Diversity is high on the agenda of global financial services organisation Citigroup and it was keen to explore the impact on, and experiences of, women participating in its coaching workshops, developed by AXA ICAS and Managing Maternity.
Evidence from the wider coaching field suggests that coaching is both contextual and relational, and that was supported in this study. It used a naturalistic method, that of phenomenological observation, to record the interactions of women in three group coaching workshops: the first during pregnancy, the second during maternity leave (on a “keeping in touch” day), and the third on return to work.
The data revealed the paradoxical way women lost confidence in their executive roles while gaining a sense of empowerment in motherhood. It was striking how the women had acquired a whole set of skills and capabilities that were seemingly out of their awareness yet revealed distinctly new talents critical to successful leadership.
An extensive body of literature on male careers has highlighted the importance of managed job transitions, yet here was a transition that was outside of direct organisational intervention, yielding invaluable competencies and talents, virtually overnight.
The findings also revealed the dramatic way the programme facilitated the building of a community and trusted internal networks.
Unlocking the ‘black box’
Maternity leave could be a key transition in a woman’s life. New skills and resources emerge spontaneously, such as harnessing limited resources – critical in testing times.
These findings suggest that motherhood (referred to by one woman as the “black box”) holds great potential and is an example of accelerated learning. We shared the findings at the Equal Opportunities International (EOI) conference in Norwich in July. We believe they offer new ways of approaching the evaluation of coaching.
Possible measures might include the extent to which the coaching meets its own objectives and takes into account the views of different stakeholders; hard figures suggesting return on investment against pre-set criteria; tangible, behavioural evidence of the impact of support on the participants; and impact on the external and internal perception/culture.
Even in these uncertain times, organisations that have taken a lead on diversity are still investing in attracting and retaining female talent. The newly emerging field of maternity management has arisen out of employers’ keenness to support women through that critical transition to motherhood and has been lent weight by numerous studies (see further reading, below). Group coaching must be seen as an integral feature in making such an investment a success.
Jennifer Liston-Smith is director of coaching and research at Managing Maternity. Margaret Chapman is a doctoral researcher in coaching psychology at City University.
Further reading
- D Cormier, “Retaining top women business leaders: strategies for ending the exodus”, Business Strategy Series, 8(4), pp262-269, 2007.
- J Liston-Smith and M A Chapman, “Managing maternity in global financial services through group coaching – unlocking the potential encapsulated within a ‘black box’”, paper presented at EOI conference, 2 July 2008.
- L J Millward, “The transition to motherhood in an organizational context: an interpretative phenomenological analysis”, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 79, pp315-333, 2006.
- Shaping a Fairer Future, Women and Work Commission report, DTI, 2006.
- Newborns and New Schools: Critical Times in Women’s Employment, Institute for Fiscal Studies for the DWP, 2006.
- Enter the Timelords, final report of the Equal Opportunities Commission’s investigation into the transformation of work, 2007.
- J A Smith, “Identity development during the transition to motherhood: an interpretative phenomenological analysis”, Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 17(3), pp281-299, August 1999.
Volume 4, Issue 1
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