What can you expect from Maternity Coaching?

The Mothers’ View

Who better to ask about the experience and value of maternity coaching than the mothers who have undertaken it?  We’ve gathered the thoughts of some of our clients on the experience of motherhood and the value of maternity coaching.

If you’re thinking about maternity coaching for your organisation or yourself, here’s an insight into what to expect…

There are few life transitions that compare to the arrival of a child.  It’s an exciting, but also sometimes uncertain and even anxious time.  Even more so when as a parent you are having to negotiate your way through relationships and arrangements at work to ensure that you time away goes smoothly, and that you are able to come back to your role reinvigorated and ready for the new challenges of combining career and parenthood.  

We’ve worked with many soon to be and new parents over the last 15 years, and have seen the value of coaching as a mechanism to support mothers and fathers before and after the birth of a child.  We’ve shared our views before, but wanted to explore further the mother’s perspective.  We asked three recent coachees and mothers to offer their views on the topic of maternity coaching, and were delighted to hear about the value they gained from the process. 

If you’re considering maternity coaching, either yourself or your organisation, we hope these views will provide an insight into the experience

What made you consider maternity coaching?

My professional life has always been very important to me, the idea of bettering myself is always appealing.  I hoped it would help to get my head back into work, to help me understand what is now changed after I was now a mother as well and how to approach the juggle.

Going into the complete unknown, I saw this as a chance to get some professional and personal guidance from someone who was experienced and impartial and to have some guidance on transitioning from the world of work into maternity leave and back again.

To be quite honest I didn’t think I needed it! I was keen to try it as I had nothing to lose but I never expected to get so much out of it and credit my coach’s work with me to this day as a driver of where I’ve got to and where I still want to go. 

Every parent will have different feelings about returning to work and I was lucky enough to be in a role I always enjoyed so didn’t feel apprehensive about returning to work as such, but was very open to the idea of one to one support as I had been off for over a year so was conscious I needed to make the transition back to work as positive an experience as possible.  I thought it could be interesting to have one to one time with a professional coach and maybe focus in a bit on where I saw my career heading over the coming years. I was very keen on being ‘present’ in my newly conflicting life as parent when at home and professional and focused when in the office. I was open to learning techniques to help me achieve this as I was very conscious of how many friends had such blurred lines of the two (quite contrasting) worlds.

What are the challenges of parenthood and how did coaching help? 

The biggest was finding the balance between home and work not feeling guilty for not being with my child / not being at work.  There were graphs, and diagrams, there were methods, tricks, tips. There was also a lot of self-searching and observing, a lot of unpicking of my thoughts and assumptions.

I think most people have the challenge of returning to work and possibly working with the colleague who had covered your role when on maternity leave so I had the situation many are faced when I managed the person who had stepped up to fill my role the previous year. I also had new priorities in my life even if they are as simple as needing to leave at a very specific time in order to pick up from nursery which meant I could not be flexible with hours I was in the office.  

 The coaching was so empathetic to the very real challenges that you are faced with when transitioning back to work but my coach made sure she completely understood my individual circumstances and the ‘pinch points’ that would likely be applicable to me. We would always start by talking through in broad terms about some of the issues I was facing that month and then honing in on the specifics and therefore techniques and strategies that would help me find solutions. It meant I never once felt isolated in my return, I could contact my coach at any time if I’d needed but I found that I left every session with the confidence to be able to manage any issue myself with a clear head and straight forward plan – and it never failed! 

What did you gain from the coaching experience? 

I gained absolute clarity on where I wanted my career to progress to without even knowing that I wanted these certain paths. We covered everything from core values, leadership qualities and techniques, management styles and problem solving. I focused on what was important to me in my professional career and what I wouldn’t compromise on with my family life and that organically determined a path I have been sticking to ever since. 

I developed a really practical plan of return that I would not have even dreamed of asking for, along with perspective and tools to manage things in my control and manage my anxieties for things I cannot control. A space and support to understand what triggers me (and always had), why and how to deal with that. It improved my relationship with my manager, my colleagues and myself. 

 What unexpected results did you experience from Maternity Coaching?

Advice on how best to support my partner through a tricky time at work… It didn’t necessarily fit under the ‘maternity coaching’ umbrella, but it really helped that we could speak openly about it and I gained a lot of confidence going back in to that situation with my partner.

My maternity coaching was the best form of training/development/support I have ever had since starting my career over 15 years ago. I have documents I still refer to, I think about strategies and techniques we talked about when faced with issues at work even years later and I genuinely credit my coach and her work with me for the reason I am now working at an organisation I have always wanted to work for, in a role I never would have thought I’d be lucky enough to do. I owe an incredible amount to the role that my coach played in that! 

Would you recommend it to others and if so, why?

I recommended it to everyone at work who told me they were expecting a baby, I gained so much from it so I wanted others to benefit too. They all came back to me to thank me for the recommendation as it was such a positive experience for them too.  It has been a wonderful experience to have maternity coaching from my coach over the years. She made each milestone easy to tackle, and gave me so much confidence at a time when my life had been taken over by a baby. If you get the chance, grab it with both hands!

I regularly recommend maternity coaching and won’t stop! It’s empowering to have it affirmed that you don’t need to choose to be a parent or a professional. With the right support you can absolutely have both. 

Our Approach to Maternity Coaching

We’ve spent many years working to understand the transition of both working mothers and fathers, and to understand how to provide support through coaching.  We have identified three critical stages where parental coaching can have exponentially positive impact:

Phase 1: The Take Off (anticipating the arrival of your child) 

At this stage parental coaching can:

• Help with your confidence 

• Enable you to feel more in control 

• Guide you on how to reduce your levels of anxiety and stress

• Reassure you as you handover your role (for mums and sometimes even for dads!)

Phase 2: The Niggle (whilst adjusting to the arrival of your child) 

At this stage parental coaching can:

• Help you work through your concerns, stresses and anxieties 

• Enable you to recognise what matters in the short and long term; your goals, motivations, ambitions 

• Guide you on how to find answers to practical challenges like negotiating return to work agreements, flexible hours, childcare 

Phase 3: The Pull (upon returning to the workplace)

At this stage parental coaching can:

• Help you work through the demands on your time, both in and out of work

• Support you to reconnect with your identity; your purpose, your meaning and self care

• Guide you on how to navigate difficult conversations, rebuild relationships and assert your needs 

Whether it’s with us or another organisation, if you are facing the transition to parenthood, or are considering supporting your employees as they do, we believe coaching is a true key to success. Contact us to discuss this further.