There is little to match the exuberance or ecstatic feelings that you and your whole family share when a new arrival is on the way. You will be beside yourself with joy as an expectant mother and you can be sure that this will be one of the finest moments of your family’s life.
Friends and acquaintances will also be over the moon and will all look forward to the big day with much anticipation.
As your feelings of happiness know no bounds, you would be forgiven for thinking that all the World would be happy for you as well and while this is largely the case, certain elements of negativity may, however, still arise.
Surely, your boss is happy for you, but he or she may not be on quite the same level as everyone else and be particularly concerned with the operation of the business. In fact, in this case the business may come squarely in first place and you may have to be particularly persuasive if you are considering flexible working hours for your busy times ahead.
You may come to find that your boss is really a dinosaur and can be very inflexible, unfortunately, so you will have to call on all your powers of creativity and persuasiveness.
If you have a friend and co-worker who has been in your position before, now is the time to have a down-to-earth chat and to see whether she was able to achieve any two-way communication with the boss and how she handled the situation. While you are at this research stage, talk to other friends in other industries or professions and see what solutions they were able to come up with.
This is the time to be very creative and forward thinking and consider telecommuting or working from home. As companies around the World realise that they need to save on their overheads, this concept is becoming more and more acceptable. If the type of work that you do can be handled in this way, this may well be an option for you.
Above all else, you must first decide what would be the absolutely ideal situation for you. Be sure of what you are doing, as after all, remember that you must be careful what you wish for!
At the top of your list should be an ideal scenario, but you should also have options available in a less-than-perfect situation. Above all else, look at your home situation and understand what you will be able to accommodate before asking.
You should always be careful when you are discussing options with colleagues and you might have to exercise some strategy. If you all collectively share a workload, see how you could come up with ideas to divide the work accordingly, giving you a more flexible schedule. You must be willing to pull your weight in other areas and above all else make sure that you are confident it would be a win/win/win situation for the colleagues, the employer and yourself.
If your job essentially allows you to complete certain tasks regardless of time, or what used to be known as a “job and finish” situation, determine whether you would be able to do this during your personal time as part of a newly revised schedule.
The more you can show your boss that you would be equally as productive, if not more productive by working a flexible schedule, the more the dinosaur is likely to stop chewing the vegetation and listen to you!
In most situations, online life coaching can be another excellent source of research for you. Thankfully, coaching for women can always help by looking at a variety of situations and suggesting options. In this day and age, professional coaching is not just for sports players or executives any more!
Amanda Alexander is the Director of Coaching Mums and a widely renowned ICF-accredited coach who delivers professional coaching programmes to working mums across the globe who long for more time, balance and fulfilment in their busy lives. Download our free eBook especially for working mums with 5 easy ways to achieve balance.
Tags: (coaching, business, Family, Parenting, work life balance)
