GROW model: coach your way to a goal

Goal · Reality · Options · Way Forward

GROW prevents rushed solutions: clarify the goal and reality, explore options, then commit to a next step.

Clarify the goal
Test current reality
Commit to action

Start a reflection about:

Also helps with:Performance review season A reorganization

GROW in 4 steps

GROW moves you from a clear goal through an honest reality check and several options to one concrete next step.

Goal
Define the desired outcome and how you will recognise success.
Reality
Check what is happening, what you have tried, and which obstacles or resources matter.
Options
Generate several routes before judging them.
Way Forward
Choose a route. Set the next action, owner, and time.

When this method helps

Use GROW when you are stuck, going in circles, or helping someone define a concrete next step.

Key benefits

Clarifies the goal before selecting a solution
Opens alternatives beyond the obvious answer
Turns reflection into an owned, timed next step
Works for self-reflection and coaching

Limits and when to pause

GROW requires a clear enough view of the situation and room to act. It cannot replace specialist support for legal, safety, health, or crisis matters.

GROW examples

The four steps stay the same whether you work on a team process, on your own workload, or with someone you coach. Each example shows the steps separately and then how you could share the result in a few sentences.

A stuck team process

Speed up a process that several people share and nobody owns.

Illustrative scenario

Goal: By the end of the quarter, critical changes should be reviewed and released within three working days, with no more rollbacks than today.
Reality: Right now it takes eight working days on average, and five of them are spent waiting for a reviewer. Review ownership between engineering and quality assurance changes every week. A reminder in the team channel two months ago changed nothing.
Options: The team lead lists five options before judging any: a fixed review rotation, smaller changes, a daily joint review slot, a review deadline, or a second QA engineer. The hire would help most but cannot happen this quarter. The rotation is the cheapest to test.
Way Forward: On Monday she starts a four-week pilot with a fixed review rotation. Every Friday she shares lead time and open handoffs. After week four, the team decides whether to keep it.

How you could share it

From Monday, we’ll try a fixed review rotation for four weeks. Our goal is to release critical changes within three working days. Right now it takes eight, and five of those are spent waiting for a reviewer. I’ll share lead time and open handoffs every Friday, and after week four we decide together whether to keep it.

Your own workload

Get back time for the work only you can do.

Illustrative scenario

Goal: By the end of next month, an engineering manager wants two three-hour blocks a week without meetings, for one-on-one preparation and the hiring plan.
Reality: He counted his last two weeks: 26 of 40 working hours a week were meetings. Nine of those hours were three recurring meetings where he only listens. He tried declining meetings one at a time, but the invitations came back. He also says yes to most new requests himself.
Options: He lists five options: leave the three listen-only meetings and read the notes, send a deputy to the operations sync, block two mornings a week, move one-on-ones with senior engineers to every two weeks, or ask his manager which meetings she expects him in.
Way Forward: He leaves the three listen-only meetings and blocks Tuesday and Thursday mornings. On Friday he writes to the organizers. In four weeks, he checks his calendar against the six-hour target.

How you could share it

From next week, I’ll step out of the Monday status meeting and read the notes instead. I need the time for one-on-ones and the hiring plan. If a topic needs my decision, add me to that agenda item and I’ll join for it.

Coaching someone on your team

Help someone find their own next step instead of handing them yours.

Illustrative scenario

Goal: A senior engineer wants to lead a design across teams before the promotion round in March. His manager asks what success would look like. His answer: a design that two teams build on, with him as the named owner.
Reality: He has led three designs within his own team and none across teams. Reviewers call his proposals thorough, but two of the last three arrived after the decision was made. Planning for the next cross-team project, a shared login service, starts in January.
Options: His manager asks for his ideas first. He names four: volunteer as design owner for the login service, pair with the staff engineer on it, present his next design in the architecture review, or share drafts after one week instead of three. She adds nothing until his list is finished.
Way Forward: He volunteers for the login service and will share a first draft one week after planning starts. By Friday he asks the staff engineer for a review slot. His manager proposes him as owner in the January planning.

How you could share it

So your goal is to lead the login service design before the March round. You’ll ask the staff engineer for a review slot by Friday and share a first draft a week after planning starts. I’ll propose you as owner in the January planning. Let’s look at how it’s going in our first one-on-one after that.

In each example, the choice comes only after several options are on the table, and the way forward has a day attached. The message you share is short. The reality check behind it stays in your notes.

Vague or concrete?

GROW usually goes wrong in three places: a goal that is really a wish, a reality that is really a judgment, and a way forward without a date.

Vague“Releases should be faster.”
Concrete“By the end of the quarter, critical changes go out within three working days.”
Vague“QA is always the bottleneck.”
Concrete“Five of our eight days are spent waiting for a reviewer.”
Vague“I’ll look into a review rotation.”
Concrete“On Monday I start a four-week rotation pilot, and we review it together after week four.”

A concrete goal tells you later whether you got closer. A judgment in Reality usually points at one person or team, and then your options only cover what they should do differently.

Template: your GROW in five sentences

Copy the template and replace each bracket with your own case.

By [date], I want [outcome], and I’ll know it worked when [measure]. Right now, [facts and numbers], and I have already tried [attempt]. My options are [option 1], [option 2] and [option 3]. I choose [option] because [reason]. My first step is [action] by [day], and I’ll check progress on [date].

Check before you commit

Goal: Could you tell on the date whether you reached it?
Reality: Are these facts someone else could check, and does your own part appear?
Options: Did you list at least three before judging any?
Way Forward: Does the first step have a day, and is it in your hands?

Questions Reflacto asks

GROW itself has four steps: goal, reality, options and way forward. Reflacto asks one question for each. It adds two questions that GROW does not ask separately: one weighs the pros and cons of each option before you choose, and one pins down your very next step.

Develop a solution

Work through a complex situation and find a next step you can take.

1What is the goal you want to achieve in this situation?GROW step
2What is the current reality?GROW step
3What options are available to you?GROW step
4Evaluate each option: what are the pros and cons?Added by Reflacto
5Which option will you choose and what are your next steps?GROW step
6What is your next step?Added by Reflacto

After the last question, Reflacto shows an action plan with concrete next steps.

Questions about using the GROW model

Goal and reality

What makes a good GROW goal?

An outcome you can check, with a date, that is largely within your influence.

You could say

“By the end of the quarter, critical changes go out within three working days.”

If the goal depends mostly on other people, set a goal for your part of it. Vague and concrete side by side

What does Reality mean in the GROW model?

An honest account of what is happening, what you have tried, and how you might be contributing.

You could say

“I tried declining meetings one at a time, but I also say yes to most new requests myself.”

Without this check, you may solve the wrong problem. Count before you estimate: a calendar or a ticket history often tells a different story than your memory. Example: your own workload

Options and choice

What if I can’t think of any options?

Separate generating from judging, and list at least five options, including bad ones.

You could say

“What would I tell someone else in this situation?”

A bad option often contains a usable part. Weigh pros and cons only when the list is finished; Reflacto asks for that in a separate question. The questions in Reflacto

How do I choose between the options?

Compare impact, effort and how much is in your hands, then pick one you can start this week.

You could say

“A second QA engineer would help most, but not this quarter. The rotation I can test on Monday.”

If two options are close, pick the one that is easier to reverse and try it for a fixed period. Example: a stuck team process

Alone or with others

Can I use GROW on myself, without a coach?

Yes. Write your answers down so you don’t skip Reality.

The questions give you structure; a partner adds the challenge you can’t give yourself. Reading your goal to a colleague often shows whether it is still a wish.

How do I use GROW when coaching someone?

Ask the questions and let the other person answer them, including the options.

You could say

“What else could you do?”

Add your own idea only once their list is finished, and let them choose. If you hand them the answer, you are giving advice. That can be right, but then say so. Example: coaching someone on your team

About the method

What does GROW stand for?

Goal, Reality, Options, Way Forward. Clarify the goal and reality before you generate options and commit to an action.

The last step is also called Will, as in “What will you do?” Both names mean the same step. Origin and sources

When is GROW the wrong tool?

When you don’t yet understand the situation, when you have no room to act, or when the topic needs specialist help.

Legal, safety, health or crisis matters need expert support. If you first want to make sense of something that already happened, look back before you plan ahead. Limitations

Origin and Reflacto's adaptation

Sir John Whitmore and colleagues, including Graham Alexander and Alan Fine, devised GROW in the 1980s. Whitmore later documented it in Coaching for Performance.

Also known as: GROW coaching model, Goal-Reality-Options-Way forward

What Reflacto changed

From the original model: The four steps goal, reality, options and way forward, with one question for each.
Added by Reflacto: Reflacto adds a question that weighs the pros and cons of each option before you choose, a question for one concrete first step, and an action plan at the end.

See every question Reflacto asks

Primary sources and further reading

Editorially reviewed by Daniel Schmeiß

Last substantive review: September 29, 2026

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