“O for Options: identify and evaluate different action strategies”
The third coaching phase of the GROW-model
Once you and your coachee have explored the current reality, it’s time to explore what is possible – meaning all the potential options, behaviour or decisions that could lead to the right solution.
Help your coachee to generate a long list. Your objective as a coach during the Options stage should not be to find the right answer, but to help your coachee identify as many different ideas and solutions as possible. You don’t want any obstacles like preferences, feasibility or need for completeness blocking the brainstorming process. At this point in the process, it’s the ideation – the creative part – that provides the real value.
Quantity more important than quality?
So, as strange as it may seem, focus on quantity rather than quality and feasibility. It’s from this long inventory of creative possibilities that actions will be chosen during the next stage.
