"The crone eludes precise definition.
Some traditions, organizations, and individuals variously define the
crone as a woman who is 50, 52, or 56, post-menopausal, consciously
aging, willing to acknowledge her shadow. Crone is a term used to
describe an ancient archetype, an aspect of the triple goddess
(maiden, mother, crone), and the third phrase of a woman's life.
When a woman is near, in, or past menopause, she is potentially a
crone. The designation refers to a perspective or point of view
rather age or biological change.
A woman who calls herself crone is willing to acknowledge her age,
wisdom, and power. Through conscious self-definition, she helps to
reverse hundreds of years of oppression, degradation, and abuse
aimed at old women. Although she may prefer to be called elder,
grandmother, or wise woman, she does not dismiss, disavow, or use
pejoratively terms such as crone, witch, or hag. The wise
woman/crone/grandmother realizes that the true meaning of these
terms, and the woman-centered traditions from which they originate,
have been obscured and distorted by patriarchal systems.
In ancient times, the crone was revered as an old woman who embodied
wisdom and knew the truth of cyclic existence. Crones cared for the
dying and were spiritual midwives at the end of life, the link in
the cycle of death and rebirth. They were healers, teachers,
way-showers, bearers of sacred power, knowers of mysteries,
mediators between the world of spirit and the world of form. In
prepatriarchal societies, women's wisdom had healing power, and
crone wisdom was the most potent of all. For nearly thirty thousand
years, old women were strong, powerful sources of wisdom. Crones
were respected and honored in their communities."
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CoachWorksSM |
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CoachWorks Detailed Description
DRI Consulting staff coach leaders at all levels in an organization, from front-line
supervisors to senior executives to business owners. We work
closely with the person being coached (and relevant/proper internal
staff when possible as an integrated coaching team). CoachWorks' participants increase their professional and personal
success and satisfaction. The work teams, organizations,
business partners and families of CoachWorks participants also
benefit greatly.
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We provide assessment and coaching within the unique
competency/skills models of our client organizations. Often we
coach highly successful people with a single "Achilles heal" or
specific behavior that overshadows and endangers their success.
Some key general areas of coaching include:
- interpersonal communication
- listening
- facilitation and feedback
- motivating others, decision making and delegating
- persuasion and influence
- project and time management
- conflict resolution
- emotional intelligence
- managing change effectively
- balancing work and family
CoachWorks Detailed Description  |
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Dell Computer
Corporation offered coaching to nearly 400 executives
and their internal survey determined that satisfaction rates
exceeded 90 percent.
A study recently
published by the International Personnel Management
Association revealed that work-force training increased
productivity by 22.4 percent while training combined with
coaching resulted in an overall productivity gain of 88
percent.
...The
reigning alternative (to executive coaching) is the $10
billion a year Corporate America lavishes on leadership
training. Studies show that the benefits of this
seminar-heavy schooling usually vanish within a few months.
...But research
from Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead
School of Management shows that the impact of
coaching-like training can last seven years.
Metropolitan
Life Insurance Services...
"put part of
its retail sales force through an intensive coaching program,
and afterward found that productivity among those
salespeople increased by an average of 35%, while 78% of the
sales reps embarked on the pursuit of a new license or
professional designation, and 50% identified new markets to
develop.
"Perhaps
most important, Metropolitan has retained all the
salespeople who had coaching - a big deal, since industry
statistics show that each rep who leaves a company with
three years' experience costs $140.000 to replace.
"In all
(Richard) Keating (at Metropolitan Life Financial services)
writes, the program, which cost about $620.000, delivered
$3.2 million in measurable gains."
A study of a
Fortune 500 telecommunications company done by Metrix
Global found that executive coaching resulted in a return on
investment of 529%. Moreover, when the financial
benefits from increased retention were factored in
the overall ROI of coaching rose to 78%.
In their coaching
work with more than 100 managers at Agilent
Technologies, the Alliance for Strategic Leadership found
that over 78 percent of participants improved their
leadership effectiveness as measured by stakeholder surveys
(Carter, Ulrich, and Goldsmith, 2004).
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Perhaps the most widely
known study to date designed to assess the financial impact of
coaching, that is, the Return On Investment for coaching, was
conducted by consultants from Florida-based Manchester Consulting.
The subjects of the study were 100 executives who had participated
in coaching interventions. The sample was demographically diverse.
Fifty percent were Vice Presidents or at a higher level in their
organizations. The study surveyed the participants and key
stakeholders about tangible and intangible business results.
“When calculated conservatively, ROI...averaged nearly $100,000 or
5.7 times the total investment in coaching,” and the authors “feel
confident that this level of value has been achieved and may, in
fact, be understated.” Seventy-five percent rated value of the
coaching to be “considerably greater” or “far greater” than the
money and time invested.
Business impacts attributed to coaching “included increases in
productivity, quality, organizational strength, and customer
service,” while the intangible benefits “included improved
relationships with direct reports, peers, and stakeholders, as well
as improved teamwork, increased job satisfaction, and reduced
conflict.”
The study also identified factors that impact coaching
effectiveness. Those found to enhance coaching, in order of
decreasing positive impact, are:
- coach/participant relationship
- participant's commitment
Those
that detract, in order of increasing negative impact, are:
- participant's commitment
- participant's availability
It's notable that of
all the factors that were identified as important in coaching,
perhaps only two might suggest that consulting psychologists should
be more effective as coaches compared with other professionals,
given the particular expertise of psychologists: namely, in quality
of assessment and quality of feedback (the factors rated as third
and second most important for coaching effectiveness).
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