What does having a baby mean for my career?

In this video we talk about what having a baby means for your career. The answer to this will be completely different for everybody. To help you look at this closer, we cover some of the questions we bring to coaching sessions with our clients around the time they are returning to work after leave.

It is easy to overlook the magnitude of the transition before we go on leave, because we cannot quite comprehend the reality and impact of what’s going to happen. It can take a while to find your footing again when you return to work, which can bring up all sorts of questions around your new identity and career. Here are some questions that might help you gain a better perspective.

When you made the decision to work in this role at this organisation, what was important to you at that time? How did you make that decision? What were you getting from your role then?

Looking at who you are now and the work you are doing, how has that changed? How has what you need from your work changed? What decision would you make today if you were making it all over again?

Looking at questions such as who you are, what your values are currently, what success means to you now and even what you want to role model to your child might be beneficial in understanding where you are, where you want to be and what systems you need to put in place to support you.

Working with a coach can also create space for you to look at the bigger picture to avoid making rushed decisions. Looking at how your children’s needs will change in the coming years and how that might affect your needs and priorities can help put things into perspective and help you make the right decisions for you at this moment in time.

If you’d like more information about our maternity return coaching programmes, please get in touch.

My colleague Sarah Turner and I have been busy creating content highlighting the importance of organisations providing support for working parents. As part of this, we created this video series exploring the entire journey of maternity leave, from before the leave starts, through to preparing to return and then the first few months back at work. If you or your organisation would like to understand more about how to support your employees as they take parental leave, please get in touch.

This blog post is a collaboration between Maternity Coaches Laura Duggal and Sarah Turner. They are working together, sharing their experiences and bringing the best of their joint advice and knowledge to you.