PARENTAL TRANSITION COACHING IS A MUST FOR TALENT RETENTION

When you become a parent in the workplace, there’s a lot of fear and stigma around what this will mean for your career and your progress, especially for women. “Will I be able to continue to do my job? Will I be overlooked for promotions? What will happen to my career aspirations? Will I be a good enough parent? How can I do it all and still stay sane?” These are just some of the questions that come to mind.

Parental transition coaching provides business continuity and talent retention long into the future and is a must for organisations that invest in their people. Maternity and paternity coaching are the new kids on the block in the diversity and inclusion space. They are a real thing, according to my podcast guest, Gillian Cederwall.

Gillian is an executive coach and director of Great Expectations, a transitions coaching company with blue-chip clients who swear by the impact that these programmes have had on their talent pipeline.

This conversation covers:

  • Why becoming a parent shouldn’t mean the end of your career advancement
  • Why maternity and paternity coaching is so important
  • Why such coaching is important each time you have a baby and as your children change ages and stages
  • How mom guilt can impact on your choices
  • Helping moms and dads maintain their career aspirations
  • How employers can invest in their talent pipeline with transition coaching
  • Creating harmony between balance, challenge and authenticity and how this changes over time
  • Relational, practical and emotional shifts that come with parenting
“The shift to motherhood is the biggest pinch point in a female’s career, and this is a very transformational phase for her…. she’s gone from focused career woman to working mom with expanded responsibilities. And you’ve got to get your head around that.”

Gillian Cederwall, Executive coach and director of Great Expectations

Research shows that the line manager influences whether she stays or goes 50:50, which is huge in terms of her successful return. So part of our program is very much to see the line managers as well, at least once and often twice. And that is really a consultative conversation around how they can support her return, but also how they can manage and understand their impact on her in a very positive way.

Gillian Cederwall, Executive coach and director of Great Expectations

“When we start to have a family and plan for kids and start to transition into being a parent that often is taking place in the mid-phase of our career which, if we liken an age, it’s about early to mid thirties to early to mid forties.”

Gillian Cederwall, Executive coach and director of Great Expectations

Within the context of that phase, challenge, balance and authenticity are three very strong parameters for us, but balance is forced to the fore. But that’s not to say that we still don’t want to be challenged in the context of our careers to learn, to grow, to move into sort of more senior positions or drive our aspirations. But it’s trying to find the harmony between them. And then we add the third parameter, authenticity, which is about the purpose around why I do what I do, my value sets. And these three parameters are play all the time. It just depends at which stage a woman is at as to which one comes to the fore.

Gillian Cederwall, Executive coach and director of Great Expectations

“And that’s where our focus really fits in, is helping women understand the relational, the practical and the emotional shifts that are going to take place so that she returns to work the best version of herself.”

Gillian Cederwall, Executive coach and director of Great Expectations

Harmony, is really is about choosing what you want to be focusing your attention on at this time, knowing that in six months to a year your focus could shift completely.

Gillian Cederwall, Executive coach and director of Great Expectations

And we are seeing longer term benefits of things like coaching. We seeing the longer term benefits of diversity and inclusion in organizations where we are we seeing more female representation at senior levels. Those organizations are more competitive. They are showing better profitability in the long run. So this is really a retention play for us and organizations that are embracing the need that both men and women are requiring.

Gillian Cederwall, Executive coach and director of Great Expectations

Those sort of stereotypes that the man goes off to work and the mum stays at home is is absolutely long gone.

Gillian Cederwall, Executive coach and director of Great Expectations

By owning the conversation she is having with her line manager, owning her exit and owning her reentry, it really is subtly influencing the culture for working parents for the better.

Gillian Cederwall, Executive coach and director of Great Expectations