A coaching framework is not a script. It is a philosophy about how people change — and when you internalize that philosophy, every question you ask carries its logic. The difference between a good coaching question and a great one is almost always the framework operating invisibly behind it.

This guide covers the 10 frameworks we have built into CoachToolkit.ai's AI tools. Each one is grounded in decades of research and practice. None of them is universally superior to the others. What makes a framework powerful is not the framework itself — it is how well it matches the client in front of you and what they are currently ready to move through.

Read this as a field guide, not a syllabus. Return to it when you are unsure which lens to bring into a session.

01 Co-Active Coaching

Kimsey-House, Sandahl & Whitworth — The Coaches Training Institute

People are naturally creative, resourceful, and whole. The coach's job is to hold that truth when the client forgets it.

Co-Active Coaching is built on the premise that the coaching relationship itself is the primary vehicle of transformation. The model emphasizes being fully present with the client as a whole person — not just their goals — while balancing the dance between fulfillment, balance, and process. Co-Active is as much a way of being as it is a methodology.

Best for
Values clarificationIdentity workSelf-trustLife transitionsFeeling stuck between versions of yourself
Signature Questions
  1. What would the fullest version of you do right now?
  2. If you set aside what others expect, what do you actually want?
  3. What value are you honoring — or violating — in this situation?
When not to use it: With clients who need highly structured, action-focused sessions with clear deliverables. Co-Active's depth can feel unfocused to clients who want tactical progress quickly.

02 The Coaching Habit

Michael Bungay Stanier

Say less. Ask more. Stay curious a little longer. That is the whole game.

Stanier's framework is built around seven essential questions designed to break the advice-giving habit and get to the real issue fast. It is especially powerful for leaders and managers who default to telling rather than asking. The framework is deliberately minimal — its genius is in what it strips away. The "AWE Question" (And What Else?) alone can transform a coaching conversation.

Best for
Leaders who over-adviseShort coaching conversationsBuilding coaching as a habitGetting to the real issue fast
Signature Questions
  1. What's on your mind?
  2. And what else?
  3. What's the real challenge here for you?
When not to use it: When the client needs deeper exploration of emotion, identity, or systemic patterns. The Coaching Habit excels at clarity but is deliberately surface-focused.

03 The GROW Model

Sir John Whitmore

The GROW model is not about following a sequence — it is about ensuring nothing important gets skipped.

GROW (Goal, Reality, Options, Will) is the most widely used coaching framework in the world, and for good reason: it provides a clean, logical scaffold for any goal-focused conversation. Whitmore's genius was making the coaching process visible without making it rigid. Used well, GROW feels natural to the client and provides the coach with a reliable container for the session.

Best for
Goal-setting sessionsNew clientsAction planningExecutive coachingPerformance coaching
Signature Questions
  1. What do you want to achieve, and what would it mean to you to achieve it? (Goal)
  2. What is actually happening right now — what have you already tried? (Reality)
  3. What will you do, and by when? (Will)
When not to use it: When the real issue is not a goal but an identity question, a values conflict, or unprocessed emotion. GROW can produce action plans that miss the point entirely if the right goal has not yet been found.

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04 Laser-Focused Coaching

Marion Franklin

Every client already knows the answer. The coach's job is to ask the one question that helps them hear themselves say it.

Franklin's Laser Coaching method is built on precision and brevity. Where other frameworks invite exploration, Laser Coaching cuts through story and explanation to the exact word, belief, or assumption that is keeping the client stuck. Franklin teaches coaches to listen for "key words" — the precise language a client uses that carries the most emotional charge — and to reflect and inquire directly from there. The result is often a breakthrough in a single question.

Best for
Clients who over-explainStaying in the storyRuminationWhen the session keeps circling
Signature Questions
  1. What is most important to you about this?
  2. Say more about that — what do you mean by [key word]?
  3. If you already knew the answer, what would it be?
When not to use it: When a client needs to be heard and to process before they are ready to shift. Laser Coaching can feel abrupt if used before sufficient rapport and safety are established.

05 Reflective Inquiry

Marcia Reynolds

The brain does not change through information. It changes through disruption of its own assumptions.

Reynolds' approach is rooted in neuroscience: the brain filters reality through established mental models, and coaching works by disrupting those models just enough to create new possibilities. Reflective Inquiry uses targeted questions and reflective statements to surface blind spots, name what is really happening emotionally, and shift the client's perspective. Reynolds is particularly skilled at identifying the emotion underneath the presenting problem — and making that visible in a way the client can use.

Best for
Stuck thinking patternsBlind spotsLeadership derailersImposter syndromeRelationship conflict
Signature Questions
  1. What are you assuming that may not be true?
  2. What is this situation bringing up for you emotionally?
  3. How would someone who admired you see this situation?
When not to use it: With clients who are not yet ready for emotional inquiry or who are in active crisis. Reflective Inquiry works best when there is enough safety and stability to hold disruption productively.

06 Emotionally Focused Coaching

Sue Johnson — based on Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)

Beneath every conflict is an attachment need that is not being met. Name the need and the dynamic shifts.

Sue Johnson's EFT model, adapted for coaching, centers on the role of attachment and emotion in how we relate to ourselves and others. In coaching contexts (as distinct from therapy), EFT principles help clients understand the cycles they get pulled into — in relationships, teams, and families — and identify the underlying attachment needs driving the pattern. This is especially powerful for coaches working with clients on communication, conflict, and relational dynamics.

Best for
Relationship coachingFamily dynamicsTeam conflictCommunication patternsEmotional reactivity
Signature Questions
  1. What emotion is underneath that reaction?
  2. What do you most need from that person that you are not getting?
  3. What does this pattern say about what matters most to you in relationships?
When not to use it: When the presenting issue is not relational, or when the client is not ready to work with emotion directly. EFT-based questions in the wrong context can feel intrusive or destabilizing.

07 Immunity to Change

Robert Kegan & Lisa Laskow Lahey

People do not resist change because they lack willpower. They resist it because change threatens something they are working equally hard to protect.

Kegan and Lahey's Immunity to Change framework reveals the hidden competing commitments that keep people stuck — even when they genuinely want to change. Through a structured four-column map, clients identify: what they want to change, what they are doing (or not doing) instead, the hidden competing commitment beneath that behavior, and the big assumption that makes the competing commitment feel necessary. The result is often a profound insight that transforms self-judgment into curiosity.

Best for
Chronic self-sabotageKnowing what to do but not doing itLeadership developmentOrganizational change
Signature Questions
  1. What would you be giving up if you actually made this change?
  2. What are you afraid might happen if you fully committed to this?
  3. What would have to be false about the world for you to move forward?
When not to use it: With clients who need short-term action, not deep psychological excavation. The ITC process is powerful but time-intensive — it is most valuable in ongoing coaching engagements.

08 Positive Psychology / PERMA

Martin Seligman

Wellbeing is not the absence of problems. It is the presence of something worth building toward.

Seligman's PERMA model (Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishment) provides a science-backed framework for coaching toward flourishing rather than just fixing problems. Where most frameworks focus on what is wrong and why, Positive Psychology coaching focuses on what is already working, what strengths are present, and how to build more of what makes life worth living. This is especially powerful for clients who are functional but unfulfilled.

Best for
Life satisfaction workStrengths-based coachingClients who are doing fine but want moreResilienceBurnout recovery
Signature Questions
  1. When do you feel most fully alive and engaged in your life?
  2. What strengths are you most underusing right now?
  3. What would a genuinely flourishing version of your life look like in 12 months?
When not to use it: When the client is in acute distress or grief. Positive Psychology questions can feel dismissive or tone-deaf when a client first needs to feel fully heard and validated.

09 Parts Work / Internal Family Systems

Richard Schwartz

There are no bad parts. Every part of you — even the one you hate most — is trying to help. It just learned a strategy that no longer serves.

IFS (Internal Family Systems) posits that the mind is naturally multiple — we all contain different "parts" with different needs, fears, and strategies. In coaching contexts (as distinct from therapy), IFS-informed questions help clients externalize and relate to their inner conflicts with curiosity rather than judgment. The result is often a profound reduction in self-criticism and a new ability to make decisions from the client's "Self" — the calm, clear center that Schwartz calls the seat of leadership.

Best for
Inner conflictSelf-sabotageSelf-criticismProcrastinationIntegration work
Signature Questions
  1. What part of you is driving this behavior, and what is it trying to protect you from?
  2. If you could get curious about that part instead of fighting it, what would you notice?
  3. What does your wisest, most grounded self know about this situation?
When not to use it: With clients in active trauma or crisis, where parts work can be destabilizing without proper therapeutic support. IFS in coaching should be used to build self-awareness, not to process trauma.

10 Best Fit (AI-Matched)

CoachToolkit.ai

When you are not sure which lens to bring, describe the situation clearly and let the framework emerge from the client's actual edge of growth.

Our Best Fit option is not a framework itself — it is our AI's ability to read a client situation and select the most appropriate framework from the nine above. When you are unsure which approach fits, or when a situation crosses multiple frameworks, Best Fit analyzes the situation and generates questions grounded in the methodology that best matches what the client is working through.

Best for
Complex or multi-layered situationsNew clientsWhen you want a second opinion on approach
How to use it
  1. Describe the client situation clearly in the Question Generator or Session Planner.
  2. Select "Best Fit" as your framework.
  3. Review the AI's framework selection and generated questions — then trust your instincts about whether the approach fits.

How to Choose a Framework in the Moment

The question coaches most often ask is: "How do I know which framework to use?" Here are the heuristics we return to most often:

Frameworks are not mutually exclusive. A skilled coach moves between them fluidly within a single session. The goal is not to pick one and stay loyal to it — it is to know enough frameworks that you always have the right lens available when you need it.

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Our AI Session Planner builds a full session plan — opening, inquiry sequence, deepening exercise, and coach notes — grounded in whichever framework you choose.

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