The best coaching I ever got was in a car, not a meeting room.
We had just left a clinic. The call had not gone well. My manager did not tell me what I did wrong. He asked me four questions, and by the fourth one I had worked it out myself.
Years later I learned those four questions have a name. GROW, published by Sir John Whitmore in Coaching for Performance in 1992. Goal, Reality, Options, Will.
- Goal: what did you want to leave that clinic with? Not the message you planned to deliver. The outcome.
- Reality: what actually happened? Then stay quiet. What the rep leaves out is usually the coaching point.
- Options: what else could you have done at that moment? Ask for three. The first one they already know. The third is the one worth having.
- Will: what will you do on the next call? One action, in their words, said out loud.
Most of us jump straight to Options, because telling is faster than asking. It is also the reason nothing changes. The rep who names the problem is the rep who fixes it.
Ten minutes. Before the engine starts.
“Ask before you tell. The rep who names the problem is the rep who fixes it.”
Lesson 1 of 23 in Step 4: Coaching, with the full guide and a checklist for this week.