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Coaching Model · Updated for 2026

CLEAR Coaching Model: Stages, Questions & Example

CLEAR is a five-stage structure for a coaching conversation that puts explicit contracting at the start and reflective review at the end. Where GROW is about moving to action, CLEAR is about the quality of the relationship and the learning — which is why it suits longer engagements and executive work.

Origin: Developed by Professor Peter Hawkins in the early 1980s, before GROW, and still the backbone of many executive-coaching and supervision programmes.

CLEAR at a glance — Contracting, Listening, Exploring, Action, Review

  1. 1Contracting: Agree the scope, ground rules, desired outcome and how you will work together — for the engagement and for this session.
  2. 2Listening: Help the client hear their own situation more fully through active listening, reflection and silence — before any analysis.
  3. 3Exploring: Examine the situation from new angles: patterns, assumptions, other perspectives, the feelings underneath.
  4. 4Action: Choose and rehearse a way forward the client owns; test it before leaving the room.
  5. 5Review: Reflect on the session itself: what was useful, what the client is taking away, and what to change in how you work together.

The CLEAR stages, with questions

1

Contracting

Agree the scope, ground rules, desired outcome and how you will work together — for the engagement and for this session.

Questions to ask
  • “What would make this session valuable for you?”
  • “How would you like me to challenge you?”
  • “What is in and out of scope today?”
2

Listening

Help the client hear their own situation more fully through active listening, reflection and silence — before any analysis.

Questions to ask
  • “What else is there?”
  • “What do you notice as you say that?”
  • “Where in the story does the energy change?”
3

Exploring

Examine the situation from new angles: patterns, assumptions, other perspectives, the feelings underneath.

Questions to ask
  • “What would your team say is really going on?”
  • “What are you assuming has to be true?”
  • “If this were a pattern, what would it be?”
4

Action

Choose and rehearse a way forward the client owns; test it before leaving the room.

Questions to ask
  • “What will you do differently, starting when?”
  • “Shall we rehearse the first two minutes of that conversation?”
  • “What might derail it, and how will you handle that?”
5

Review

Reflect on the session itself: what was useful, what the client is taking away, and what to change in how you work together.

Questions to ask
  • “What are you taking from today?”
  • “What was most and least useful in how we worked?”
  • “What should we do differently next time?”

When to use CLEAR — and when not to

Use it when

  • • Executive or leadership coaching where the contract and stakeholder context matter
  • • Longer engagements where you revisit and refine the working alliance
  • • Clients who need to be heard before they are moved to action

Set it aside when

  • • Very short check-in sessions where five stages feel heavy
  • • Clients who arrive with a crisp goal and just need a decision — GROW is lighter

Example: CLEAR in a coaching conversation

Coach:Before we start — what would make the next 45 minutes worth your time, and how hard do you want me to push?
Client:Push hard. I keep avoiding the restructure conversation with my board.
Coach:Tell me about the avoiding — and I'll just listen for a bit.
Client:…It's not the board. It's that once I say it out loud, two people I hired lose their jobs.
Coach:So the block is loyalty, not the board. If you honoured that loyalty and still did the restructure, what would that look like?
Client:Telling them first, myself, with a real plan for them. I'll draft that this week.
Coach:Let's rehearse the first minute with one of them. And at the end, tell me what worked in how we did this.

CLEAR model FAQ

What does CLEAR stand for in coaching?+

Contracting, Listening, Exploring, Action, Review — Peter Hawkins' five-stage model for a coaching conversation.

CLEAR vs GROW: what is the difference?+

GROW moves from goal to action in four steps and is lighter. CLEAR adds explicit contracting at the start and a review of the session at the end, and gives listening its own stage, which suits executive coaching and supervision.

Is CLEAR compatible with the ICF competencies?+

Very. Contracting maps to Establishes and Maintains Agreements, Listening to Listens Actively, Exploring to Evokes Awareness, Action to Facilitates Client Growth, and Review to the reflective practice in Embodies a Coaching Mindset.

Related models and guides

Stages and questions are a map for the coach, not a script for the client — ICF assesses the competencies, not the model.

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