Generate Options — explore the full range of possibilities before committing
Invite the person to generate as many options as possible before evaluating any of them.
Key takeaways
- What it is: Invite the person to generate as many options as possible before evaluating any of them.
- Why it works: Option generation and option evaluation are cognitively distinct processes that interfere with each other when combined. Evaluating options as they are generated narrows the field prematurely — people stop generating once an apparently good option appears. Separating generation from evaluation (and generating from the coachee, not the coach) expands the solution space and keeps ownership with the person who must implement it.
- Evidence: Plausible mechanism, limited direct outcome data.
- Avoid: Offering the best option immediately rather than facilitating the generation process — which efficiently provides a solution the person doesn’t own and is unlikely to implement.
Why it works
Option generation and option evaluation are cognitively distinct processes that interfere with each other when combined. Evaluating options as they are generated narrows the field prematurely — people stop generating once an apparently good option appears. Separating generation from evaluation (and generating from the coachee, not the coach) expands the solution space and keeps ownership with the person who must implement it.
How to do it
- 1Ask: "What are all the options you could consider? Let’s list them before evaluating any."
- 2Offer your own ideas as options, not recommendations: "One thing some people have tried is X — would that be worth adding to the list?"
- 3Push beyond the first two or three options: "What else? What if there were no constraints? What would someone you admire try?"
- 4After the list is built, ask the person to evaluate: "Which of these options feels most promising and why?"
What the evidence says
MechanisticDeferred evaluation improves option diversity and quality. Motivational interviewing research shows that self-generated options are more likely to be acted upon than coach-supplied ones — the self-persuasion effect underlies this approach.
Honest caveat: The GROW options phase draws on deferred evaluation and self-persuasion principles from adjacent research; direct studies of the GROW model specifically are limited.
- — Amrhein et al. (2003), the role of client language in motivational interviewing, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
Common mistake
Offering the best option immediately rather than facilitating the generation process — which efficiently provides a solution the person doesn’t own and is unlikely to implement.
IX Coach generates options with you rather than for you — asking "what else?" until the full solution space is visible, then helping you evaluate rather than selecting for you.
Practice this with IX Coach →