Maximising the potential of your team is a key priority for most organisations.

How can you develop your team to ensure they continue to make progress?

Focus on your leadership of the team.

Leadership is the single most important factor in improving team engagement and performance.

“The key is to build trust in your team through the way you behave and lead. Trust positively affects commitment, loyalty and performance, so the more trust and loyalty you show your team, the more likely they are to engage and follow your lead, whether they are in the same office or working on the other side of the world.” (Scrivener, G. 2014, The Guardian)http://www.theguardian.com/careers/careers-blog/manage-team-how-to

Leaders also have a powerful influence over staff and events that facilitate or undermine progress. Research has shown that leadership behaviours that include demonstrating coaching actions in the workplace, in particular facilitating others thinking about work challenges is most valued by staff (The Coaching Conundrum, 2009 BlessingWhite). http://blessingwhite.com/research-report/the-coaching-conundrum-report-2009/

GROW (an acronym for Goal, Reality, Options and Way Forward) is a coaching framework that involves identifying goals, developing plans and achieving results for improved performance, learning, and development of individuals or teams. It is an essential tools for leaders to build trust and facilitate progress.

When leaders use GROW effectively it can raise the team’s awareness of their own aspirations, a greater understanding of their current situation, the possibilities open to them, and the actions they could take to achieve their goals. By setting specific, measurable and achievable goals, and a realistic time frame for their achievement, the GROW framework successfully promotes confidence and self-motivation, leading to increased productivity and personal satisfaction.

Here are some tips for using the framework with your team:

Agreeing on Goals:

Clarify goals at the start of a project

Develop goals when an operational problem needs to be solved

Encourage the team to set new goals

It is useful to ask questions like:

"How will we know that we have achieved our goal?"


"How will we know the problem is solved?"

Assessing the Reality:

Encourage all team members to share their perspective

Explore different opinions

It is useful to ask questions like:

"What have we done so far to achieve our goal?"


"What challenges do we need to consider or overcome?”

Exploring Options:

Discuss successful past projects to identify lessons that can be applied now

Use brainstorming to encourage ideas

Agree on criteria to support the selection of ideas

It is useful to ask questions like:

"What possibilities for action would overcome the issues discussed?"


"What are the benefits and costs of each option?"

Way Forward:

Identify specific tasks to be done

Encourage staff to take responsibility for actions

Ensure there are clear and agreed completion dates

Get buy-in from the team on the action plan

If you notice uncertainty, ask questions to explore reasons and resolve issues

It is useful to ask questions like:

"Which option will we choose to action?"


"What are the next steps and timings?"

Final tip:

Consider how you communicate in all of your interactions with your team. By asking questions instead of giving your team instructions, you will be creating a coaching culture. Try the Leaders Toolkit App for more useful and powerful questions that you can use.