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Have You Received Your Gift from the Coaching Commons?

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If you have contributed this month by writing a story or posting a comment at the Coaching Commons, we hope you’ve received your gift - a gift of coaching.

When you participate at the Coaching Commons as a guest contributor whose post is a featured story, or when you make a comment that generates lively conversation, you will receive a unit of ReciproCoach credit called a “coaching coin.”

You’ll receive an email with the news – how many coins you’ve been awarded, along with information about how to register. The more you join in the coaching conversation at the Commons, the more coins you collect – one gift each month – up to six coins in a year.

Here’s how it works:
Once you register at ReciproCoach, a professional ReciproCoach match-maker will choose a coach for you in what is called a coaching “round.” (A coaching round is the term of the coaching agreement: a specific number of coaching hours over a specific period of time.)

And here’s where the “Recipro” part of ReciproCoaching comes in: you take a turn coaching another coach. (No worries - it’s not the coach who’s coaching you.)

Reciprocal coaching. ReciproCoach!

Simple. Collaborative. Brilliant. Life-changing.

And free to Coaching Commons participants.

So why do we call this “a gift” when you’re asked to coach someone else?

That’s because ReciproCoach coins ordinarily cost up to 25 USD each. You need two coins to join a coaching round. These coins pay for the professional administration of the program, web development, matching coaches with coaches and monitoring the coaching rounds.

Through a grant from The Harnisch Foundation, the Coaching Commons partnered with ReciproCoach to offer this rare opportunity to our guest contributors and readers who keep stirring the conversation with their published comments.

ReciproCoach (formerly Contra Coaching) was created in 2005 by Kerryn Griffiths in Brisbane, Australia. She believes, as we do, that every coach should have a coach.

When we ask coaches why they don’t have a coach of their own, most say they’ve had a coach in the past, and plan to have a coach again, but right now they have too many demands on their time and/or on their budgets.

ReciproCoach was created to meet that need.

The Harnisch Foundation is covering registration fees and has purchased a number of coaching coins for Coaching Commons guest contributors and commenters — and you’re eligible to get your share  – until all the coins are awarded!

To find out more about Kerryn Griffiths and ReciproCoach, click here.

To visit The Harnisch Foundation, click here.

About the Author

Linda Ballew heads up the 'Breaking News' section of The Coaching Commons and is Operational Team Lead to boot. Responsible for coordinating all mentions of coaching around the world each week, Linda truly has the pulse of coaching's place in popular culture. And with 20 years of experience in the nonprofit world behind her, we rely on Linda to be our glue.

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There are 4 Responses so far...

Shelli on November 6, 2009

Wow! What a fantastic concept! Recipro Coach! Great way to find a wonderful coach and to be able to coach as well! I love it!

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Selena on January 7, 2010

I am so happy to see that this opportunity exists! I have had a coach of my own in the past, and have intended on hiring another one again, but am strapped for a lot of time. This opportunity has provided some real incentive to move forward on it!! Thank you Recipro Coach!

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Janice Learmond-Criqui - CPC, Trinidad and Tobago on September 26, 2010

I think that it is great that there is a support system for coaches worldwide. I will certainly pass the website onto other coaches in Trinidad.

Janice

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Mark Joyella on September 27, 2010

Hi Janice,

In June, the ICF announced the first six grant recipients–receiving a total of $43,000 (US) to support pro bono coaching. The ICF Foundation is focusing its efforts exclusively in this area, and you can get all the info on that here: FoundationofICF.org.

Mark

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