STEPPA COACHING MODEL: CONNECTING GOALS WITH MOTIVATION AND MEANING
T-GROW provides a clear structure for purposeful coaching conversations, moving from Topic through Goal, Reality, Options and Will. The STEPPA model follows this same essential journey while giving greater attention to emotion, perception and personal motivation.
This makes STEPPA particularly useful when a coachee understands an issue intellectually and would benefit from a stronger connection with why the goal matters and what will sustain their commitment. This guide sets out its six stages and where it sits inside TPC Coaching Academy's wider guide to coaching models and frameworks.
What STEPPA adds to a coaching conversation
Dr Angus McLeod developed STEPPA in 2003, building emotion into the coaching journey as a source of motivation rather than a distraction from it.1 Its six stages, Subject, Target, Emotion, Perception, Plan and Ace or Action, follow the same broad arc as T-GROW, with Emotion and Perception inserted where T-GROW moves straight from Goal to Reality.
STEPPA earns its place with coachees who understand a situation intellectually and would benefit from a stronger connection to why it matters and what will sustain their commitment once the session ends.
The six stages of STEPPA
Subject maps onto T-GROW's Topic, Target onto Goal. Emotion enriches Goal with personal meaning T-GROW does not draw out on its own. Perception connects with Reality, Plan with Options, and Ace or Action with Will.
STEPPA in practice
A senior manager is deciding whether to apply for an executive role. Target becomes gaining clarity on whether the role fits their ambitions, and what preparation would look like if it does. Emotion surfaces both excitement at the chance to influence strategy and apprehension about the visibility the role brings. Naming both, rather than only the confident half, gives the coach something real to work with.
Perception uncovers a belief they have been carrying without examining: executives need to have every answer and show unbroken confidence. Questioning this opens a different view of leadership, built on judgement and collaboration rather than certainty. Plan and Ace turn this into two concrete steps: a conversation with a current executive about what the role involves, and a request for honest feedback on her readiness from her own manager.
When STEPPA adds the most value
STEPPA suits career transitions, leadership development and periods of organisational change, particularly where a coachee has already identified a rational goal and stalled on the personal meaning behind it. It also works well with coachees who default to analysis, since naming emotion brings information into the conversation which pure logic tends to leave out.
TPC Coaching Academy's Coach Practitioner programme develops the skill to work with emotion in a coaching conversation alongside T-GROW and the wider model set, working toward ICF and EMCC accreditation.