Motherhood can teach you plenty about your career. While it might not dictate how to read the stock market, how to fire an employee or how to appeal to new customers directly, there are certain attitudes a mother learns that allows for a better and more successful career. When you return to work or come back after a long absence, it’s almost certain you will find this out for yourself. Mothers may fear returning to work after a long absence, and this is understandable; they might consider themselves rusty or lacking in the energy they once put forth. However, this article is here to put you at ease: a mother has nothing but value to contribute to their chosen career.
Authority
There is nothing better for gaining a personal sense of responsibility than being a mother. When the life of your child is at stake, you will likely do everything you can to care for them. This means knowing you must be completely confident in everything you do. If you can implement an excellent 6 month old schedule for your little mischievous one, then dealing with a tricky colleague is the real child’s play. This can help you in the boardroom, as it bolsters your ability to stick to your guns and defend your ideas.
It’s not that you may have been weak before you became a mother, but now you have absolute conviction in yourself rather than relying on someone else to come to your defense. The two mindsets are different. Now you have the opportunity to take better care or more diligence in expressing yourself, and stay more rational all the while.
Care
If you’re an employer, sometimes it can be easy to beat your employees over the head with the proverbial stick. This is even more tempting when you have project deadlines to meet or a large order for a client. In these make-or-break moments, kindness and the ability to open up is sometimes replaced with a sense of outright ordering. Again, a disclaimer is needed that I’m not implying that people without children are hard and cold; that’s not what I’m getting at.
However, a mother returning to work may find that she’s see the office as a family dynamic. The unconditional care she brings to her child will often function when things get a little bit rough in the office. If there’s an HR dispute in the office, you’ll most likely listen to the situation and be open to both sides before making a judgement. One of the best traits of motherhood is learning to listen and come with an almost immediate solution, no matter the problem. This openness can help you think laterally about certain scenarios. There might be a few issues that really challenged you beforehand, but having the time off to deal with the inner workings of your family unit might warrant a new change of pace, and a new mindset to tackle those things that could lead to success.
Sustainable Goals
You might be steadfast at achieving absolutely everything you can. You might be driven by a need to dominate, succeed, and become the very best possible. This is wonderful and inspirational, and you should be more than proud of yourself for that. However, this is not always what people want. After dealing with motherhood, you will likely prioritize sustainability over profit. What keeps your business working and able to move towards their goals? Is staff morale more important than forcing overtime on employees to increase profit this year? Does going after a massive order mean that you’ll have to put other clients on the back burner while you try to catch this bigger fish?
This is not to say it’s better to be laid back but instead that your mindset will simply prioritize what matters for success. This can result in a healthier business or your maintaining a healthy attitude toward your job. If you feel there is little left to prove once your family foundation is set, this can positively impact your mental and physical health so there is no longer a need to achieve at all costs.
All of this helps one to realize that returning to work as a mother is something to be profoundly excited about. There’s peace of mind in knowing that motherhood transforms you in ways that can help you overcome challenges in the workplace and outside of it too.
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