How to Focus your Life – The Grow Model

Working Resources is a San Francisco Bay Area  Executive Coaching Firm Helping Innovative Companies and Law Firms Assess, Select, Coach, Engage  and Retain Emotionally Intelligent Leaders; Executive Coaching; Leadership Development; Performance-Based Interviewing; Competency Modeling; Succession Management; Culture Change; Career Coaching and Leadership Retreats

Dr. Maynard Brusman
Consulting Psychologist and Executive Coach
Trusted Advisor to Senior Leadership Teams

 

How to Focus your Life – The Grow Model

The secret to a resilient life in our kind of world is in knowing how to recycle yourself, over and over, letting go of what is no longer you, taking on new strengths, and shaping new chapters for your life, guided by your own emerging vision."
- Frederich Hudson, Pamela McLean

 

Grow Model

The G.R.O.W. MODEL is so simple, powerful and effective personal and professional development model that can be successfully used in every area of your business and personal lives, reducing interference and accelerating performance. It helps people get into the "zone", where simplicity and genius reside.

The conventional methods of the "Outside In" Model of 'Performance = Capacity + Knowledge' is how most leaders think of improving performance as opposed to the Inside Out approach which provides a breakthrough Model: Performance = Capacity - Interference.

Four Steps

The GROW Model is a tool you can use to manage virtually any kind of tough conversation. For people familiar with Socratic inquiry, the GROW model is a way to remember each step along the path. It works like this.

The “G” in GROW stands for “goal.” The first thing in a difficult conversation is to establish the goal of the discussion – and its connection to a larger goal for the organization. Maybe it’s to deal with a problem employee or decide whether to discontinue a product line. For example, let’s assume the goal is to deal with a problem employee. As you talk about the goal, it becomes clear that the real goal is to get the employee to make changes to a membership database. Talking first about the goal ensures people are oriented toward the same goal.

The “R” stands for “reality.” The second thing people need to talk about is the current reality. What’s going on? How did we get here? What do we know? What don’t we know? Using the example, the reality may be that people can’t easily update member data, records are inaccurate, and the database can’t import data from other sources.

The “O” stands for “options.” This is the part that people typically jump to before they talked about the goal and the reality! What could we do? Hire a contractor? Change our management approach? Establish priorities for what gets fixed first? Scrap the existing platform? Here’s where people need to engage in creative brainstorming and share their ideas.

Finally, the “W” in GROW stands for “way forward” – as in what will we do and when? This is the time to decide on the next step. It can be the toughest part of the discussion, since people need to commit to action. If the decision is being made consultatively, one person can decide. If by consensus, it can take several rounds of asking each person what they would like to do. But ultimately, people are likely to come to agreement, if only because they’re exhausted! Perhaps the decision is to hire a contractor to assess quality of the database application. That’s the next step.

Learning the GROW model will help you feel more confident and comfortable in managing tough conversations. And that’s a key part of managing decisions well.

Many of my coaching clients put the following four steps in the Grow Model on a Post -it attached to their computer monitor. The Grow Model serves as a daily positive reminder to focus on goals and flourish.

  G = Goals... what are your specific goals in any area of your life

  R = Reality... take a realistic look at the facts related to the goal

  O = Options... based on the facts, what are your options?

  W = Way Forward... based on careful assessment of your Goals, Reality and various
          Options, what is your preferred "Way Forward"?

Research into goal setting shows that goals work best when they are:

• Positive
• Possible
• Precise
• Personal
• Measurable
• Inspirational
• Manageable in small steps
• Written down
• Time-limited
• Shared with others for accountability

Powerful questions to ask yourself include:

What do I want?
What do I want to do differently?
How will achieving this goal make my life better? And the life of others?
What excites me about this goal?
What will I get when I achieve this goal?
What will I notice when I achieve this goal?
What will others notice?
When will I achieve this goal?

One of the most important questions you can ask yourself is “Do I follow a simple, but elegant model to achieve my goals?” Emotionally intelligent and socially intelligent organizations provide executive coaching as part of their peak performance leadership development program.

Are you working in a company where executive coaches provide leadership development to grow emotionally intelligent leaders? Does your organization provide executive coaching for leaders who want to achieve significant goals? Enlightened leaders tap into their emotional intelligence and social intelligence skills to create a more fulfilling future.

Working with a seasoned executive coach and leadership consultant trained in emotional intelligence and incorporating assessments such as the Bar-On EQ-I, CPI 260 and Denison Culture Survey can help you achieve your goals. You can become a leader who models emotional intelligence and social intelligence, and who inspires people to become fully engaged with the vision, mission and strategy of your company or law firm.

About Dr. Maynard Brusman

Dr. Maynard Brusman is a consulting psychologist, executive coach and trusted advisor to senior leadership teams. He is the president of Working Resources, a leadership consulting and executive coaching firm. We specialize in helping San Francisco Bay Area companies and law firms assess, select, coach, and retain emotionally intelligent leaders.  Maynard is a highly sought-after speaker and workshop leader. He facilitates leadership retreats in Northern California and Costa Rica. The Society for Advancement of Consulting (SAC) awarded Dr. Maynard Brusman "Board Approved" designations in the specialties of Executive Coaching and Leadership Development.

For more information, please go to http://www.workingresources.com, write to mbrusman@workingresources.com, or call 415-546-1252.

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