There are wide variety of coaching models around. One of the most successful, and popular, is the GROW model.
Background
Good coaching lets a coachee become more aware of what they can do with their life and prepares them to take more responsibility for it. This is achieved through sessions structured around questioning.
What GROW does is sequence or order those question sessions, as in:
Goal
Reality
Options
Will.
Goal
In the goal stage, the coach enables the coachee to establish where they want to be, or what they want to achieve. Questions of value here include:
what do you want to achieve?
how would you like things to be?
what does success look like to you?
Once the coachee has created some goals for themselves, the coach and coachee need to work together in partnership to define the goals as clearly as possible.
Reality
In the reality stage, the coachee's goals are checked against the way things are now.
For example, this could be a check of the skills or knowledge the coachee currently has against those needed to reach their goals. Questions of value here include:
so, what happens at the moment?
what have you tried so far?
what do you think are the big roadblocks here?
how do you rate your current skill level?
Options
In the options stage, the coachee develops different potential routes between the current reality and the goal they want to achieve. The key here is not to find the 'right' answer but to maximise the choices on the table. Questions of value here include:
how would you get there...?
can you think of any other...?
how would you feel about...?
what would be the costs and benefits of that?
Will
In the will stage, the coachee needs to commit to, and take responsibility for, carrying out the agreed actions.
The discussions on the coaching session are turned into decisions, with action points attached. Questions of value here include:
what are you going to do?
what date will that be done by?
can you think of any obstacles?
what support will you need?
