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GROW conversation planner: plan the questions, not the answers.

Ten minutes of preparation is the difference between a coaching conversation and a chat that ends with you giving advice.

By Ron EldridgeOctober 2026 · 4 min read · Source: Forty GROW coaching questions managers actually use · Fact-checked October 2026

Use the tool

Choose the kind of conversation, write the goal and tick a few questions for each stage; get a timed one-page plan to print. Nothing is stored.

4. Tick the questions you want to ask. We suggest two or three per stage. Once you choose one of the first four conversation types, three questions per stage are marked Suggested; nothing is ticked for you.

G – Goal

Agree what the person wants from the conversation and from the bigger issue behind it. A clear goal is what stops a coaching conversation turning into a chat.

R – Reality

Get an honest, specific picture of where things stand now. This is usually the stage to slow down: a good reality check often changes the goal.

O – Options

Widen the field before narrowing it. The person generates the options; the manager resists the urge to supply the answer.

W – Will

Turn the chosen option into a commitment: what, when, with what support, and what happens if it gets difficult.

Nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere; it stays in this page until you close it. The plan prints on one page from the button under it.

How the planner works

GROW has four stages: Goal (what the person wants), Reality (where things stand now), Options (what they could do) and Will (what they will do, and when). Choose one of the first four kinds of conversation and three questions in each stage are marked as suggested (“Something else” marks none); you decide which to tick. As a starting point we suggest spending roughly 15% of the time on Goal, 35% on Reality, 30% on Options and 20% on Will. The planner rounds to whole minutes and gives Will whatever is left. If a stage has no questions ticked, the plan says so.

Using the plan in the room

  • Read the goal back to the person at the start and check it is theirs. Change it if it is not.
  • Ask one question at a time and let the silence run. You will not need every question you chose.
  • Expect to loop back. If Reality shows the goal was the wrong one, reset it.
  • Finish with a first step, a date and a review point, written down.

The full question bank, with notes on each stage and the mistakes to avoid, is in Forty GROW coaching questions managers actually use.

Based on the GROW model, developed in the UK in the 1980s and first published in John Whitmore’s Coaching for Performance (1992). Question bank and time split by great{with}talent. For forward-looking feedback from the people someone works with, see FeedForward.

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