6 skills a mom can nourish while being away from the job

I have mothers around me who are on maternity leave and who are afraid that they will lose their skills while they are far from the role in which they were enormously involved up until the moment of birth. Away from the office, without meetings, video calls, reports, and planning, but with many sleepless nights, up to date with articles on breastfeeding, diversification, and tooth growth, they begin to believe that they will no longer be considered for decision-making roles, for interesting projects or for possible challenges. I see how, with each passing day, they become more insecure and wonder how they will cope with the changes that took place during their absence from the office and how they will adapt to the new requirements. What will happen to them when they return? As a mother, but also as a consultant in the recruitment for top management positions, I took a closer look at a mother’s daily challenges and put together a list of “maternal skills” that are extremely valuable in the workplace, as well. I dwell on a few of them, to assure readers that these will be just as important at work and after the end of maternity leave.

• Communicate with Impact including Conflict management – the ability to persuade or convince others to support an idea, to make things happen, to find the best arguments in a situation; active listening skills sustained by emotional intelligence;
• Stakeholder management – maintaining good relationships with the people who have most impact on your day-to-day life, keeping them “on board” and engaged;
• Change management – the ability to apply a structured process, using a set of tools to mobilise other people to deliver results and outcomes of a change, to move them from one developmental stage to another while ensuring high adoption;
• Creative problem solving – ability to find ways of solving problems or identifying opportunities where conventional thinking has failed, to find fresh perspectives and come up with innovative solutions, to formulate a plan to overcome obstacles and reach the goals;
• Planning and prioritisation, including resource management – ability to make the best use of the time and resources available, in a high complexity and a very demanding environment;
• Strategic thinking – ability to anticipate and prepare for various outcomes that may or may not occur, ability to anticipate obstacles before they arise, to craft effective solutions and to avoid escalating challenges and risks.

I would like to warmly greet all the mothers who are on maternity leave and remind them that every day, even away from work, they can use and develop extraordinary skills that will be appreciated even when they return to business! But now is the time to focus only on the most important “job” at home!

The above article was written by our colleague, Raluca Modoran, Senior Leadership & People Advisor at Signium- Stein & Partner and published in TheWoman.

To access the full please article click here.

©Raluca Modoran