Resuming your career after a significant break

Sarah Lyons, an Executive Coach at the Executive Coaching Consultancy shares her advice on how best to manage the transition back to working life after taking a break, whether following maternity or paternity leave for after a longer period.

1. Review your reasons for return

There can be a myriad of reasons for returning to work after a career break. The main reason of course will be after maternity leave. At ECC we coach individuals from a range of backgrounds who have taken career breaks due to caring responsibilities, a change in pace of life, setting up a new business or to pursue other interests. As a returner, it’s really helpful to be clear about your reasons to return to ensure your return can be managed in a way to meet your goals. For example, to be part of a team, to interact with colleagues, to work towards a career goal or to have your own identity outside the home. Will your return meet these needs? Are there any conversations to have in the run up to your return to address any concerns?

2. If you have returned, review your return – successes/challenges

It can be useful to take stock and think about what has gone well. Is there anything you have found particularly supportive to the transition? What has been your biggest challenge? What are especially enjoying about being back at work? As a coach, I encourage people to focus on the positives as we can be hard-wired to dwell on negatives. Looking at positives also reminds us why we returned to work.

3. Building confidence and resilience

When we talk about resilience, it’s about bouncing back after a knock back. As you adjust to being back at work, there will no doubt be challenges along the way. Reflect on how well you have responded and after reflection, have you moved on quickly? We talk about the “100 Year Life” as we are living and working until later in life so it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Another reason why resilience is so important – to move forward and develop better strategies for dealing with adversity.

4. Strategies to make your return a success

In our coaching, we talk to parents about the “less elastic day”. Gone are the days when one can go for spontaneous drinks if we have a child to pick up. And the same goes for those office chats which sometimes morph into informal meetings. This is when prioritising ruthlessly can be a necessary skill. In fact, we know that working parents become much better at multi-tasking both in and outside work and are actually more efficient at work. Learning to say “no” is another strategy or, at the very least, being clear on timescales and planning ahead.

5. Career Success - planning

As a returner, it is crucial to think about your career goals – what is it you want to achieve within the next 3-6 months? Where will you be in 2 years’ time? What do you have to do to get there? This can seem overwhelming if you have only just returned to work so maybe leave this for a few months down the line. We often become stuck in the day-to-day job but it’s so important to look ahead and be strategic about your career. Lastly, be loud and vocal about your successes and achievements!

By Sarah Lyons, Executive Coach at the Executive Coaching Consultancy.

Having spent her early career as an employment lawyer, Sarah has moved into executive coaching and also designs and facilitates leadership programmes. As an ex-lawyer, Sarah has worked with a number of female clients in the legal sector who are looking to balance challenging careers with the demands of a family.