The GROW Model Worksheet for Life Coaches (Downloadable PDF)

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When was the last time you had an insightful meeting with a client?

Was it just yesterday, or could it be weeks ago? What made your encounter a meaningful one?

Coaching, like any conversation, is a two-way street. It depends on open communication between you and your client. But what makes a coaching session genuinely productive?

Much of it comes down to your ability to ask powerful questions.

When you ask thoughtful, engaging questions, your client begins to explore ideas, recognize patterns, and notice possibilities they may have overlooked. Instead of supplying answers, you help them arrive at their own conclusions.

Having a method that takes your client from their present situation toward a meaningful goal makes those conversations more purposeful.

That’s where the GROW coaching model comes in.

GROW gives you a straightforward framework for helping clients clarify their goals, examine their current situation, explore solutions, and decide what they’ll do next.

You can use the downloadable GROW Model Worksheet to guide this process during coaching sessions and help clients turn their insights into action.

Key Takeaways

• The GROW model turns coaching conversations into actionable plans. Its four stages, Goal, Reality, Options, and Will, help clients define what they want, understand their current position, explore possible solutions, and commit to specific actions they can take.
• Powerful questions matter more than completing every worksheet field. Use the framework to guide your client’s thinking while allowing time to explore unexpected insights, changing priorities, and important discoveries that emerge during the conversation.
• The Reality stage helps uncover obstacles and assumptions. Separating observable facts from personal interpretations gives clients a clearer understanding of which circumstances they can influence and which beliefs deserve further examination.
• The Will stage needs more than motivation. Specific commitments, realistic deadlines, and plans for predictable obstacles make it easier for clients to translate coaching insights into everyday behavior.
• Progress reviews make the GROW model useful across multiple sessions. Tracking completed actions, observable changes, and remaining challenges helps you adjust the coaching approach and demonstrate meaningful client progress.

How Do You Use the GROW Model in Life Coaching?

You use the GROW model in life coaching by guiding your client through four stages: Goal, Reality, Options, and Will. First, help your client define what they want to achieve. Next, explore their current circumstances and obstacles. Then examine possible solutions before agreeing on practical next steps.

The GROW Model Worksheet gives you a place to record the client’s goal, observations, potential options, and chosen commitments. Each stage uses open-ended questions that help clients examine their situation and make decisions without relying on the coach to provide answers.

You can complete the four stages in one session or revisit them throughout a longer coaching relationship. The sequence provides structure, but it isn’t rigid. When new information changes the client’s understanding of their goal or situation, you can return to an earlier stage and adjust the plan.

Why Should Life Coaches Use the GROW Model?

The GROW model helps life coaches turn broad ambitions and difficult situations into specific goals and practical decisions.

Coaching aims to help people recognize their strengths, confront challenges, and find solutions to problems ranging from everyday frustrations to major life decisions.

But recognizing a problem doesn’t automatically tell someone what to do about it.

That’s why having a structured coaching framework can be so useful.

Imagine a client who wants to become more confident at work. They might arrive saying they need to believe in themselves more or stop worrying about what other people think.

Those statements tell you something about how the client feels, but they don’t yet provide a clear direction for action.

Using GROW, you can help the client establish a specific goal, identify situations where confidence is lacking, explore possible responses, and select an action they are willing to try.

The conversation moves from a general concern toward a decision the client can test in real life.

This structured approach also gives you a way to connect one coaching session to the next.

Research offers some support for structured, goal-directed coaching. In a 2014 meta-analysis published in The Journal of Positive Psychology, Tim Theeboom, Bianca Beersma, and Annelies E. M. van Vianen found positive effects of coaching on several outcomes, including goal-directed self-regulation, in organizational settings.

That research examined coaching more broadly rather than testing the GROW model specifically. Still, it supports the value of helping clients connect their goals with deliberate action.

The GROW model won’t solve every problem your clients encounter. Its value is in helping them examine situations more carefully, recognize possible choices, and take responsibility for their next steps.

What Is the GROW Model in Coaching?

The GROW model is a four-stage coaching framework designed to help clients move from identifying a goal to developing an action plan.

GROW stands for:

• G: Goal. What does your client want to accomplish?
• R: Reality. What is happening now, and what might be standing in the way?
• O: Options. What possible actions, resources, or alternative approaches could help?
• W: Will or Way Forward. What will your client do, when will they do it, and how will they follow through?

The framework is associated with the work of Graham Alexander, Alan Fine, and Sir John Whitmore during the development of modern coaching approaches in the 1980s.

Traditionally, GROW is used to facilitate discussion rather than prescribe solutions.

Your role is to ask questions that encourage your client to examine their experiences, draw conclusions, and choose their next steps.

For example, a client thinking about changing careers might initially believe their only choices are to stay in an unsatisfying job or resign.

Working through GROW could uncover additional possibilities, such as requesting different responsibilities, speaking with professionals in another field, or gaining experience before making a major change.

The client still makes the decision. You help them understand it more clearly.

How Do You Apply the Four Stages of the GROW Model?

You apply the GROW model by moving through the four stages in a coaching conversation, using the client’s answers to decide what to explore next.

Start with the outcome the client wants, establish what is happening now, explore possibilities, and finish with a specific commitment.

Consider a client who wants to apply to college.

Their Goal is to gain admission to a suitable program. Their Reality includes their academic background, finances, location, and admission requirements.

Their Options might include different schools, scholarship opportunities, additional qualifications, or alternative routes into their preferred field.

Their Will involves deciding which applications to complete, what information to gather, and when to submit everything.

The same process applies to career development, personal goals, leadership challenges, and changes in everyday behavior.

The questions you ask will vary, but the purpose stays the same: help your client move from an intention toward a considered course of action.

How Do You Use a GROW Worksheet Without Turning Coaching Into a Questionnaire?

A GROW worksheet works best as a guide for the coaching conversation, not a questionnaire that must be completed from top to bottom.

The worksheet gives you and your client a shared structure. Your questions bring that structure to life.

If you focus too heavily on completing every field, you may miss the most meaningful part of the conversation.

Imagine a career coaching client who arrives wanting to work toward a promotion.

You begin with their Goal and establish that they want to move into a leadership position within the next year.

But while exploring Reality, the client reveals that they regularly avoid contributing ideas during meetings because they’re concerned about being judged.

That discovery could change the direction of the session.

Instead of immediately discussing promotion strategies, you might ask, “How does holding back in meetings affect the way others see your leadership potential?”

Now the conversation has reached something more specific.

Use the worksheet to capture decisions and discoveries, not every word your client says.

A practical approach is to record:

• Goal: One clear statement of what the client wants to achieve.
• Reality: The most important facts, challenges, resources, and assumptions.
• Options: Two or three meaningful possibilities the client wants to consider.
• Will: The action the client chooses, along with a deadline and accountability plan.

You don’t have to complete these fields in perfect order.

Sometimes a client discovers a more relevant goal while discussing their circumstances. Other times, exploring options reveals that they need to reconsider the original goal.

Follow the conversation, then return to the worksheet to summarize what matters.

Before finishing, ask your client to explain the main insight and next step in their own words.

This helps you check whether the written plan reflects what they actually intend to do.

For coaches who work with multiple clients, LCH Core provides reusable coaching worksheets and client notes so these discoveries can stay connected to each client’s coaching history. The guide to creating and assigning coaching worksheets explains how to organize this process digitally.

The worksheet should support your coaching judgment, not replace it.

Step 1: How Do You Clarify Your Client’s Goal?

The Goal stage establishes what your client wants to accomplish and how they will recognize meaningful progress.

Start by helping your client describe the outcome they want.

When a client focuses on something they dislike, encourage them to consider what they would prefer instead.

For example, “I want to stop feeling nervous when speaking at work” might become “I want to contribute confidently during team meetings.”

Now you have something you can explore and measure.

A useful way to clarify the goal is to make it SMART:

• Specific: What exactly does the client want to accomplish?
• Measurable: How will they know they’ve made progress?
• Achievable: Is the goal realistically within reach?
• Relevant: Does it connect with their priorities and values?
• Time-bound: When do they want to achieve it?

A client who wants to improve their communication skills might agree to contribute at least one idea during each weekly team meeting for the next month.

That’s clearer than simply wanting to become a better communicator.

Questions to ask during the Goal stage:

• What do you consider important right now?
• What challenges are you currently experiencing?
• What do you want to work on?
• What new skills or knowledge would you like to develop?
• How do you see yourself five years from now?
• What would achieving this goal make possible for you?
• How will you know you’ve succeeded?

Your role as the coach is also to explore the client’s motivation.

Ask why the goal matters and whether it reflects something they genuinely want.

A client might initially say they want a promotion because it seems like the next logical career step. Further questioning could reveal that what they really want is greater independence or more meaningful work.

That distinction matters because the original goal may not be the only way to achieve what they value.

Help the client take ownership of the goal, clarify what success looks like, and identify a reasonable starting point.

For more approaches to asking questions that uncover what clients actually want, see Killer Coaching Questions: 36 Powerful Queries by Niche.

Step 2: How Do You Explore Your Client’s Current Reality?

The Reality stage helps your client examine their present circumstances, including the strengths, obstacles, resources, and habits that influence their goal.

Once the goal is clear, explore what is happening now.

This requires more than identifying everything that isn’t working.

Your client also needs to recognize what they’ve already accomplished, what they can influence, and what resources might be available.

Imagine a client who wants to become a better leader but believes their team doesn’t respect them.

Instead of accepting that statement as a complete description of the situation, explore what has actually happened.

You might discover that the client avoids delegating tasks, rarely asks for input, and has received feedback that their expectations are unclear.

These are specific behaviors the client can examine.

Questions to ask during the Reality stage:

• How would you describe your situation right now?
• What’s working, and what isn’t?
• What have you already tried?
• What strengths could help you move forward?
• What worries or concerns do you have?
• What’s your biggest obstacle?
• What resources or support do you already have?

You can also ask the client to rate their current position against their goal.

For example, if someone wants to improve their confidence in leadership meetings, they might rate themselves a 3 out of 10.

Ask what makes it a 3 rather than a 1. Their answer may reveal strengths and past successes that deserve attention.

The Reality stage gives you a more accurate starting point.

Skipping it can lead to an action plan that sounds encouraging but doesn’t address the actual obstacles.

How Can You Separate Facts From Assumptions During the Reality Stage?

You can help clients examine their reality more accurately by separating what they know from what they believe or assume.

Clients often describe their experiences through interpretations that feel like facts.

For example, a career coaching client might say, “My manager doesn’t think I’m leadership material.”

That statement may reflect a genuine concern. But it doesn’t tell you what the manager actually said or did.

A simple way to explore this is through three questions: Fact, Interpretation, and Evidence.

Fact: What happened?

Ask the client to describe a specific event without interpreting anyone’s intentions.

Perhaps their manager selected another employee to lead a project.

Interpretation: What meaning did the client give that event?

The client might conclude that their manager doubts their abilities.

That interpretation may be possible, but it isn’t the only explanation.

Evidence: What supports or challenges the interpretation?

Explore whether the client has received direct feedback, what other explanations might exist, and which information is still missing.

Maybe another employee had more relevant project experience. Maybe the manager assumed your client wasn’t interested.

The purpose isn’t to persuade the client that their interpretation is wrong.

It’s to help them recognize the difference between what they know and what remains uncertain.

A question such as “What would you need to know before deciding that your manager doesn’t see you as a leader?” can open up a more productive conversation.

You can then explore what the client has control over.

They may not control who receives the next promotion, but they can request feedback, communicate their ambitions, or seek opportunities to demonstrate leadership skills.

The Reality stage becomes more useful when clients distinguish circumstances they can act on from conclusions they haven’t tested.

This approach can also reveal when clients are working toward goals based on assumptions rather than their actual situation.

Step 3: How Do You Help Your Client Explore Their Options?

The Options stage helps your client identify different ways to move toward their goal before committing to a particular course of action.

Once the Reality stage has established the current situation, the client can begin exploring possibilities.

Some options may already have emerged during the earlier discussion.

For example, a client who wants to change careers might recognize that they could pursue additional qualifications, explore internal opportunities, or speak with professionals working in another industry.

Your role is to help the client examine possibilities without steering them toward the option you personally prefer.

Encourage them to think beyond the first solution that comes to mind.

Questions to ask during the Options stage:

• If money weren’t an issue, what would you do?
• What’s your top priority?
• What strengths could you use to move forward?
• If you had 50% more confidence, what would you do differently?
• What’s another way to approach this situation?
• Who could support you?
• What’s the most useful way to spend your time right now?

Sometimes the client will reject an option before considering it properly.

They might say that changing roles is impossible because they don’t have enough experience.

You could ask what experience they would need and how they might begin acquiring it.

That doesn’t mean ignoring real constraints.

It means allowing enough exploration to identify possibilities before deciding which ones are practical.

The aim is to leave the Options stage with a meaningful selection of choices rather than a single unexamined answer.

How Do You Help Clients Choose Between Their Options?

You can help clients choose between their options by comparing each possibility against its likely impact, feasibility, and the amount of control the client has over it.

Generating options is useful, but too many possibilities can leave a client uncertain about what to do next.

A straightforward comparison gives the conversation direction without taking the decision away from the client.

Consider a career coaching client who wants more fulfilling work.

They’ve identified three possibilities:

• Seek a promotion with their current employer.
• Apply for a role at another company.
• Retrain for a different profession.

Each option could lead to change, but the requirements and consequences are different.

Ask the client to consider three factors.

1. Impact: How much could this option contribute to the goal?

A promotion might increase income and responsibility, but it may not solve dissatisfaction with the industry.

Retraining could offer greater long-term fulfillment but require a substantial commitment.

2. Feasibility: What would it take to pursue this option?

Explore the time, money, skills, and support needed.

A new qualification may be appealing, but the client might discover that the training schedule conflicts with their current commitments.

3. Control: How much of the outcome can the client influence?

The client can prepare an application or enroll in training.

They cannot guarantee that an employer will offer them a position.

You can ask the client to rate each factor as high, medium, or low, then discuss the reasoning behind their assessment.

The ratings aren’t intended to produce a mathematically correct decision.

They simply make the trade-offs easier to see.

Sometimes the client will identify one option that deserves a small experiment before making a major commitment.

For example, they might arrange two conversations with people working in their target profession before paying for retraining.

That gives them additional information without requiring an immediate career change.

A useful Options stage ends with a decision the client understands and has chosen for themselves.

Step 4: How Do You Turn Options Into Client Commitment?

The Will stage turns your client’s preferred option into a specific action plan they are willing to carry out.

By this point, your client has identified their goal, explored their current circumstances, and considered possible solutions.

Now it’s time to decide what comes next.

A useful action plan should explain what the client intends to do, when they will do it, and how they will recognize completion.

If your client wants to improve their professional network, “I’ll start meeting more people” isn’t specific enough.

“I’ll contact two former colleagues by Friday and invite them to reconnect” provides a clearer commitment.

Motivation plays a role, but your client also needs to consider what might prevent them from following through.

Questions to ask during the Will stage:

• On a scale of 1 to 7, how committed are you to reaching this goal?
• What do you plan to do in the next three days?
• What needs to happen before you can take that step?
• How will you hold yourself accountable?
• What could prevent you from following through?
• What will you do if that obstacle appears?
• When should we review your progress?

Pay attention when a client expresses limited commitment.

A low commitment rating isn’t necessarily a reason to push harder.

It may indicate that the action feels unrealistic, the goal isn’t sufficiently meaningful, or an important obstacle hasn’t been addressed.

Ask what would make the commitment more workable.

Once your client agrees on a plan, encourage them to write it down.

Writing makes the commitment easier to revisit during the next session and gives you both a shared point of reference.

The Will stage should end with an action the client is genuinely prepared to take, rather than an impressive plan they don’t intend to use.

How Do You Turn a GROW Action Plan Into Follow-Through?

You can turn a GROW action plan into meaningful follow-through by helping clients decide exactly when they will act and how they will respond to predictable obstacles.

A client may leave a session feeling motivated and still struggle to complete the action they selected.

The difficulty often appears when a broad intention meets a competing demand.

One useful technique is an implementation intention, also called an if-then plan.

Instead of saying, “I’ll work on my networking this week,” the client identifies a situation that will prompt a specific behavior.

For example:

If it’s Tuesday at 6 p.m., then I’ll spend 20 minutes contacting two people in my professional network.

The client can also prepare a response to an expected obstacle.

If I have to work late on Tuesday, then I’ll complete the task on Wednesday morning before checking my email.

This creates a clearer connection between the client’s intention and what they’ll actually do.

Research supports this approach. In a 2006 meta-analysis published in Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Peter Gollwitzer and Paschal Sheeran examined 94 independent tests and found that implementation intentions had a positive effect on goal attainment (d = 0.65).

The finding concerns if-then planning across different settings, not the GROW model specifically. It offers a useful evidence-based technique for strengthening the Will stage.

As a coach, you can help your client make a plan by asking:

• What is the first action you’re willing to take?
• When and where will you complete it?
• What will remind you to begin?
• What obstacle is most likely to interrupt you?
• What will you do if that happens?

Keep the first commitment manageable.

If a client wants to build a new exercise habit, planning five workouts immediately may be less realistic than identifying two sessions they can consistently complete.

You can review what happens and adjust from there.

For ongoing coaching relationships, LCH Core’s action items can provide a place to record commitments and review completion between sessions. Its action item support guide explains how coaches can assign tasks and examine client progress.

The central lesson is simple: Don’t end the Will stage with what the client hopes to do. End it with what they’ve decided to do and when.

How Do You Measure Progress Across Multiple GROW Coaching Sessions?

You can measure progress across GROW coaching sessions by comparing the client’s original goal with the actions they’ve completed, the changes they’ve demonstrated, and the challenges that remain.

The GROW model doesn’t have to begin and end in one conversation.

For clients working toward significant changes, the four stages can provide a structure for reviewing progress throughout a longer coaching engagement.

Start with the original goal.

What did the client want to accomplish, and what would success look like?

Then examine the evidence of change.

Consider a leadership coaching client whose initial goal was to contribute more confidently during team meetings.

At the beginning of the coaching engagement, they rarely volunteered ideas and avoided opportunities to lead discussions.

After four sessions, they have contributed during three meetings and volunteered to deliver a short presentation.

Those actions give you something specific to examine.

But completing activities and achieving an outcome aren’t necessarily the same thing.

The client might have spoken more often without feeling any more capable or effective.

That’s why it’s useful to review both what they did and what changed as a result.

A practical GROW progress review can include five questions.

1. What was the original goal?

Return to the outcome the client identified at the beginning.

2. What actions did the client complete?

Review specific commitments rather than relying on general impressions of effort.

3. What evidence shows that something has changed?

Look for observable behavior, completed milestones, relevant feedback, or changes in the client’s assessment of their situation.

4. What’s still preventing progress?

Identify obstacles that remain unresolved or have emerged since the original plan.

5. Which GROW stage should come next?

Decide whether the client needs to revisit their Goal, reconsider their Reality, explore new Options, or strengthen their Will.

You can also ask clients to repeat an earlier rating.

If a client rated their confidence at 3 out of 10 during the first session and now rates it at 6, explore what has changed.

A higher score provides useful information about their perception, but the examples behind that score are what make the progress understandable.

For coaches using LCH Core, the Progress Stream helps review coaching activity, while the Engagement Report provides an overview of client participation. These tools can help identify completed work or declining engagement, but engagement should not be confused with proof that the client’s goal has been achieved.

Progress reviews also give clients an opportunity to decide what they want from the next phase of coaching.

That can make conversations about continuing a coaching engagement more grounded in the client’s actual goals. For a deeper look at this connection, see A Bird in the Hand: The Simple Math of Client Lifetime Value (for Coaches).

The most useful progress review shows what the client has done, what has changed, and what deserves attention next.

What Should You Do When a Client Gets Stuck in the GROW Process?

When a client gets stuck in the GROW process, return to the stage that needs more exploration instead of automatically asking for greater commitment.

GROW works as a cycle, not a rigid sequence that clients must complete without interruption.

Sometimes a client has a clear goal but doesn’t understand what’s preventing progress.

Other times, the original goal no longer reflects what they want.

Recognizing where the process has stalled helps you ask more useful questions.

When the Goal keeps changing

A client may repeatedly shift between wanting a promotion, changing careers, and starting a business.

Rather than asking them to choose quickly, explore what connects these ambitions.

Perhaps they’re looking for greater independence, more flexibility, or work that feels meaningful.

You may need to revisit the Goal stage to establish an outcome that reflects those priorities.

When Reality feels discouraging

A client might identify so many obstacles that the goal begins to feel impossible.

Help them separate circumstances they can influence from those they cannot control.

For example, someone facing a difficult job market cannot determine how many vacancies employers create.

They can examine their application strategy, strengthen relevant skills, and seek useful feedback.

This doesn’t remove the external problem, but it clarifies where action remains possible.

When Options seem limited

A client may believe there’s only one solution.

Ask what they would recommend to someone facing a similar situation or what they might try if their preferred option weren’t available.

The purpose is to expand their thinking without dismissing real constraints.

When Will doesn’t translate into action

Repeatedly incomplete action items suggest that the plan deserves another look.

Imagine a client who agrees to apply for five jobs but completes none.

It would be easy to assume they lack motivation.

But returning to Reality might reveal that the client isn’t certain they want to leave their current employer.

The real next step may be clarifying what they want from their career rather than increasing their application target.

You can also ask whether the action was too large, whether the deadline was realistic, or whether an unexpected obstacle appeared.

The answer helps you determine whether to adjust the plan or revisit an earlier stage.

For clients who benefit from reflecting between sessions, a short journal entry can help identify what happened when they attempted an action. This guide to journaling in coaching explores how written reflections can provide continuity between sessions.

Getting stuck isn’t a reason to abandon the GROW model. It is a reason to use the framework more thoughtfully.

When your client reaches their goal, take time to examine what worked, recognize their progress, and decide whether another goal is appropriate.

The next coaching cycle may begin with a different Goal, but it can draw on everything your client learned during the previous one.

Where Can You Download the GROW Model Worksheet PDF?

You can download the GROW Model Worksheet PDF and use it to guide clients through Goal, Reality, Options, and Will.

The worksheet provides a practical structure for recording what your client wants to achieve, what they’re currently experiencing, which options they want to explore, and what they’re prepared to do next.

You can use it during a session, provide it as preparation, or revisit it when reviewing progress.

For a new client, consider completing the Goal and Reality stages together before asking them to work through possible Options.

For an established client, the worksheet can help review an earlier commitment and decide whether another GROW cycle would be useful.

The goal isn’t to produce a perfectly completed worksheet.

It’s to create a meaningful conversation that leads to a clear next step.

Where LCH Core Fits

LCH Core can support the GROW coaching process by keeping each client’s goals, worksheet responses, action items, and progress history organized across sessions.

The coaching method comes first. The tools help you apply it consistently.

For example, a coach who works with career development clients might use the same GROW structure throughout a six-session package.

Before the first session, intake forms can help clarify what the client wants to accomplish. A Welcome Package can provide the welcome letter, coaching agreement with electronic signature, and relevant forms.

During the coaching process, reusable worksheets can help clients explore Reality and Options, while client notes preserve the insights that may be useful later.

Between sessions, assignable goals, action items, and journals can help clients work through their commitments and record what happens.

During progress reviews, the Progress Stream and Engagement Report can help you assess participation and prepare questions about what has changed.

This also works when you’re using GROW to examine your own coaching business.

If your goal is to become more visible to prospective clients, for example, your Options might include publishing useful resources, building relationships with referral partners, or creating a free life coach directory listing on Life Coach Hub.

You can then compare the options, choose an action, and review the results using the same GROW framework you use with clients.

For a broader view of how coaching tools, client management, and progress tracking work together, see the LCH Core coaching software features.

You don’t need complicated systems to conduct a productive GROW session. But when you work with several clients or offer longer coaching programs, keeping their plans and progress accessible in LCH Core can make ongoing coaching easier to manage.

FAQ

1. Does the GROW model work for life coaching?

Yes, the GROW model can be an effective structure for life coaching conversations because it helps clients clarify goals, explore circumstances, consider options, and choose actions. Its effectiveness in practice depends on how the coach uses it and whether the client follows through. It should not be treated as a guarantee of results.

2. What does GROW stand for in coaching?

GROW stands for Goal, Reality, Options, and Will or Way Forward. These four stages guide clients from identifying what they want to accomplish to developing a plan for taking action.

3. When should a life coach use the GROW model?

A life coach can use the GROW model when a client needs help clarifying an objective, making a decision, overcoming a practical obstacle, or developing an action plan. It is particularly useful for goal-oriented conversations in career, leadership, business, and personal development coaching.

4. What is the coach’s role during the Goal stage of GROW?

The coach’s role during the Goal stage is to help the client identify, clarify, and take ownership of a meaningful outcome. This includes exploring motivation, connecting the goal to the client’s priorities, and establishing how progress will be recognized.

5. How do you fill out a GROW Model Worksheet with a client?

Complete a GROW Model Worksheet by recording the client’s goal, current reality, possible options, and chosen actions. Use open-ended questions to explore each stage, and summarize the client’s most important answers rather than transcribing the entire conversation.

6. What are the best GROW model coaching questions for each stage?

Useful GROW coaching questions include “What do you want to accomplish?” for Goal, “What’s happening now?” for Reality, “What else could you try?” for Options, and “What will you do next, and when?” for Will. Follow-up questions should reflect the client’s actual answers.

7. What should a coach do when a client doesn’t follow through on their GROW plan?

The coach should explore what prevented the action and determine whether the client needs to adjust the commitment or revisit an earlier GROW stage. Ask about practical obstacles, competing priorities, and the client’s willingness to act before agreeing on a revised plan.

8. Can the GROW model be used across multiple coaching sessions?

Yes, the GROW model can be used across multiple coaching sessions by revisiting the client’s original goal, reviewing completed actions, and examining changes in their circumstances. Coaches can return to any stage as new information emerges and use each cycle to guide the next phase of development.

Sources

Gollwitzer, Peter M., and Paschal Sheeran. “Implementation Intentions and Goal Achievement: A Meta-Analysis of Effects and Processes.” Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, vol. 38, 2006, pp. 69–119. Elsevier, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(06)38002-1.

Theeboom, Tim, Bianca Beersma, and Annelies E. M. van Vianen. “Does Coaching Work? A Meta-Analysis on the Effects of Coaching on Individual Level Outcomes in an Organizational Context.” The Journal of Positive Psychology, vol. 9, no. 1, 2014, pp. 1–18. Taylor & Francis, https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2013.837499.