There are many coaching models available to help structure your conversations. One of the most widely known and used models is the GROW model (developed by Sir John Whitmore in 1992). It is comprised of 4 parts:
When using coaching questions in your tutorials you may wish to use questions that are orientated around the GROW coaching model: Grow, Reality, Options and Will/Wrap-up to give you a starting point and way to frame tutorial sessions, guiding conversations to a positive outcome.
The questions below can be useful in each part of the GROW model (adapted from materials developed for the workshop Coaching skills for medical educators). You don’t need to use them all; think of them as being useful ways to start the conversation and to help to maintain a conversation that is tutee and solution focused.
The (T)GROW model is based around a set of questions that can be used to frame the tutorial conversation and guide it towards a positive outcome. Example questions, developed by Dr Arti Maini, to use for each part of the (T)GROW model include:
Goal
- What do you want to achieve?
- Where would you like to be with this issue by the end of our conversation
Reality
- What are the implications of doing nothing?
- What have you tried so far?
- What do you want ideally?
- What has stopped you from achieving your ideal outcome?
- What part of this do you have control over?
- What is going right?
- Imagine you’re at your most resourceful. What do you say to yourself about this issue?
Options
- What are your options here?
Will (wrap up/way forward)
- What is your next step?
- When will you take it?
More (T)GROW coaching questions to use with your tutees
- Goal orientated questions
- Reality orientated questions
- Options orientated questions
- Wrap up/way forward questions
- What do you want to achieve from this tutorial?
- What goal do you want to achieve?
- What would you like to happen with ______?
- What do you really want?
- What would you like to accomplish?
- What result are you trying to achieve?
- What outcome would be ideal?
- What do you want to change?
- Why are you hoping to achieve this goal?
- What would the benefits be if you achieved this goal?
- What is happening now (what, who, when, and how often)? What is the effect or result of this?
- Have you already taken any steps towards your goal?
- How would you describe what you did?
- Where are you now in relation to your goal?
- On a scale of one to ten where are you?
- What has contributed to your success so far?
- What progress have you made so far?
- What is working well right now?
- What is required of you?
- Why haven't you reached that goal already?
- What do you think is stopping you?
- What do you think was really happening?
- Do you know other people who have achieved that goal?
- What did you learn from _____?
- What have you already tried?
- How could you turn this around this time?
- What could you do better this time?
- If you asked ____, what would they say about you?
- On a scale of one to ten how severe/serious/urgent is the situation?
- If someone said/did that to you, what would you think/feel/do?
- What are your options?
- What do you think you need to do next?
- What could be your first step?
- What do you think you need to do to get a better result (or closer to your goal)?
- What else could you do?
- Who else might be able to help?
- What would happen if you did nothing?
- What has worked for you already? How could you do more of that?
- What would happen if you did that?
- What is the hardest/most challenging part of that for you?
- What advice would you give to a friend about that?
- What would you gain/lose by doing/saying that?
- If someone did/said that to you what do you think would happen?
- What's the best/worst thing about that option?
- Which option do you feel ready to act on?
- How have you tacked this/a similar situation before?
- What could you do differently?
- Who do you know who has encountered a similar situation?
- If anything was possible, what would you do?
- What else?
- What are your options?
- What do you think you need to do next?
- What could be your first step?
- What do you think you need to do to get a better result (or closer to your goal)?
- What else could you do?
- Who else might be able to help?
- What would happen if you did nothing?
- What has worked for you already? How could you do more of that?
- What would happen if you did that?
- What is the hardest/most challenging part of that for you?
- What advice would you give to a friend about that?
- What would you gain/lose by doing/saying that?
- If someone did/said that to you what do you think would happen?
- What's the best/worst thing about that option?
- Which option do you feel ready to act on?
- How have you tacked this/a similar situation before?
- What could you do differently?
- Who do you know who has encountered a similar situation?
- If anything was possible, what would you do?
- What else?
- How are going to go about it?
- What do you think you need to do right now?
- Tell me how you’re going to do that.
- How will you know when you have done it?
- Is there anything else you can do?
- On a scale of one to ten, what is the likelihood of your plan succeeding?
- What would it take to make it a ten?
- What obstacles are getting in the way of success?
- What roadblocks do you expect or require planning?
- What resources can help you?
- Is there anything missing?
- What will one small step you take now?
- When are you going to start?
- How will you know you have been successful?
- What support do you need to get that done?
- What will happen (or, what is the cost) of you NOT doing this?
- What do you need from me/others to help you achieve this?
- What are three actions you can take that would make sense this week?
- On a scale of one to ten, how committed/motivated are you to doing it?
- What would it take to make it a ten?
About this content
This guide has been co-developed by the EDU and Dr Arti Maini, an accredited coach, Deputy Director and Coaching Theme Lead for the Medical Education, Innovation and Research Centre (MEdIC) in the School of Public Health at Imperial College London.