In the past month inside our Facebook Group, The Female Leaders Collective, we have discussed how to have an effective meeting using the GROW Coaching model.

But before we start on how to use it, I will share the meaning of GROW. It is a universal coaching model, it’s the basics. All advanced coaching models come from here, but we can use GROW, and what I definitely teach is that GROW is used for formal conversations, but it’s used for feedback conversations. It’s used for that casual catch-up in the hallway, and conversations around the water cooler in the kitchen. It’s also used for great meeting agendas, and anything that really needs to have a structure around it, but encourages everybody’s input as well.

I can guarantee you that once you start to really understand the GROW coaching model and use it, you will transform your leadership, the way you relate to other people, and the way you’re able to hold people accountable. The way you’re able to give that feedback and bring those expectations to life is through coaching.

GROW is an acronym that means:
G= Goal
R = Reality
O= Options
W= Way Forward

Let’s look at how we can use this acronym to create an effective meeting.

Normally, we have an agenda for the meeting. Others add to it prior to the meeting, and it’s the Chairperson’s job to keep to the agenda. And we find that there is not a lot of outcome discussion- or decisions made.

Let’s look at how our agenda can be our Goal.

If you can instill one reason why you are all meeting today, and focus on that, then you can break it down into different agendas.

What is that one reason, the purpose of this meeting? What is it we want to walk away with? Craft the goal so that everyone can visualise the outcome.

That becomes how you begin your meeting.

Then you move into the Reality phase, which is really about finding out what’s happening now? What have we already tried? What resources do we have already? What do we need? Who else might we need to go and talk to?

This sets the baseline of where we are currently in relation to the goal we are trying to achieve. It’s important not to skip this step because it relates very closely to the next step – the Options or brainstorming section of the meeting.

What ideas can we come up with? Now we know what our current state of play is, now what are the options? This time in the meeting is so important to ensure everyone is heard, but that no ideas are tossed aside at this point.

If you really want to create this safe environment where everybody’s engaging, people are being productive, and speaking up, this is the section to focus on.

Once you have some ideas, and you’ve highlighted a few that could be the best options to reach your goal, it’s time to move into the accountability section of the meeting.

This is the Way Forward. Start by asking the question – “Out of these options, What WILL we do?”
What is our way forward from here?
Then, as a team, you start to break it down into tasks and ask for people to put their hands up to achieve certain tasks. Delegation skills also come in handy during this part of a meeting.

Make sure you set up measurements for success. How will they know when they are successful? What are the deadlines? What are you going to commit to and by when? When will you check in with each other, or as a group etc? You finish the meeting on notes of action.

If you started running even a segment of your meetings like this, you can be assured that not only will people start to wake up and participate, they’ll look forward to helping problem solve.

So, ditch the agenda, and focus on the goal!