Anthony M. Grant The Coaching Psychologist, Vol. 7, No.

2, December 2011 available from

http://coachingconsultinginternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/REGROW-the-GROW-model-Grant-TCP-
2011.pdf accessed 27/02/14
From GROW to RE-GROW!
The kind of goal-directed self-regulation that sits at the heart of the coaching process is a series of processes in which
an individual sets a goal, develops a plan of action, begins action, monitors his or her performance, evaluates his or
her performance by comparison to a standard, and based on this evaluation changes his or her actions to better reach
his or her goals. The coach’s role is to facilitate the coachee’s movement through the self-regulatory cycle (see Figure
2). This process requires that each coaching session takes stock of the outcomes of the previous session, and a
coaching engagement is thus typically an iterative process in which the action steps from one session provide
information and learning points for the following session (Kemp, 2008). Without a clear and explicit link from one
session to the next, the coaching engagement runs the risk of becoming a series of disjointed conversations. Yet most
coaching session structures focus on structuring a single coaching session. We need coaching session models that
recognise the iterative nature of the coaching engagement and explicitly provide a framework for incorporating the
learning from the prior session into the current session. The RE-GROW model is one way that this can be achieved
(Greene & Grant, 2003). The initial stages of this model are Review and Evaluate. Thus each coaching session should
start with a process of reviewing and evaluating the learnings and actions competed since the last session (see Figure
3). The trap here for the novice is to spend too much time in the review and evaluate process – with the possibility of
de-railing the main coaching session. Thus it is important to make sure that only a short amount of time is spent in the
review and evaluate section (approximately five to 10 minutes). Personal experience and anecdotal evidence indicates
that the use of RE-GROW can help maintain focus on the goals of coaching over the course of a coaching
engagement, but more scholarship is needed in this area.

Wrap-up and way forward

In wrapping-up this article, as in a coaching session, it might be useful to think about the next steps and the way
forward. It is clear that coaching session structures are here to stay and are an integral part of coaching practice, and
hence coaching-related teaching and training. But there has been little scholarship in this area of coaching practice on
which to base our teaching and training. Research and scholarship into this area has the potential to further develop
the evidence-base for coaching and also inform the broader psychological enterprise, particularly in relation to the
further development of psychological theories of self-regulation and goal attainment. In order to keep the evidence-
based coaching endeavour moving forward we need to pay attention to this issue – we need to revitalise our approach
to session structures. Maybe it is indeed time to re-grow the GROW model.