How easy do you find it to flick a switch in your brain to go from professional to parent? It never fails to amaze (and amuse) me how different our lives can be within the space of a few minutes. There we are signing off from a conference call or doing something equally important-sounding and…
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At Mumager we don’t just work with mums we work with managers and organisations to enable a culture of inclusivity. One of the workshops we run is a 2 hour intensive workshop for line managers. During the session we look at best practices on how to manage maternity leave, starting from the moment the mum…
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If someone at work told you to ‘act like a man’ what kind of behaviour would you think the person wants to see? Risk-taking? Courage? Decisiveness? Confidence? Assertiveness? Let’s change the words slightly. What if the same person told you to ‘stop acting like a woman’. What kind of behaviours are they expecting you to…
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Like a lot of children born in the 1970s I grew up loving the Star Wars films. It’s a classic tale of good versus evil and overcoming adversity. In the films the good side is known as ‘the Force’ and the baddies are identified as the Dark Side. In the trilogy that came out when…
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I was chatting to a delegate on a training course I was running the other week. We were talking about balancing the needs of both family and work. When I shared that I’d be taking 2 months off over the summer they remarked ‘you’re so lucky’. I agreed. I am lucky. I have a very…
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It’s hard for my white middle-class middle-aged liberal-left-of-the-middle European self to admit, but it’s the truth. I’m more like Donald Trump than I want to be. (And it’s nothing to do with my hair). Here’s why 1. I’m overwhelming, overbearing and pushy I’m a naturally enthusiastic person. My interest and opinions on certain subjects can…
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So you’re about to go back to work? Well let’s make a cup of tea, pull up a chair and have a chat about what you might expect. Here are the top ten things I’d like to share both from my own experience of going back to work and also from all of the mums…
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I’ve been finding myself saying “no” to people quite a lot recently. As a freelancer turning down work is scary. What if they don’t ask me again? What if nothing else comes in? What if they offer the work to someone else, who’ll end up doing a better job than me? However now that I’ve…
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Whenever anyone is behaving in a way that frustrates, disappoints or upsets us we have a choice about how we respond. We can: a) Do nothing and smile serenely b) Do nothing and inwardly seethe until you feel like you’re about to erupt c) React immediately and shout/cry/rant/storm off (or all of the aforementioned) d)…
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Recently my colleague Tracy had an article published in the Journal.ie. The article was about how some women can feel sad or anxious about returning to work after maternity leave and Tracy offered some suggestions to lessen the anxiety and make the transition more bearable. At the time of writing this piece the article had…
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