9 Working Mom Skills That Transfer From the Baby Nursery to the Board Room

9 Working Mom Skills That Transfer From the Baby Nursery to the Board Room Thinkof an image of a working mom in the office. What words come to mind? Frazzled? Distracted? Less devoted?One of my pet peeves about theaverage workplace mindset is the perception that women somehow automaticallygive up focus, skills, dedication, and the ability to succeed simply byhaving children. It seems like the world forgets that we aswomen and parents are just as brilliant as we were before having a baby. And our skills most certainly havent goneout the window. All the attention seems to be on whatis lost instead of on what is gained by becoming a motherbei. We talk ourselves into thinking weve somehowbecome less of an employee because we took leave, take time out of our day topump, or have a hard stop at the end of each day to go pick up the children.Today, I urge you to focus on and to talk openly about all the new and amazing muscles you are growing by being a mother. If youre new on this journ ey, some of these skills may reveal themselves to you over time. Here are a few amazing workplace and leadership skills I have personally grown and developed as a mama1. Patience and adaptability.As a parent, it seems like absolutely nothing happens according to plan. Or it will for a while, and then, abruptly, the plan changes. Parents cant plan their babys every move, mood, or hunger cry. They may not be able to get out the door at the exact moment they wanted. And these challenges teach them how to deal with curve balls at work, too. I am infinitely less frazzled about work stresses than I was pre-kiddos.2. Decisiveness and the ability tomove projects forward. Employers want employees who will efficiently and effectively inform themselves of options, then make decisions without waffling on a course of action or creating drama, right? Parenting is a perfect platform for learning decisiveness, as having a child involves making a lot of little (and big) decision points in the moment . As one working mother who is a student in the Mindful Return program recent noted, I take action 5 minutes earlier than I used to on nearly every task. That means I hit send on e-mails a little sooner. And I have important conversations with people if I see them in the lunch room, rather than scheduling a meeting with them.3. Creative problem solving.Rarely does the same solution to a baby-related problem work two times in a row. Parenting has expanded my einbildung for whats possible at work, too.4. Publicspeaking.Great leaders use their voices. And my own public speaking skills skyrocketed with working parenthood. In the sleep-deprived state that was my life with a baby and a toddler, I had less energy and simply no time for the drama of anxiety around giving a talk. I no longer had hours to sit and stew about how a given presentation was going to go or not go. So I simply got up and used my voice rather than worrying about might happen if I did.5. Prioritizing. I recently had a friend without kids tell me, Well, everything on your to-do list has to get done at some point, right? Nope. There are the must-dos, the nice-to-dos, and the time wasters. Having kids has helped me get straight really quickly on which category each task falls into.6. Anticipating the needs of yourstakeholders. Little babies (and all children) certainly are demandingcustomers, arent they? And the better youre able to predict in advancewhat they need, the smoother your day goes. The same is true for yourbosss needs or your clients needs.7. Organizing and planning. As a working mom, you cant get out the door in the morning (or get out and actually stay out) without a massive amount of advance planning. Organization is a survival skill for me, both at home and at work.8. Increasing rechtevergabe skills. Asking for help on the mama front is absolutely critical. And as you return to work after having a child and grow your career as a working parent, it becomes a workplace survival and su ccess skill, too. Ive had to let go of control over tasks both on the household and work front, and delegating to others has helped their careers grow.9. Perspective. Disastersat work just dont seem as bad as they may have been in the past. Parenthood has revolutionized my perspectiveon what really matters in life. For thebetter.If youre ever feeling down aboutworking mother stigmas or your own motherhood fog, I encourage you to take sometime to make a list of your working mama skills. Remind yourself of them regularly (thiswatercolor is a gorgeous way to keep this front and center), and tout them in your workplace. By putting our focus on the areas where we have become amazing mama ninjas, maybe just maybe we can change the conversation about the value of being a working mama both in our own heads and in our workplaces.--Lori K. Mihalich-Levin, JD, is the founder of MindfulReturn and author of Back to Work After Baby How to Plan and Navigate a Mindful Return fromMaternity Leave. She is a frequentspeaker on topics related to work-life balance and integration, navigating the return from parental leave, and (in her legal role) Medicare graduate medical education payments. A partner in the health care practice of a global law firm, she also is mama to two beautiful red-headed boys. Lori holds a law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center and completed her undergraduate studies at Princeton Universitys Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.