May 16, 2018 4 Ways to Support Working Moms in Your Workplace
We’ve all heard it – being a mom is a full time job. So what do you do when you already have a 40 hours per week gig, and then you get motherhood thrown into the blender? You get a mess, that’s what. You get a toddler in a panda bear suit, trying to make a bamboo smoothie in your kitchen.
Transitioning to parenthood is like the terrifying transition years of junior high all over again, but amplified by the high stakes pressure of being responsible for the emotional, physical, and mental wellbeing of another human being.
You might be thinking: What could I possibly do to support the working moms in my office? Where do I even begin?
As a coworker, manager, or leader, YOU have many opportunities to be a role model when it comes to supporting the moms on your team. Below are four ways to get started.
1. Respect That Babies Have Priority
We get it, you don’t want your meeting interrupted by a mom stepping out to take a phone call from her child’s teacher, babysitter, or pediatrician. We get that when a woman is at work, you want her to be working. The desire is a reasonable one, but here’s the thing: moms don’t get to clock out of the mom job from nine to five. No matter what time of day or night it is, that mom (and dad) are the ones ultimately responsible for what is happening with their child. They don’t get to delegate the task to someone else. And when it comes to the wellbeing of your meeting, or the wellbeing of a child, I hope you’ll agree that the child is priority.
2. Respect That Babies Are Out Of Control
As an adult you probably feel at times that you have lost control of things. Your car, phone, friends, or waistline won’t cooperate. This is normal. No one is ever going to have their life tied up neatly with a bow. Now, add in a child and the chaos amplifies.
Babies are chaos masters. They wreak adorable havoc on almost everything they encounter. And that’s fine—it’s what they’re supposed to do. So when mom calls in to say she’s late because little peanut threw up on her as she was walking out the door, you must understand this is unavoidable. Don’t huff and puff and sigh when she comes in late. That mom didn’t want to be late to work either. She certainly wasn’t expecting the vomit, or she would have wrapped herself in trash bags.
3. Respect that Mom is Trying Her Best
Believe me, if a mother is working after having a baby, which is no small feat, then she is working because she wants to be working. With the cost of child care, it often makes little financial sense to return to work after a baby. So mom is there because this job means something to her. The dividing of motherhood and professional responsibilities is not easy for moms.
Working mothers make hard choices on how to use their time every day. Be supportive. Be encouraging. Be vocal about the things that are going well. Ask how you can assist in helping other things run smoother. Appreciation goes a long way in maintaining a valuable asset.
4. Respect That Improvement Takes Time
We are human. We all want things to be comfortable and convenient, and we struggle when we don’t get those things right away. Understandable. Who likes a rough patch? No one likes it when their smooth-running life hits a glitch. But no matter what, the rough patch is going to come. And this is true in business as well.
Returning to work after a baby is definitely a transition period. Mothers have to learn an entirely new way of being employees. It’s not easy to retrain yourself, or come to terms with your new reality. Give mothers time.
Good change takes time. Let them have the space to find the best way to do their job in their new situation. You’ll receive the payback for years to come when you have a master problem-solver on your hands.
Gone are the days when mothers have to stay home. Now, women get to work, and I hope we can all agree this is a benefit for everyone involved. After reaching this milestone, our next task is to make it better. Better for the company, the coworkers, the parent, and the child. With a little creativity and a little patience for the curve balls of life, I think the task of supporting new mothers in the workplace is not only feasible, but worthwhile as well.
MARGARET SMITH IS A CAREER COACH, AUTHOR, INSIGHTS®DISCOVERY LICENSED PRACTITIONER, FOUNDER OF UXL, AND CO-FOUNDER OF THE TAG TEAM. SHE HOSTS WORKSHOPS FOR PEOPLE WHO NEED CAREER OR PERSONAL GUIDANCE. YOU CAN VISIT HER WEBSITE AT WWW.YOUEXCELNOW.COM
Tags: advice for working mothers, Margaret Smith business coach, Margaret Smith life coach, moms are good workers, parenthood and workplace, support working moms, support working parents
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- Posted under Discussions, Thrive at Work, Tips for Improving Interactions
May 9, 2018 Delegating at Work is Like Hosting a BBQ
Your perfect barbecue goes something like this:
- You create the perfect guest list (people you enjoy hanging out with and who get along well with each other)
- Each guest takes on the responsibility of making a different dish (something they’re good at making!)
- On the day of the event, everyone enjoys a delicious spread of food and each other’s company.
- Even if it rains or someone spills the potato salad, you’ll still have the makings of an excellent get together.
Of course, not every BBQ turns out this way. You might encounter drama between guests, or you may end up with seven different desserts, but no potato chips or veggie tray. The trick is knowing your guests’ personalities, knowing their strengths, and delegating effectively.
You can probably already draw parallels between the perfect BBQ and delegating to a work team, but let you give me my take on it:
When you’re leading a team, it’s difficult (and frankly inadvisable) to do everything yourself. If you tried to cook everything for a twenty-person barbecue, you’d end up pulling out your hair and not having much fun.
At work, the stakes are higher. If you’re working on a project, you’ll have deadlines to meet, stakeholders to please, and a team to attend to. Instead of taking on the bulk of the work yourself, TRUST that your team is capable enough to shoulder some of the burden.
Not only will delegating tasks to others lighten your load, it will help your team members feel like they are important parts of the work (just like the people at your BBQ who are providing the watermelon or deviled eggs).
Furthermore, delegating adds diversity of thought.
Your team members will inevitably do things a little differently than what you might have done on your own, and THAT’S OKAY. It’s great to work with a diverse set of ideas—that’s what drives innovation. Just like the person who brings a unique dish (grilled asparagus and ricotta pizza, anyone?), you will find creative new ideas through your team that you might not have found on your own.
Just make sure everyone is well-suited to their tasks.
In the workplace, certain people will love crunching numbers and digging into strategy. Others will love idea-generation. Still others will take pleasure in the artist elements of a project.
The better you know your team members, the better you can assign tasks. Just like you know Bill makes delectable beer-battered chicken, but you wouldn’t trust him to know merengue from tapioca pudding, so too should you understand the strengths and weaknesses of your team.
Don’t forget to make things fun.
One of the keys to successful delegation is making sure people are working well together, connecting, and facing any issues with a positive attitude and a problem-solving mentality. Day-to-day work doesn’t have to be a grind. If everyone is well-suited to their tasks and the team is keeping an affable, open line of communication between one another, the work can actually be (gasp!) fun.
You can also amp up the fun factor by hosting lunch-and-learn meetings, creating light-hearted challenges, raising money for a cause, or going on the occasional team outing. Though these may seem like frivolous activities to some, they are actually great ways to help your team members connect with one another, build a sense of camaraderie, and help YOU better understand what makes the people on your team tick. Having a deep understanding of your team members is crucial to effective delegation.
So, make a plan, start delegating, and get ready to fire up that grill!
MARGARET SMITH IS A CAREER COACH, AUTHOR, INSIGHTS®DISCOVERY LICENSED PRACTITIONER, FOUNDER OF UXL, AND CO-FOUNDER OF THE TAG TEAM. SHE HOSTS WORKSHOPS FOR PEOPLE WHO NEED CAREER OR PERSONAL GUIDANCE. YOU CAN VISIT HER WEBSITE AT WWW.YOUEXCELNOW.COM
Tags: benefits of delegation, Better delegation, Delegating like BBQ, Insights and Leadership, Insights Discovery for teams, leadership and delegation, Margaret Smith business coach, Margaret Smith licensed Insights practitioner, smart delegation
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- Posted under Better Business, Communication, Insights Discovery, Leadership
May 2, 2018 Do you have a case of the “Mays?”
How many times have you said something like the statements below?
“I may start searching for a new job.”
“I may take a leadership class this year.”
“I may do , like I’ve always wanted to do.”
I know I’m guilty of the occasional case of the “mays!”
The thing about statements like these is that there’s no muscle behind them. There’s no clear goal or strategy to get there. Sure, you can start with a dream or an idea, but after that, you have to put in the legwork.
How do you turn “mays” into action?
Start by making your vague ambitions more concrete. Give yourself a clear goal with a stated deadline. For instance:
“I will start searching for a new job by the end of the quarter.”
“I will sign up for a leadership class this month.”
“This week, I will figure out how to get started on .”
Once you have more directed statements, develop a plan to follow through with them. Break down your goal into bite-sized pieces and tackle them one at a time.
Don’t forget to refer to your goal often and track your progress.
If you’re looking for a great way to get started, try creating a 90-day quick plan. An idea created by David Horsager, the 90-day quick plan helps you achieve one focused goal in 90 days by using “why” as your driver. Why do you want to accomplish a certain goal? What are the motivating forces surrounding it? Why would reaching this goal make a difference in your life?
Instead of continuing to say, “I may,” start saying, “I will.” Create a plan, set deadlines, and see what you can achieve in the next few months.
Go get ‘em!
MARGARET SMITH IS A CAREER COACH, AUTHOR, INSIGHTS®DISCOVERY LICENSED PRACTITIONER, FOUNDER OF UXL, AND CO-FOUNDER OF THE TAG TEAM. SHE HOSTS WORKSHOPS FOR PEOPLE WHO NEED CAREER OR PERSONAL GUIDANCE. YOU CAN VISIT HER WEBSITE AT WWW.YOUEXCELNOW.COM
Tags: achieve goals, achieve goals in 90 days, business coach Margaret Smith, career action plan, career coach Margaret Smith, career goals, goal setting, leadership coach Margaret Smith
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- Posted under Advice from a Life Coach, Changing Your Life, Goals
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