as Performance Consultants sets them out. A real conversation moves back and forth between them, which is why each box needs a test of its own.