Coaching for Performance, by Sir John Whitmore

Overview: Leaders often take the view of coaching as encouragement or teaching; in Whitmore’s foudnational text he clarifies how coaching is driven by the questions we ask to enhance awareness, not the answers we give: “Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their own performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them.”

Key Takeaway: In the 1980’s Whitmore and a cohort of experienced executive coaches partnered with Mckinsey to determine the recurring structure of highly effective coaching sessions, and GROW was born:

• Goal: Establish a clear and inspiring goal, and the outcome for this coaching conversation.

  • What do you want? Why is it important to you? How will you know you’ve achieved it?

• Reality: Explore the current reality to confirm where they are starting from.

  • What strengths do you have? What weaknesses? What resources are at your disposal?

• Options: Encourage them to think expansively & creatively about all possible options.

  • What could you do to move toward your goals? What else?

• Will Do: Commit to the next step - what specifically will they do, by when.

  • What is your next step? How will you hold yourself accountable?

Bonus Tip: Coaching is a state of being more than doing, and is largely characterized by the quality of your listening. Focus on the other person: what words are they saying, and how? If you notice you start to focus on an area of your interest or expertise, shift back into curiosity and ask one more open question that let’s the other person guide the conversation.

​For more visit: https://www.performanceconsultants.com/resources/coaching-for-performance-book/