The GROW model makes the process slightly more organized. Easy to use both during face-to-face and online meetings.
How to conduct feedback using the GROW method?
Set a clear goal [G]
Ask and encourage your co-worker to set the meeting goal and developmental goal with you.
Helpful questions:
- What would you like to focus on today?
- What is important to you right now?
- What does your ideal future look like?
- What will you be doing in five years?
- What new skills do you want to learn or develop?
- Where do you lack balance in your life?
- What challenges are you facing right now?
- What will make you feel that this time was well spent?
- What are you currently working on?
- How to formulate your goal in positive language?
Help define the reality (context) [R]
Help your co-worker define the context so they can plan the journey to their goal. Be careful of attempts to gather too much data. It is enough to understand the general situation, how the employee interprets it, and the impact it has on the interlocutor. Remain objective and invite your co-worker to look at the situation from different perspectives.
Helpful questions:
- Where are you now with this topic?
- If the ideal situation is defined by the number 10, how would you rate the current one on a scale from 1 to 10?
- What would your co-workers say about it?
- What actions have you already taken?
- What actions have you not taken yet?
- What is working?
- What is not working?
- Who else has control over this and to what extent?
- What obstacles still need to be overcome?
- What resources do you have right now – referring to skills, time, enthusiasm, budget, support, etc.?
- What other resources will you need? Where will you get them?
Discuss options, obstacles [O]
Help your co-worker imagine the obstacles and solution options that will certainly appear sooner or later. Focus on the quantity, not the quality of ideas; quality assessment comes later. Encourage creativity and think through all potential ways to achieve the goal before deciding on action. Propose your ideas when your co-worker exhausts theirs.
Helpful questions:
- What options do you see now?
- What could you do?
- What other ways do you see to reach the goal?
- If you were not limited by time, what could you do?
- If you were not limited by resources, what could you do?
- What would your best friend, manager, or co-worker want or do in this situation?
- What options are available to you?
- Which of the options/solutions will provide the best results?
- Which of the solutions suits you best?
- What would happen if you did nothing?
Establish a plan and will to act [W]
Help your co-worker define a specific action plan that they will own and begin to implement in order to achieve the goal. This stage is about turning the discussion into a decision. Let your co-worker decide and take responsibility for their actions. Determine when you will meet again to discuss progress.
Helpful questions:
- Which option do you choose?
- On a scale from 1 to 10, how committed are you to this? (If 6 or less, ask what would get them to an 8-10).
- What might prevent you from completing this task?
- How will you protect yourself against this?
- What will be your first step?
- By when will you do this?
- If you have doubts, what are they?
- How will you get the necessary support?
