Education Utilizing Coaching Models a

Education Utilizing Coaching Models A key role for any leader is to be able to coach team members to achieve their best. The coach will typically help team members to solve problems, make better decisions, and learn new skills or otherwise progress in their role or career. One established approach that helps with this is the GROW model. The acronym GROW stands for Goal - Current Reality - Options - Will. This model is a simple yet powerful framework that is used for structuring a coaching session (The GROW Model, 2009).

A coaching session must have a Goal or outcome that is to be achieved. The goal should be very specific and it must be possible to measure whether it has been achieved or not. Along with knowing where you are trying to get to, you need to know where you are coming from. This is known as the Current Reality. This is often the key part of a coaching session. Oftentimes by just seeing clearly the situation the resolutions becomes obvious and clear (The GROW Model, 2008).

Once you know where you are and where you want to go, the next step is to investigate what Options you have for getting there. A good metaphor for GROW is a map: once you know where you are going or the goal and where you are or your current reality, you can explore possible ways of making the journey or the options and choose the best plan. But just knowing these things is not enough.

One must also have the motivation or Will to make the journey (The GROW Model, 2008). The GROW framework provides a simple four-step process to be used in a coaching session. These steps include: Step 1: Goal- The coach and employee first agree on a specific aim, objective and topic for the discussion. This goal is not the longer-term objective that the employee has. This goal is to be achieved within the limits of the discussion.

Step 2: Reality - Both coach and employee must do a self-assessment and then offer specific examples to illustrate their points and achieve the most exact picture of the topic possible. Step 3: Options - In the options stage the coach tries to draw out a list of what all that is possible for the player to do without judgment and evaluation. Coach extracts suggestions from the employee by asking effective questions and then guides them towards making the right choices.

Step 4: Wrap-up - In this stage the coach's intention is to gain a commitment from the employee. Coach and employee chose the most appropriate options, commit to action, define the action plan, the next steps and a timeframe for their objectives and identify how to overcome obstacles (What is GROW Model? n.d.). When applying the GROW model to a coaching session with Joe it would first be important to identify what Joes' strengths are along with what areas in which he needs to grow.

Joe's strengths include his extensive technical skills, his strong ability to think systematically and his willingness to take on new challenges in high stress situations. The areas in which Joe needs to grow are those of both his communication and negotiating skills. After establishing these things it would be important to determine what concerns that Joe has that would need to be addressed in this coaching session. Joe seems to be having difficulty dealing with the recent changes that have taken place within the organization.

Things are being done differently now than they used to be and Joe is having a hard time figuring out where he fits in. Joe also seems to be having difficulty understanding and accepting the other business functions that are within the company. There also seems to be some communication gaps within the organization between the different departments that need to be addressed across the company as a whole. After getting all of the issues out onto the table it would time to set goals for both Joe and myself.

I want to see Joe develop the skills of management and leadership that will allow him to move up within the organization. The goals that Joe needs to work on include acquiring better communication skills along with better negotiation skills. There are management and leadership skills classes that are offered by the education department of the organization that Joe will enroll in. Upon completion of these courses this goal will be considered obtained. Another goal that would be set for Joe would be to work on his time management skills.

This will help him to better manage his time between his job and his family. This goal can be obtained by working with the company's EAP program to learn better time management skills. Joe has also expressed some concern about his level of education and whether it is sufficient to excel.