Using the grow model in discipleship coaching

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Philippians 2:12

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One of my all time favourite things to do is watch people grow. I love being able to preach and teach and see the Holy Spirit go to work as He takes the word and releases people from bondage, establishes their identify in Christ, and liberates them to fulfil their God-given destiny. But I also think there is nothing as exciting as working one-to-one with people as they discover their gifts, find their place in the Kingdom, and start to operate out of their very best.

Because I'm passionate about discipleship, a lot of the work I do focuses around coaching people to grow as disciples. I spent an afternoon recently running some training for New Wine Disciple Year interns and shared this model with them. I hope it helps you, too.

The GROW Model is a simple yet powerful framework for structuring your discipleship coaching sessions. GROW stands for: Goal, current Reality, Options (or Obstacles), Will (or Way Forward).

Focus
To start the session ask your coachee what they want to focus on. This could be any area of their work of life. Let's imagine your coachee is in the worship band and has said they want to improve their singing voice.

Set the goal
Now you know the focus, you and your coachee need to look at the thing they want to change and structure this change as a loose goal. Let's say your coachee states their loose goal as: "I want to be able to sing for a whole worship weekend without my voice breaking in the last session."

Examine the current reality
Next you need to check the current reality. This is an important step. People often try to solve a problem or reach a goal without fully considering all the information they need in order to reach their goal effectively. Thinking back to our singing example, you might want to ask some questions: Do you often have to sing for a whole weekend? Does your always voice break if you do? Why do you think that is? Establish that there really is a need to work on this goal and it's possible for your coachee to influence the outcome.

Explore the obstacles and options
Once you and your coachee have explored the current reality, it's time to look at the possible options for reaching the goal. Do this taking into account all the obstacles that might need to be addressed. For example, your coachee might think about practical things he or she can do to protect their voice (drink hot water and honey, take a break). Or they might consider singing training to strengthen their voice. They might also realise there is a need for someone else to act (e.g. they might be straining their voice singing over a loud band and might need the worship leader to supply in-ear monitors to help with hearing themselves).

Determine there is a will and a way forward
By examining the current reality and exploring the options, your coachee will now have a good idea of how he or she can achieve their goal. The final step is to get your them to commit to specific actions in order to move forward.

SMART goals
SMART goals are specific, measurable achievable, realistic and tied to a timetable. Let's imagine your coachee has decided singing lessons are the way forward. Good SMART goals would be:

Establish a budget for singing lessons by 30.06.19
Research affordable (£xx per hour) singing training by 07.07.19
Sign up to 10 lessons at £xx to start by 14.07.19

Each goal ties your coachee to specific actions within a timetable. If they can't achieve one of the stages, they can review and rewrite the goal.

Follow up
Following up is crucial. Have a date in the diary or make a note to ask next time you see them. Remember, though, you are not responsible for their goals and progress. Accountability is always helpful but they need to own their walk.

I'd love to help you identify some goals for your walk with Jesus. You can contact me to talk through how that would work using the form on the contact page. 

Until next time.

L x