Mom status, a business super power...

I see the narrative over and over again that becoming a mom sets a woman’s career back. I want to explore the opposite of that narrative and say that becoming a mom actually can take your career to new heights. Here are just a few ways becoming a mom gives you super powers:

1. Emotional Intelligence: Becoming a mom increases your emotional intelligence. Yes emotional intelligence (EI), you know that acronym that Harvard Business Review likes to throw around all the time. Well, when you become a mom you are more in touch with both your own feelings as well as the feelings of others around you allowing you to become a better relationship builder or communicator with employees you manage, colleagues you support and clients you are trying to reach. Through this emotional intelligence you are able to better read the expressions of others and listen to them. Relationships are one of the most important attributes to business. No matter what position you hold within an organization you will encounter interactions with others and have the need to meet the expectations of those individuals appropriately.

2. Task Prioritization: Becoming a mom improves your ability to prioritize task. With limited time and energy to get work done juggling carpools and bedtime routines, being a mom makes you have to maximize your time as efficiently as possible. I have become a super quick decision maker always remembering what the goal is when I am prioritizing my own to-do list or helping my team manage theirs. Before I was a mom, I would write to-do lists and try to make sure I got everything on it done. Now instead I get what needs to be done then add more “needs” to my list instead of being overwhelmed with the not so important tasks because someone asked me to do it or thought it was a good idea for the moment that may or may not attribute to the goals of the organization. As a new mom, you learn really quickly what is worth your time and energy and what isn’t but you need to ensure you are on the same track with your team and organization on what the goal actually is to help you prioritize those tasks.

3. Focused on the Future: Lastly, becoming a mom helps you keep your focus. Say what? You may not think you are focused when you are on a conference call bouncing up and down with your baby trying to get them to go to sleep, but you are. Yes, you are focused on the future. You are focused on furthering your career so you can provide for your family and you are focused on being a strong confident role model for your children. I feel like there is a trend going around with campaigns asking “What is your why?”. Well when you become a mom, your why is getting sweet kisses on the cheek each night, your why is the sound of laughter after blowing air on your toddler’s face, your why is seeing a huge grin when you introduce bubbles for the first time. You wake up everyday and make the most of it by doing your job and doing it well because you know every step you make is keeping a roof over that baby’s head, putting food on the table for family dinner time and being able to go on vacations to build precious memories that you will hold in your heart forever.

These are just a few reasons why I think we should flip the script on the new mom career halt syndrome and should rejoice working moms for who they really are, a business woman with super mom powers. Working moms figure out how to make it all work both at home and in the work place. Instead of thinking being a mom pushes woman back, I encourage moms to learn how to best utilize their mom skills in the workplace and I encourage employers to look into how to best utilize your mom employee skills to increase organizational outcomes and improve the bottom line.