Leverage Your Motherhood Journey to Become an Exceptional Leader

Tips on how to become a better leader in the workplace

Motherhood is an amazing journey filled with ups and downs and several lessons in between! We can leverage these lessons to grown personally and professionally. For example, leveraging your motherhood journey to become an exceptional leader involves embracing the skills you’ve gained as a mom, such as multitasking, empathy, time management, and problem-solving, and applying them in the workplace. In today’s post, we will dive into 5 professional skills moms develop throughout their motherhood journey. I’m excited to share the things I’ve learned and the practical steps you can take to become an exceptional leader.

My Motherhood Journey Taught Me

As moms, we develop a range of valuable leadership skills through our motherhood journey. Motherhood is a beautiful journey filled with ups, downs, and everything in between. I’ve learned how to think quickly on my feet and even developed some lightning-speed reflexes. It also taught me how to navigate the challenges of life. As a mom, I have to consider not only my actions and subsequent reactions to them but also how it impacts my children and household overall.

Additionally, I have learned to be flexible and just have fun! My daughters and son have a vivid imagination and energy for days. This helps me to loosen up and embrace the moment. As someone who is naturally very strategic and loves to plan, they have taught me to embrace imperfection and that spontaneity is okay.

Leave me a comment and let the community know a few lessons motherhood has taught you and how you apply them to your life.

Leadership in the Workplace

Core skills of leadership in the workplace are not completely dissimilar from the leadership skills mom exudes each day. These skills are often referred to as transferable skills. Here’s a quick disclaimer, I’m not suggesting you add “Mom” to your resume with examples of these skills (although I wouldn’t be surprised if someone has). But, there is an opportunity to leverage these skills and sharpen them in the workplace.

Sharpen These Skills – You have them anyway

1) Time Management: Balancing multiple tasks and responsibilities teaches effective time management. For busy moms, time management is a well-crafted art and science! Reflect on the countless scheduling conflicts you have been able to mitigate and/or avoid. In my blog post, How to Plan Your Way to Success – Career Mom Community, I shared you can Plan Your Way to Success when you Minimize Scheduling Conflicts and Overlaps.

• This skill shows up in the workplace through our ability to manage work meetings and through project management abilities. I can begin to tell you how many projects were on the brink of disaster that I have been able to revitalize throughout the course of my career. The ability to manage stakeholder commitment and time helps in the corporate setting. Similarly, this skill proves useful to service professionals. Service professionals often review and adjust their time management strategies regularly to optimize their workflow.

2) Multitasking: Juggling childcare, household chores, and personal tasks enhances multitasking abilities. Not to mention the other tasks moms must tackle throughout the course of the day.

• This skill shows up in the workplace through our ability to group similar tasks together, such as responding to emails or returning calls, allowing for more focused and efficient work.

3) Negotiation: Negotiating with children helps moms refine negotiation skills for professional settings. Understanding others’ perspectives and emotions is crucial in both negotiating with children and colleagues. Negotiating is both an art and a science. As an art, negotiating refers to an interpersonal skill used to reach agreement and resolve conflict. As a science, negotiating includes strategic techniques such as fact-finding and fact-building.

• This skill shows up in the workplace through our ability to negotiate important things such as salary! I always encourage moms to be bold enough to ask.

4) Conflict Resolution: Managing disputes among family members, particularly our kids, develops conflict resolution skills applicable in the workplace.

• This skill shows up in the workplace through our ability to resolve conflict with patience and empathy. Our ability to emphasize communication and control chaos enables us to navigate diverse forms of conflict. Additionally, Juggling various responsibilities can be stressful. Moms learn to manage their own stress and emotions, which contributes to handling conflicts with composure.

5) Active Listening: Active listening for moms involves giving full attention to what their children are saying, understanding their emotions, and responding empathetically. It includes maintaining eye contact, nodding, and asking follow-up questions to show genuine interest and encourage open communication. Active listening helps moms connect with their children, address their concerns, and build stronger relationships based on trust and understanding.

• This shows up in the workplace when we are engaged in conversation and our ability to understand requirements. As leaders active listening is key to understanding our teams and teams of teams.

To Wrap it Up

These are just 5 skills we develop as moms that can transfer into the workplace to make us exceptional leaders. I encourage you to lean into your “mommy superpower” to drive change, create lasting impact, and grow as a leader. If you need support translating your unique skill set in the workplace to “M.O.M” – Maximize Opportunity and Momentum, let’s chat! Use the link below to book a coaching call.

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