GROWN Up

I like the tool GROW – Goal, Reality, Options, Will – as a tool for coaching and development. It is a nice framework for exploring future plans, but helpful for reflection too. The four prompts could really resonate with looking back at the end of the PhD:

  • Goal: what was your objective? How did you arrive at that goal?
  • Reality: where were you starting from? What did you need to do to move forward?
  • Options: what did you consider doing? How did you decide on the approach that you took?
  • Will: how did you get through the more difficult moments of your PhD? What kept you going?

At the end of the PhD, as we’re reflecting and not planning, we can add to GROW… How about GROWN, N being Now?

Where are you now? Now that your PhD is almost behind you, what else could you do?