Do your employees feel safe to speak up, even when what they have to say goes against the grain? 

Encouraging your employees to make themselves heard and speak up is one thing. But are they saying what they think you want to hear? Making individuals feel secure enough to voice their true opinions is much more difficult, and it’s a major component of successful inclusive leadership. More than that, it’s necessary to create a culture where employees feel empowered  to innovate and problem-solve, without the inhibiting fear of failure. 

When your teams feel psychologically safe, you can expect to see increased motivation in dealing with problems, higher levels of engagement, better performance, and more learning and development opportunities. It allows for risk-taking, speaking your mind, creativity, and speaking out without fear of punishment - all the behaviours that lead to market breakthroughs.

Barbara Fredrickson at the University of North Carolina has found that positive emotions...

If you are one of those lucky people who never needed shopping lists or deadline alerts before you had a baby, lucky you! The chances are that post-baby, however, things are very different.

I think the majority of adults struggle with juggling personal and work related tasks after becoming a parent - the mental and logistical load is much heavier than ever before and with the likelihood of sleep deprivation you’re memory doesn’t seem quite as sharp as it used to. You think to yourself "I'll easily remember that" and then your tiny little person flashes you a beautiful smile and you forget everything else.  


With that in mind, you can relax somewhat in the knowledge that there is an abundance of handy, practical tools to help you out. Some of these tools you can use for both personal and work tasks, allowing you to more easily manage those two parts of your life together at once. I am strong proponent for work-life integration because in order to thrive in both worlds you need to con...

In our work at Thriving Parents, we see how common it is for a working parent to lose some of their confidence having returned to work after parental leave.

So the first thing to know is that if you feel like you have lost some of that confidence and assurance, it is normal!

The dictionary defines self-confidence as “a feeling of trust in one's abilities, qualities, and judgement.”

Words associated with self-confidence are self-assurance, belief in oneself, positiveness, assertiveness, assurance, self-reliance, self-possession, composure, nerve, poise, presence, aplomb.

In short, it is also a feeling of being comfortable in your own skin.

How confident do you feel today?

On a scale of 0-10, with 10 being extremely confident and 0 being no confidence at all, how would you rate yourself? Consider how often you speak out in meetings, take the initiative and lead on a new idea, challenge others’ ideas, offer new perspectives, trust yourself to make mistakes and step out of your comfo...

The lead up to maternity really does feel like a rollercoaster for many women: excited and energised one moment, sick or tired and fearful of the future the next, coupled with a changing body shape and swirling emotions.

It’s no surprise that it is a somewhat confusing period in our lives ….(imagine how it is for partners watching on!).

There are many factors that you will not be able to directly control; so focus on what you can control and influence; starting with a positive perspective and taking ownership. Here are a few pointers:

#1: Talk to others

If you haven’t already, understand the internal HR policies around maternity and talk to others you know, who have already been through this transition.

They may have some ideas and advice that may not be obvious to you – both what to do and what not to do!

#2: Challenge your assumptions

It is very personal as to when you advise your manager of your pregnancy and the relationship you have will of course influence your decision. ...

There has been much research and debate around what is the key to advancement for women in business. Much focus is on “fixing” the individual herself - increasing networking skills and visibility at work, finding a mentor, identifying a sponsor, becoming political ‘savvy’; to name a few. There is also great discussion around shifting the culture and tackling negatives biases in the workplace; to provide the best platform to allow for women to advance in their careers.

One common denominator in all these debates is the importance of ‘owning your voice’. 

What does that mean?

Irrelevant of whether you are an extrovert or an introvert, it means expressing yourself at work, having an opinion, vocalising your thoughts, being heard and seen; in your own authentic way.

In our work at Thriving Parents, we know that this is especially relevant when women return to work, following a maternity break. Often we return to work and find ourselves ‘apologising’, whether it is because we need to le...

Often, as working parents, our focus is exclusively on completing the to-do list in the most efficient way, that our default is to sit down at the desk and work like a Trojan, without stopping or even daring to accept a lunch invitation because you have an absolute deadline – child care pick up at 17:30. It’s not a deadline that can be moved by even an hour or too, not one to be negotiated – you have to meet it.

Our work sees us supporting working parents of young children, often in their thirties and early forties, that the timing is not right to even consider leadership roles or promotion – the common line we hear is “the children are too young and I cannot give the time the organisation needs”.

Such assumptions can be challenged if your organisation is an advocate for having strong leaders who also ‘walk the talk’, effectively making time work and their personal life.

This belief that it’s not possible to have both, often leads to working parents becoming invisible – they come in...

We recommend that you and your Manager meet or at least speak virtually, ideally on your first day back from your parental leave; so that you can quickly re-orient yourself to the world of professional working!

What is the purpose of this meeting? Ideally, it will cover the following points:

• Practical logistics 
• Update from your Manager on the department & business
• Handover of role & responsibilities

Let’s start with practical logistics

• Has there been any changes to the office, your workstation you need to be aware of, or are there any pending changes?
• If you are a returning mother who is breastfeeding, ensure that you know where all the facilities are, so that this does not create any anxiety. Use this meeting to advise or remind your Manager of your breastfeeding routine so that he or she understands when you will be away from the office space.
• Together, look at the diary for the next six weeks and understand if there are any key meetings planned where you’re expected t
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Is this known as “having it all”? Can you even have a career and family without the burden of guilt, overwhelm and fatigue? There isn’t a text book standard response to this. Why? Because everyone’s definition of “having it all” is unique and it’s based on your own exclusive value system and aspirations.

Step 1: Self-awareness

The first step therefore when considering how to navigate career and family is to have a very good understanding of what is important to you, as a parent and as a professional.

As a parent – if someone asked your child 10 years from now to describe you as a Mum or Dad over the last 10 years, what do you want them to say? Who inspires you as a role model as a parent and why? What do you want to copy from your own parents? What do you not want to copy from your own parents? If you take time to consider these questions over a short period, coming back to them several times, you will soon have a sound awareness of your values as a parent. Now, take these values an...