GROW Coaching Model for Leaders Training Course

Course overview

Leaders are often expected to improve performance through coaching, yet many default to giving answers, solving problems for others, or turning one-to-ones into status updates. This creates dependency, weakens accountability, and leaves capable employees without a clear route to develop their own judgement. The GROW Coaching Model provides a disciplined structure for turning everyday leadership conversations into focused, action-oriented coaching sessions that address performance, development, change and career goals.

This five-day course teaches leaders to use the GROW sequence—Goal, Reality, Options and Will—to prepare, conduct and follow up coaching conversations. Participants practise contracting the conversation, setting measurable outcomes, using open questions, listening for assumptions and blockers, challenging constructively, generating employee-owned options, and converting intentions into accountable commitments. The course also addresses when GROW is appropriate, when a leader must direct rather than coach, and how to use the model within performance management and development planning.

Instruction combines live demonstrations, coached role-plays, case analysis and structured feedback against recognised coaching competencies. Participants work with real workplace coaching situations and build a practical GROW Coaching Conversation Pack: a coaching preparation template, question bank, observation checklist, follow-up record and 90-day application plan. This provides managers with evidence of a repeatable leadership practice rather than a one-off communication technique.

The course is suited to experienced supervisors, managers and senior leaders who already conduct one-to-ones or performance conversations and need a more consistent method for developing others while maintaining clear delivery expectations.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Apply the GROW Coaching Model to structure performance, development and career conversations
• Contract a coaching conversation by agreeing purpose, confidentiality, roles and measurable outcomes
• Formulate outcome-focused Goal questions that distinguish stated wants from observable results
• Use active listening, summarising and probing questions to examine the coachee’s current Reality
• Generate employee-owned Options through expansive questioning rather than advice-led problem solving
• Convert discussion into a Will plan with commitments, milestones, support needs and accountability measures
• Differentiate coaching from directing, mentoring, counselling and performance management in leadership situations
• Create a documented GROW coaching plan for a live workplace coaching case

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Line Managers — who need to develop employee capability while maintaining delivery accountability
• Team Leaders and Supervisors — who conduct regular one-to-ones and address day-to-day performance barriers
• Senior Managers — who need a consistent coaching approach across multiple teams or functions
• HR Business Partners — who support managers with performance, talent and development interventions
• Learning and Development Managers — who embed coaching practices into leadership development programmes
• Project and Programme Managers — who lead cross-functional contributors without relying solely on formal authority

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience leading people, conducting one-to-ones, delegating work, or contributing to performance and development conversations. They should understand basic workplace objectives, KPIs and the difference between a task discussion and a behavioural discussion. Bring one current coaching situation involving a willing colleague, direct report or project contributor; identifying details can be anonymised. No formal coaching qualification, psychology training or prior knowledge of the GROW model is required. A laptop is useful for live-online delivery and for completing templates, but specialist coaching software is not needed.

Training methodology

The course uses instructor-led modelling of short and extended GROW conversations, followed by paired and triad coaching practice in which participants rotate through coach, coachee and observer roles. Participants use GROW worksheets, question stems and observation rubrics to analyse live demonstrations and workplace cases. Facilitated debriefs examine the quality of questions, listening, challenge and action commitments. Each participant applies the method to a current leadership issue and receives structured peer and facilitator feedback before completing a 90-day coaching implementation plan.

Course outline

Day 1: Coaching as a leadership discipline

• Coaching, directing, mentoring and counselling distinctions
• The GROW Coaching Model and its leadership applications
• Coaching mindset, authority and employee ownership
• Ethical boundaries, confidentiality and psychological safety
• Contracting purpose, roles and conversation boundaries
• Performance coaching versus formal performance management
• The ICF Core Competencies and EMCC Global Competence Framework

Workshop: Participants diagnose a workplace conversation and produce a coaching-versus-directing decision map for their own management context.

Day 2: Goal and Reality conversations

• Outcome goals, process goals and learning goals
• SMART and CLEAR goal-setting methods
• Goal questions that define observable success
• Active listening levels and listening for meaning
• Reality questions that surface facts, assumptions and patterns
• Using scaling questions to establish a current baseline
• Summarising and checking understanding without taking control

Workshop: In triads, participants conduct a Goal and Reality coaching sequence and produce a documented baseline, success measure and agreed coaching focus.

Day 3: Expanding options without giving answers

• Open, probing, reflective and challenging question types
• Question funnels and avoiding leading questions
• Reframing limiting assumptions and fixed narratives
• Option-generation techniques for workplace problems
• Brainstorming without premature evaluation
• Constructive challenge and respectful accountability
• Managing silence, emotion and resistance in coaching conversations

Workshop: Participants coach a case involving an underperforming team member and produce an employee-owned options map with risks, benefits and support requirements.

Day 4: Will, accountability and follow-through

• The Will stage and commitment-testing questions
• Action planning with milestones and evidence measures
• Motivation, confidence and readiness scaling
• Identifying resources, stakeholders and support needs
• Anticipating obstacles and if-then contingency planning
• Coaching follow-up records and progress review cadence
• Integrating GROW into one-to-ones and development plans

Workshop: Participants complete a full GROW conversation role-play and produce a written action plan with commitments, review dates and contingency actions.

Day 5: Applying GROW to leadership challenges

• Coaching performance, career development and change readiness
• Adapting GROW for virtual and hybrid conversations
• Coaching across different experience and confidence levels
• When to exit coaching and move to direction or escalation
• Giving feedback on coaching behaviours using observation rubrics
• Measuring coaching impact through behavioural and performance indicators
• Building a 90-day manager coaching practice

Workshop: Participants run an observed capstone coaching conversation based on a live workplace case and produce their personal GROW Coaching Conversation Pack and 90-day implementation plan.

Tools & standards covered

Microsoft Teams, Miro, ICF Core Competencies, EMCC Global Competence Framework

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions