The Client
A business owner preparing for maternity leave.
The brief
Our client, the founder and owner of a family business, was preparing for her first maternity leave. She approached Henry & Harris Partnership to help with this transition and support her subsequent return to work to ensure the process was a positive as possible for her business and family life.
The solution
Specialist maternity coaching and mentoring is one of Henry & Harris Partnership’s areas of expertise. It can be an incredibly valuable experience for both the individual and the organisation, offering an effective mix of practical and emotional support.
For our client, the key was to plan the recruitment of someone she could trust to run her business, to consider the key priorities and deliverables, and plan how she would work in partnership with her maternity cover. Our role was to help define the detail of the initial handover as well as plan how and when she would interact with the business during her maternity leave.
Our coaching sessions also considered the emotional and personal impact of having a child and what was necessary to give our client the headspace to focus on this without distraction. We agreed that checking in with the business at three and six months would help our client feel supported and would enable her to balance the needs of her business with the demands of a new baby.
At nine months we discussed the plan for returning to work. This included exploring what that would look and feel like, and what should be in place for our client to feel comfortable spending time away from her child. It was important that we helped our client navigate the expansion in her identity from being a career woman and business owner, to also being a mum and a working parent. We identified what was most important to our client, mapped out the first days and weeks back at work, and put in place appropriate checks and balances to support her with the transition.
Following our client’s return to work, we led monthly coaching sessions to talk through the challenges and opportunities she was experiencing, alongside reviewing her work-life balance and assessing how well the support mechanisms were functioning.
The benefit
Our client found the time and space created by our coaching and mentoring sessions were essential to planning a successful maternity leave and managing any feelings of insecurity and worries about the unknown.
She reported that the coaching allowed her to consider what mattered most in a logical way. Using visualisation techniques helped prepare for her return to work and to picture what she wanted that to look like for her, her baby, her family and the business. This helped her to feel more relaxed and able to enjoy the experience of her first maternity leave.
This type of coaching can also assist organisations to tap into the value of a diverse workforce and maximise the benefit of individual transitions. This can create opportunities for growth and ensure employees feel happy and supported.
Find out more about the range of coaching and mentoring services we offer or contact us today to arrange your free discovery call.
