UX Coach: the GROW model

3 min read - Last updated: 18 june 2024

Marjan Geerts from UX Coach has been coaching many experienced and novice UX/UI designers in the past 5 years. She coaches other designers to help them improve their hard skills and soft skills, to support them to find a job in the IT sector, or to help them grow in UX leadership. She loves to have 1-on-1 conversations that bring coachees to new insights about themselves, and help them to reach their goals. The coaching model that she uses is called GROW, it is developed in the UK, about 40 years ago by Graham Alexander. How can this model help you as a UX designer?

What does the GROW model stand for?

The 4 letters of the word GROW all represent a phase in a coaching conversation: although they are not mentioned explicitly by the coach, they are like a coat rack, that help the coach to guide the conversation, and make sure that the investment to have a conversation is not wasted.

GOAL: what is your objective, what would you like to achieve in your career, in your current job, in your current project, during this conversation, ...[fill it in yourself]...?
REALITY: what is the status today, how far did you come in achieving this goal? This phase is about honesty, about sharing, your worries, your strengths and weaknesses.
OPTIONS: which routes could you take to achieve the goal, from where you are today? You probably have multiple options, describe them. This phase can also be called OBSTACLES.
WILL: what is your next step after you leave this conversation, and are you motivated to get in action? This phase can also be called WAY FORWARD or WRAP-UP.

How does the GROW model help you as a coachee?

When your coach is using the GROW model, you will probably do most of the talking during UX coaching sessions. Don't hesitate to share your story and perspective, be honest about your current situation, about the hurdles you have to take. Come up with your own answers and ideas for proceeding, and make the most of your coaching session by taking the next steps that you thought of in the phase WILL.

When you want to GROW, make sure you prepare the coaching session: note down your view on the 4 steps G-R-O-W. Ask questions when a step is unclear to you, or

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Your role as a coach, who loves to see people grow

Don't give advise too quickly. As a coach it is so easy to give advice to your coachee, because you have "been there", you know what the options are, you know what works best in most cases. But the challenge for you as a coach is to practice Active listening: this means you need to ask the right questions, to let the coachee speak, listen carefully, and summarise what (s)he said at the end.

Don't judge. Also, it is important not to judge your coachee. It can be easy to have an opinion about her/his work ethics, about how the coachee ended up in the current reality or to speak as a corrective mom or dad to your coachee. But try to keep your opinion to yourself, try to analyse the reality (phase 2) and ask the best follow-up question you can think of.

Take time for the coaching conversation. Schedule at least 1 hour or more for the conversation, especially when it is the first time you talk to each other. You need to set the topic or boundaries of the conversation, to explain what your role is, and to set a date for a follow-up session.

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Marjan

Senior UX designer with 15+ years of experience combining design and research. She believes that customer empathy produces better and more attractive products and services. She is founder of UX Coach, a UX design studio in Antwerp, Belgium.

+32 (0)487 424 713

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When is the GROW model not useful?

GROW is not always a good model to follow, there are exceptions:

When the coachee has no motivation to take any next step. Then the investment in the conversation is lost, it might not be worth the time.
When you are too much dependent on the failure or success of your coachee. For example, when the coachee is your employee, and you need to have a task finished by the end of the day. In that case it is better to clearly explain to the employee what the goal is and that there is no way to diver from the assignment.

📘 Everything you need to know about UX coaching (article in Dutch)