Keeping Women In

 

 

Nearly 18 months ago, self-employed Cookham mum Anna Rasmussen was looking for new challenges in her business.

Whilst sat in a Marlow coffee shop self-administrating some of

her coaching techniques, the research project ‘Keeping Women In’ was born. Last week, in association with Guidant Group and EY, she launched the results of the research and the findings are very interesting. I sat down with her to hear all about it…

 

‘My husband, Phil, and I moved from London to Cookham three-and-a-half

years ago. We have a four-year-old daughter, Mae, and a two-year-old
son, Harry,' says Anna.

   ‘I have been a leadership coach for eight years now. Once we had Mae, I realised that it would be tricky managing my career and being a great mum. Fortunately, I had four years of coaching experience, so I used some coaching techniques on myself. I decided to replace the myth that is work/life balance with the empowering mindset that my work and life is linked, more of a “blend”. Productivity at work is impacted by life and life is impacted by work. The two are intrinsically linked. I am a mum and I work, they blend together, they are not in opposition as work/life balance would lead you to believe. Once I worked this out, my level of productivity at work and home rocketed.

   'As a result of my personal journey to becoming a working mum and my experience as a coach, I decided to specialise in maternity coaching, offering support to high-potential working mothers before, during and after their maternity leave. It was very important to me that working mums understood work/life blend. 

   ‘Women want careers, and businesses need women who want careers, but
it's a well-known challenge that businesses seem unable to retain key female talent. There are EU quotas and governemnt interventions to address this problem and, whilst these are useful, they're not addressing the root of the problem. This is a huge loss for organisations, as productivity and profitability excel in organisations with at least three female board members, and teams with 50/50 men and women are more innovative than those that are male dominant. Yet still, there is a steady flow of women dropping out.

   ‘It occurred to me in my self-coaching session in Fego coffee shop that morning, that there is a significant amount of research into the problems and struggles working mothers experience, but none of it offered businesses any solution. So, here was my opportunity to make a difference. I decided to use my love for coaching methodology and capture the voice of the high-achieving working mother. I would ask the women what they needed the business to do to support them to reach their career potential and, in turn, allow businesses to keep them in.  

   ‘I was thrilled to secure a sponsor as I knew with some backing we were onto something quite special! We interviewed 250 high-achieving working mums and asked them to tell us about their lives, their barriers to achieving their career potential and how businesses can support their blend, so that they can progress at work whilst continuing to be a great mum.

   ‘There were highs and lows, laughter and tears throughout the interviews and a level of honesty that was inspiring. I was also taken aback by the support of the other mums in Cookham – I really appreciate it.

   ‘The results from the research were humbling and offer a huge opportunity to businesses to address the challenges at barely any cost. Fortunately, exactly what I wanted to prove! It showed the women had just 58 per cent satisfaction with the interaction between their working and personal lives – every woman wanted to achieve more. The research also found women are working on average 30% over their contracted hours. Also, it discovered women with an unsustainable blend experience significantly lower levels of well-being than those who are experiencing a fulfilled blend. Low levels of well-being will cause women to leave the workforce, but their managers have the power to stop them.

   'Overall, the main solution boils down to communication and effective leadership. 80% of the solution related directly to leadership and only 20% to the wider business. High-achieving working mothers need leaders to listen to them, support them to manage their workload, acknowledge and discuss their responsibilities outside of work, support them in promotion opportunities , give them regular feedback... This list goes on but its content in its entirety simply describes effective leadership that should be happening anyway. 

   ‘I am about to launch a corporate app called ‘'Open Blend Method'’, which will support businesses to implement the solution from the research and attract, engage and retain key female talent. It works by facilitating interactive coaching sessions, using the notion of blend between a leader and a high-potential working mother. A few well-known companies have heard about it and have requested a meeting to discuss it, even before its launch… I am very excited about it! 

   ‘My app aside, I hope I have made leaders more aware of what they need to do to retain their key female talent, plus I hope I’ve inspired more women to go out there and find their work/life blend.’

 

If you are an employer and would like to enquire about receiving a copy of

the full research report, including all findings and solutions, please email alexa.garthwaite@guidantgroup.com  

 

Please email Anna at hello@openblendmethod.co.uk with any questions or visit 

 

Watch the Keeping Women In video at