The Coaching Commons provides me opportunities to make ‘a fool of myself’ in my pursuit to understanding more of a subject matter; and emerge the more wiser from my journeys to more profound meanings in my work.
 
We all have the tendencies to not appreciate until we find that we have loss something that in the first place requires our APPRECIATION. This is what will happen when the Coaching Commons ceases to exist.
 
My real hope is that another year should be given to the Coaching Commons, to be given to opportunity to put in place a ‘business model’ that works and is sustainable. All the great work and foundation that the Coaching Commons has attained so far and the momentum that is thrusting forward would have been lost opportunities, when the Coaching Commons has just started gaining the movement forward.
 
What I see that is important is that every subscriber to the Coaching Commons should have a voice, may it be just a ‘small voice’. There may be ‘chat rooms’ where special interest groups within the Coaching Commons could create the spaces, avenues of expressions, and so on and so forth, that could sustain the ‘engagements of interests’? There may be other social interactions features and tools within the Coaching Commons, where members could provide suggestions, feedbacks, proposals, etc. towards the sustainment, contributions, and growth of the Coaching Commons?
 
In our world of dependency and interdependency, every member counts. There basically may not be the right perspectives, views, opinions, models, concepts, and the like; though the Coaching Commons can be the place and space to allow intellectual debates, discussions, suggestions, and re-modelling that will shape the coaching profession to its highest credentials.

This is where I found the Coaching Commons able to allow. It is just that many of us have not harnessed this opportunity when we had the ‘controls’ in our hands and when we were in the ‘driver’s seat’.
 
Now with the possibility that the Coaching Commons may cease (I hope there is still some tinkle of hope, over Christmas that some miracle will happen), perhaps a last ditch of understanding from each of us who have benefited even in a small way via the Coaching Commons, will provide some ooze of breath, and the generosity of sponsors who are willing to give the Coaching Commons at least a fighting chance for another year, will consider the call.
 
Only few other avenues are at par with what the Coaching Commons is doing and offering in terms of quality, quantity, relevance, impact, and passion to the coaching community; and these few are basically ‘profit-driven’; while the Coaching Commons is ‘non profit-driven’.
 
With a few thousands subscribers to the Coaching Commons, every small donation could provide at least one more year to get the strategic directions right.
 
What ‘business model’ could the Coaching Commons pursue that is in line with ‘non profit-driven’ agendas?
 
Do we NOT have the great resources/members within the Coaching Commons that could institute ‘ideation’ of how to make the Coaching Commons sustainable?
 
How could we awaken the GIANTS within every existing and future Coaching Commons member?
 
All being said, I personally have benefited from participating in the Coaching Commons; and have been informed by theories; informed by practices; provocated by sometimes ‘wild but refreshing ideas, concepts, models, etc.’ proposed & advocated in many of the articles found at the Coaching Commons; and much more.
 
I have grown to become at least a more open-minded person as a result of being exposed to the many philosophies of so many coaching thought leaders; and the abundance of perspectives, views, opinions, & arguments.
 
The Coaching Commons is a place and space for me to avoid ‘information overload’ on coaching matters.
 
There is unlikely to be another site where almost everything about coaching becomes available on a daily, weekly and monthly dosages. I will miss my ‘coaching vitamin supplements’ with the absence of the Coaching Commons.
 
Thanks to the Coaching Commons for making me a better person, better coach, and having better perspectives of the world we live in”.

I have participated in many e-groups, and the thing that determines whether I will still keep with any e-groups are often the periodic reflective process I go through via the following reflective questions (though may not necessarily the same as others in the coaching commons):

* What is my purpose and central aim to be with the coaching commons? What am I trying to accomplish through participation in the coaching commons?

* What other questions should I be raising and addressing so that my participation in the coaching commons is meaningful to me and the other stakeholders & shareholders in the coaching commons?

* Is the coaching commons engaging me in conversations and providing me relevant information that would make the difference in my thoughts, feelings, behaviours and perceptions of the world that would enhance my developmental journeys and impactful transformational shifts?

* What are the unique inferences and conclusions which I can draw from participating in the coaching commons that would provide me the platforms to evolve, innovate, and solidify my coaching practice?

* What new, revolutionary, and relevant concepts and ideas are generated through the coaching commons that would enable me to adopt, adapt, modify and experiment to make my coaching practice more efficient, effective and of a higher quality?

* What great assumptions that can be drawn through participation in the coaching commons that can be evidently analyzed & confirmed, that would open the way to give clarity to what coaching is and is not?

* What are the implications and consequences as a result of my participating in the coaching commons? Are they beneficial to me and my stakeholders? What else?

* Are we debating differing points of view at the coaching commons that would ultimately shape the coaching ‚Äòprofession’, even if these differing points of views can be at times ‚Äòtruthfully hurtful’, difficult to swallow, subjected to ambiguities, and so on and so forth?

* To what extent have we reviewed our involvements at the coaching commons and staying the course we set out to do, when we first made the decision to join the coaching commons?

Let me know if I am off track.

Meta-cheerio.
Billy C H Teoh
Malaysia.