Executive Coaching for Working Moms

CELEBRATE MOTHER'S DAY THIS YEAR by enrolling in a Working MAMA executive coaching group.

Mimi Darmstadter and Meredith Persily Lamel, executive coaches and human capital consultants, launched Working MAMA to address the goals of high-achieving working moms who seek continued success and satisfaction professionally while also succeeding in their roles as parents. Coaching groups begin in May and meet two hours monthly for six months over breakfast or lunch. Working MAMA's approach is based on the Immunity to Change model developed by Harvard Professors Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey.A lunch group will launch in NW Washington DC on 5/24. The Alliance for Workplace Excellence and Working MAMA have partnered and will launch two Montgomery County groups this May (a lunch group beginning 5/13 in Silver Spring at Discovery Communications and a breakfast group beginning 5/18 in Bethesda at the Alliance). Mention the Alliance receive a 5% discount for the MD groups! Enroll by May 3 and receive an additional 5% discount.

More details at: http://excellentworkplace.org/events.html

Please share this information with other working moms you know. It may be the best gift they receive!If you have questions, please call us at 301.728.6487 or 202.365.5559

http://www.workingmamagroup.com

Birthday Dilemma

So during the period that I was absent from my blog, my son celebrated his 4th birthday.  Of course, on the other side of the scale, was the marketing summit that was being put on by my clients at work - a week long intensive of meetings, break out sessions, lunches, dinners etc.  What to do? Attend the dine-a-round dinner or skip out for the birthday celebration.  

I finally made peace with the fact that although the summit was conveniently located in my home city (this time), if it was in another city, birthday or not, I would have missed the festivities. Instead I focused on the reality that Prince did not know exactly which "day" of the week was his birthday -- so we sang happy birthday the night before then celebrated in fine style at his party the following Saturday.

Sometimes being a working mom means you will miss precious moments.  But increasingly, I am realizing that the key to my sanity is making choices that are practical with the understanding that I cannot be everywhere, all the time and I will never make everyone in my life happy.  So if my son is too young to realize that we celebrate his birthday on a day that isn't his birthday, then the world won't stop if I "miss" his birthday... especially if I make up for it by giving him personal neighborhood train rides at his party :-)

Double Lives

Several years ago I did a pretty unscientific survey.  I was in the job market having recently returned to the country from a stint abroad and feeling pretty optimistic about my future.  I was trying to transition from law firm to "anything but a law firm".  So I did some temp work and started my search.  At this point I only had one child - Princess.  After a very short time I landed a pretty good job - at a law firm - but was generally happy to be employed (so I didn't complain).  An interesting side bar - at the end of my job search, I had two offers.  Both offers were from firms where I did not mention the fact that I had kids during the interview.  I did not get any offers from firms (or even academic institutions) where I mentioned my daughter (even in passing).

Flashback ... when we were graduating from law school, a friend who just had her first son was talking about the interviewing process and she commented that you cannot talk about your kids during an interview.  Back then, childless and not even married, I replied - if you can't tell a prospective employer about your kids, then that's not a job you want anyway.

Now it's 2009 and I find myself making a new pledge - not to talk about my kids at work.  Toward the end of last year I started realizing that anytime I mentioned my kids in relation to time off etc., I started hearing references to my kids often in very patronizing ways - like "I completely understand that you have to leave early sometimes because you've got kids ... but I don't mind!" The first time - no problem, the second time, kinda strange, but by the third time, you just have to shut it down.

So I've decided in the interest of my professional development, it's better not to mention my kids.  No early pick-ups, no doctor's appointments, no parent-teacher conferences, no class plays, nothing ... nada ....  Because the sad but true reality that we sometimes live as mothers is that your boss probably does not want to hear about your kids (even when he says he does).... especially if that discussion involves a reason why you won't be doing what s/he's paying you to do. Now if you're a father, the rules change - but that's a post for another day!