AMAV VICDOC SUMMER 2023 - Magazine - Page 51
Part of
leading a healthy
and sustainable
workforce is supporting
employees to have a full
and meaningful life
outside of work
as well
––
T
he transition to parenthood is
neither a women’s issue or a leadership
issue. It is an issue relevant to us all.
Raising families and looking after a
healthy workforce is a community responsibility.
People of all genders have their own
challenges in thinking about and starting
a family. The demands of leadership vary
and people have their own journey through
the transition to parenthood. That said, it
is important to think carefully about how
parenthood impacts women compared to
men. For women starting a family brings very
specific and personal challenges: fertility
treatments, pregnancy, childbirth and caring
for a newborn. This work requires personal,
physical and emotional labour. While many
women who undertake this work have support
from partners, family and friends, some women
do not have such support.
UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE
OF THE TRANSITION
—
In my leadership coaching work, I have
worked with many people at various stages in
this transition. For example, pregnant women
about to go on parental leave and fathers
wanting to extend time out of the workforce to
look after their children.
A crucial aspect of these mini-transition
points within parenthood is working out one’s
identity, and how that identity includes both
professional and family elements.
In many ways this is about the new story
you are creating for yourself. “I also want
to be a parent” can be a seismic shift.
It’s moving the tectonic plates of who you
are and how you see yourself, and likely
this happens very privately first. Getting
comfortable with different and sometimes
competing priorities is important personal
work. It’s part of crafting a personal and
professional narrative that makes sense
of why you are doing what you’re doing.
Traditionally these have not been questions
on the leadership agenda — this work has
been relegated to ‘private life’, and raising a
family usually relegated to the sidelines and
to outside the professional realm. Things are
changing. People going through all life stages
and experiences should be supported to be
part of the workforce.
VI CD O C SPRI N G 2022
51