GROW MODEL
Questions for a Career Development conversation
1. ESTABLISH THE GOAL
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How would you define your career aspirations?
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What roles would you be interested in having in 10 years? 5 years? 3 years? Next year?
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Why is it so important for you?
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What is the meaning for you once you accomplish your career goal?
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When you achieve your goal, what will you see, hear, feel?
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What is the definition of a successful career for you?
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What experiences/knowledge do you need to have? By when?
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What competencies do you need to have? By when?
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What would make your work more meaningful to you?
2. CHECK REALITY
Section I - Experience & Strengths
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How would you describe your progress in your career thus far?
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What are the most important skills you’ve learned so far? Why?
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What have been the most impactful experiences you’ve had so far? Why?
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What are your unique experiences or capabilities?
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What do you do really well?
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What are you recognized or rewarded for most often?
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Which of your accomplishments are you proudest of?
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For what do most people come to you for help?
Section II: Interests & Personnel Drives
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What is your favorite part of your current role? Your least favorite?
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What have you always loved doing? What job opportunities are you passionate about?
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What is the one task or type of project you would like to do more frequently in future roles? Less frequently? • What do you value most in terms of your career (e.g., autonomy, worklife balance, management, collaboration, independence, recognition, prestige, diverse nature of work, influence, compensation, interpersonal relationships)?
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What drives you (are you more creative or concrete in your mindset, outcomes or process focused, compensation or altruistic focused, etc.)?
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What sort of lifestyle would you like to have?
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What nonwork goals and priorities may influence your career decisions? In what ways?
Section III: Environment / Organization Opportunity
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Which parts of our business, organization, or industry do you find most interesting? Why?
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If you weren’t in this role, what other role do you think would be a good fit for you? Why?
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Who is a key person to helping you achieve your career goals? How will they help you?
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What are the potential obstacles to achieving your goal?
Section IV: Gap defined
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What experiences or capabilities do you lack that people on a similar career path have?
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What do others perceive as your greatest weaknesses?
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What development gaps do you need to address before you can pursue your career goals?
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What other experiences do you need to have in order to accomplish your career goals (e.g., experiences in different functions, geographies, industries)?
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What sort of additional education or certifications do you need in order to reach your career goals?
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How well do your career goals align with your current development opportunities?
3. IDENTIFY OPTIONS
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What kinds of options exist to address these Career goals?
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What activities would help you get closer to the achieving these goals?
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What performance changes will you see in the next six months? Next 1 year?
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What else could you do? What haven’t you tried yet?
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Imagine there were no obstacles, constraints or limitations, what could you do to try to move closer to your career goal?
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Are any of those options feasible to implement?
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For the options we have identified, what are some of the advantages and disadvantages of each? What are the shortterm and longterm implications of each option?
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I could think of some more ideas on this topic. Do you want to hear them?
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Will these activities really help achieve the goal we discussed earlier?
4. WRAP-UP / WAY FORWARD
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What do you do now to best position yourself for the next role?
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What will you do now? Which options will you chose?
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What is your action plan?
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Will you achieve your aim with this option?
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What is your first step?
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When will you do it (when will you begin)?
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Which obstacles may you meet on your way?
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How will you overcome these obstacles?
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Who should know about it?
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What help do you need?
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Where and how will you get this support?
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Please rate on a scale from 1 to 10 if you will stick to it.
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How sure are you that you will really implement this option to achieve the goal?

