Gilbert's GROW Coaching: A Performance Conversation Simulator
This project was created as a submission for Tim Slade's eLearning Designer's Academy May 2026 Design Challenge: Vibe Coded eLearning with Claude Design. My submission is a browser-based coaching simulation built for first-line managers at Gilbert's Pharmacy.
The design problem
GROW is a well-known framework, but many managers struggle to apply GROW conversation techniques in the moment, when an employee is deflecting, or when the instinct to just tell them what to do is stronger than the instinct to ask another question.
The design challenge was building something that recreates that felt difficulty without a live role-play partner. Rather than just telling learners about the framework, I wanted to create a hands-on, interactive experience so that Gilbert's managers could bring a shared coaching framework to their individual performance reviews.
What I built
A nine-screen scenario where learners coach Marcus Thompson, a pharmacy technician whose patient counseling shortcuts have led to three documented callbacks in 60 days. Learners navigate a branching choice point for each GROW stage, while a parallel notes panel builds in real time, reflecting back the quality of the conversation they're having.
After completing the scenario, learners see the quality of their choices in the form of a personalized coaching profile, annotated transcript, and three specific takeaway cards.
Key design decisions
The visual aesthetic was inspired by high-end leadership development experiences I observed at ATD26. I wanted to create a sleek, experience-design sensibility that prioritizes participant experience without sacrificing functionality. The goal was to build something that felt like the kind of premium leadership coaching tool an enterprise L&D team would commission, not a compliance module with a GROW veneer.
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I deliberately kept the number of introductory screens to a minimum. There are only two before the scenario begins: a GROW model overview and a scenario brief. Because the most meaningful learning happens through interaction, I kept the introduction short and moved into the coaching scenario quickly.
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Desktop-first was a deliberate choice. Because manager training is typically delivered through an LMS in a desktop setting, I prioritized design for that context.
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I created a modern scenario interface. Instead of the classic scenario format of a stock character against a background image with speech bubbles overlaid, I chose to represent the performance review through a software notes taking interface. I created a split-panel layout inspired by tools similar to Notion, with the conversation on the left and the coaching notes building in real time on the right.
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Voiceover-free was also deliberate. Management training works best when learners can set their own pace and reread.
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The conversation history builds across slides rather than resetting. By the time learners reach the Way Forward stage, they can scroll back through the entire exchange, including their selected responses. This creates a more immersive conversation experience, and is realistic to the software interface representation.
Process and tools
The design challenge required that submissions be built using Claude Design, but this poses limitations because Claude Design is a resource-intensive tool and can use up the allotted weekly credits very quickly. (At the time of this challenge, Claude Design is a very new tool.)
To get around this, I created a text-based storyboard and used it to create a working HTML prototype using Claude Chat, so I could visualize my design decisions, test interactions, and go through multiple iterations without using Claude Design credits. As a visual person, it was an unfamiliar but worthwhile constraint to spend so much time making design and layout decisions in text-based conversation, before doing any visual design work myself.
Because I couldn't see what I was building until it rendered, it forced me to be very precise about every decision up front. Next time, I'll create my own design mockups early on, and bring them into the process alongside the written storyboard, since I found it very time-consuming to prompt Claude to create exactly what I wanted.
What I'd build next
Because of the time constraints of this challenge, I was not able to fully explore what Claude Design is capable of in terms of visual design and animations. If I had more time, I would have refined the software interface to look even more polished and include elements such as a profile picture for Marcus. I would have also liked to explore either prompting Claude Design to create custom graphics, or designing my own and instructing Claude to incorporate them. I would have also liked to explore adding realistic software interface sound effects to the scenario, with a mute/unmute button.