From Performance to Culture: 7 Proven Coaching Frameworks Every Organisation Should Know

In today’s fast-paced, people-centric workplaces, coaching is no longer a luxury reserved for senior executives — it's a strategic capability. Organisations that embrace coaching cultures see tangible results: stronger leadership pipelines, higher engagement, faster learning, and better team collaboration. But successful coaching doesn’t happen by chance. It’s built on intentional frameworks that guide conversations, foster trust, and drive behavior change.

A coaching framework is a structured approach that guides the coaching process, helping coaches and clients achieve desired outcomes. These frameworks provide a roadmap, breaking down the coaching process into distinct stages or steps to ensure focused, productive, and results-driven sessions. Different frameworks exist, each with its own emphasis, but common elements include building rapport, clarifying goals, exploring options, taking action, and evaluating progress. 

Whether you're a seasoned HR leader, an executive coach, or a manager aiming to lead better, here are seven powerful coaching models that can transform the way your organisation develops people.

1. GROW Model – The Classic Performance Coaching Tool

The GROW model (Goal, Reality, Options, Will), developed by Sir John Whitmore, is one of the most widely adopted coaching frameworks. It provides a simple but powerful structure to coaching conversations — especially in performance and career development conversation; when working with employees to clarify goals, overcome challenges, and create actionable plans.

✔ How it works:

G - Goals: The coach begins by helping the coachee articulate a clear and measurable goal. This could be a short-term milestone or a long-term ambition.

"What do you want to achieve by the end of this conversation?"

R - Reality: Together, explore the current situation and barriers.

"What's happening now? What's holding you back?"

O - Options: This stage is about creative brainstorming, encouraging the coachee to come up with multiple ways forward.

"What else could you try?"

W - Will (or Way Forward): The conversation ends with clear actions and commitment.

"What will you do? By when? How will you stay accountable?"

✔ Why it's effective:

It keeps the coaching session focused and time, efficient while empowering the coachee to take owenership. It's especially useful for leaders new to coaching or time-poor manager.

✔ Best for: Performance management, short-term development goals

✔ Why it works: It’s easy to learn, quick to apply, and helps people own their growth.

2. CLEAR Model – Relational Coaching for Deeper Insight

Developed by Peter Hawkins, the CLEAR model (Contracting, Listening, Exploring, Action, Review) focuses on building a trust-based relationship between coach and coachee. It’s particularly effective for leadership and transformational coaching, where deeper reflection and personal insight are required.

✔ Stages:

C - Contracting: Clarify the purpose, goals, boundaries, and expectations of the coaching relationship.

L - Listening: Create psychological safety through deep, empathetic listening. This builds trust and uncover deeper issues.

E - Exploring: The heart of the coaching dialogue, challenging limiting beliefs, reflecting on patterns, and unlocking insights.

A - Action: Convert insights into meaningful and practical next steps.

R - Review: Reflect on what's been learned and measure progress toward the goals.

✔ Why it's effective:

The CLEAR model goes beyond task-focused coaching. It fosters personal insight and long-term growth, which is crucial when coaching senior leaders or driving organisational change.

✔ Best for: Senior leadership development, mindset shifts.

✔ Why it works: It addresses not just performance but the whole person.

3. OSKAR Model – Solution-Focused and Strengths-Based

Instead of digging into problems, the OSKAR model (Outcome, Scaling, Know-how, Affirm & Action, Review) encourages individuals to explore what’s already working and build from there. It’s rooted in positive psychology and brief solution-focused therapy. It's ideal for cultivating a positive forward-looking culture.

✔ Steps:

O - Outcome: Define the desired result clearly.

S - Scaling: use a 1 - 10 scale to assess current status, "Where are you now?"

K - Know how: Identify strengths, past successes, and internal resources.

A - Affirm & Action: Reinforce positive behaviors and decide next actions.

R - Review: Regularly reflect and refine the path.

✔ Why it's effective:

It builds confidence and momentum by shifting focus from problems to solutions. It's especially useful in teams where change resistance or morale is low.

✔ Best for: Culture transformation, coaching for resilience and positivity.

✔ Why it works: It promotes quick wins, confidence, and future-focused thinking.

4. Co-Active Coaching – Whole-Person Development

This model blends 'being' and 'doing' — encouraging clients to act in alignment with their values, not just tasks. Coaches using this model treat clients as naturally creative and resourceful, tapping into inner purpose rather than fixing external problems.

Co-Active Coaching balances BEING (emotional presence, values, intuition) and DOING (goals, accountability, results).

Key competencies include:

• Powerful questioning

• Deep, intuitive listening

• Designing actions aligned with the coachee's values.

✔ Why it's effective:

It cultivates self-awareness and long term behavioral change. Ideal for leadership coaching, career exploration, and building high-trust coaching relationship.

✔ Best for: Leadership presence, self-awareness, values-based coaching.

✔ Why it works: It’s deeply human and empowering — ideal for transformational growth.

5. ABC Model – Rewiring Limiting Beliefs

Coaching often hits a wall because of mental barriers. The ABC Model (Activating Event, Beliefs, Consequences) uses cognitive-behavioral techniques to help individuals challenge unhelpful beliefs and reshape their inner dialogue.

✔ Steps:

A - Activating Event: What happened?

B - Beliefs: What beliefs did this trigger?

C - Consequences: What were the emotional or behavioral outcomes?

The coach helps the coachee challenge irrational beliefs and reframe them into more constructive thinking.

✔ Why it's effective:

Mindset is often a hidden blocker during coaching transformation. This model is ideal for unlocking psychological resistance to change or fear of vulnerability in coaching conversations.

✔ Best for: Coaching around confidence, change resistance, and mindset.

✔ Why it works: It helps leaders uncover and shift limiting beliefs that block performance.

6. Stakeholder Centered Coaching – Behaviour Change at Scale

Developed by leadership expert Marshall Goldsmith, this model brings in real-time feedback from stakeholders to support measurable growth. This is a top-down, structured approach focused on measurable behavior change in leadership. Leaders choose 1–2 behaviors to improve and check in with their teams monthly for feedforward.

✔ Key elements:

• Identify 1-2 behaviors to improve (for example: listening, delegating).

• Get 360 degree feedback from key stakeholders.

• Involve stakeholders in monthly feedforward conversations.

• Track and measure behavioral change.

✔ Why it's effective:

It's highly accountable and results-driven, making it a top choice for executive coaching or coaching high-impact leaders who need to shift behavior visibly.

✔ Best for: C-level and senior executives.

✔ Why it works: It’s transparent, metrics-driven, and creates accountability with real-time feedback loops.

7. The Coaching Habit – Quick Coaching for Busy Managers

Popularised by Michael Bungay Stanier, this model simplifies coaching into 7 essential questions, helping managers develop a coaching habit in real-time conversations.

Example questions:

• "What’s on your mind? And what else?"

• "What’s the real challenge here for you?"

• "What do you want?"

• How can I help?"

• "What will you do?"

• "What was most useful for you?"

✔ Why it's effective:

Perfect for embedding coaching into day-to-day leadership. It's non-threatening, fast, and easy to scale across mid-level managers and team leaders.

✔ Best for: First-time managers, daily coaching moments.

✔ Why it works: It's simple, repeatable, and instantly usable.

How to Choose the Right Coaching Framework

COACHING NEED	BEST FIT FRAMEWORK
Performance conversations	GROW/OSKAR
Transformational leadership	Co-Active/CLEAR
Mindset and belief shifts	ABC Model
Culture change	The Coaching Habit + OSKAR
Behavior change with metrics	Stakeholder Centered Coaching
Coaching for new managers	GROW + Coaching Habit

Final Thought: Coaching Is a Culture, Not a Checkbox

Adopting a coaching model is only the beginning. To build a sustainable coaching culture, organisations must train leaders, embed coaching in everyday workflows, and reward coaching behaviours. The most successful companies treat coaching as an everyday habit — not a once-a-year intervention. Let’s build organisations where coaching is not just an event, but a way of thinking, leading, and growing — together.