Empathy in the Workplace: Mom Transferable Skill

Have you created a closer bond with your friends who have all become moms around the same time? If you are like most moms, the answer is a resounding yes! And that is the magic of empathy. Empathy is the ability to understand what others are going through.  It brings people together when there may not otherwise be a reason to connect. Empathy is a skill that mothers develop instinctively, and as you consider returning to paid work, it is also a value that is highly marketable as a candidate.

Empathy In Motherhood

In a recent article from mother.ly, one mom took to social media to share about her sleep woes with her four-year-old son. She noticed that those who did not have kids weren’t as empathetic as those who had kids. They withheld the heart emojis and instead responded with things like, “Sleep is overrated” or “you’ll miss this age one day.” Not incredibly helpful in the sleep-deprived moment. Instead of feeling heard and understood, she feels regret for sharing her true feelings.

Even so, her ultimate conclusion is this:

“Becoming a mom has made me even more empathetic to others and made me want to help those around me—even if I don’t personally get what they’re going through. I don’t go around doling out advice left and right, but I certainly listen when a fellow mom is sharing a struggle. And I try to give advice when I think I can help. (Sometimes just sharing your own story when asked is a great way to offer validation to another parent!)”

Empathy In The Workplace

Here’s a workplace equivalent example: you come into the office and notice that one of your coworkers seems distracted and not “on her game” like she usually is. She’s making mistakes that she normally wouldn’t let slip past her. Instead of bubbling with frustration and harboring a “she needs to pull herself together” attitude, you discretely inquire about what might be bothering her. You find out that she has a lot of heavy, personal things going on at home: behavior issues with her kids and her dad’s health is failing. It’s easy for you to understand where she is coming from. You offer to listen as she gets things off her chest and lend a hand with some of her tasks that day to help her overwhelmed mind. The 15 minutes and simple, empathetic gesture turned her day around.

Empathy As A Leadership Skill

“…giving time and attention to others fosters empathy, which in turn, enhances your performance and improves your perceived effectiveness. 

• Empathy in the Workplace: A Tool For Effective Leadership White Paper from Center for Creative Leadership

People that lack empathy can be difficult to work with, and even more difficult to follow if they are in a leadership role. Empathy grounds you and provides you with the ability to connect with others in a way that inspires, motivates, and lifts them up out of the rut they may be stuck in. A critical part of leadership in any organization is the ability to build and maintain relationships, a skill deeply rooted in empathy.

How To Position Empathy In A Job Interview

So how do you market this mom transferable skill in a job interview or in a cover letter? Here are 3 tips to frame empathy in a way that catches a potential employer’s eye:

You are an active listener. In order to understand how someone is feeling, you have to be willing and practice listening. As an empathetic leader, you are always on the lookout for red flags that may alert you to something being “off.” You know how to respectfully inquire and support others without judgment or condescension. And once people start talking, you actively listen, which quickly builds trust and connection with the other person.

You can foster a multi-perspective community. Not everyone has the same experiences and challenges. But everyone can relate to one another in their own unique way through empathy. You demonstrate how to practice empathy in practical ways by acknowledging the feelings, experiences, and viewpoints of others, even if they aren’t the same as yours. This walk-the-walk attitude is a powerful way to build a team that starts to mimic the same behavior. 

You can cultivate compassion. We’ve all heard the old adage, “It’s a dog eat dog world out there.” It’s time to change that, and you are willing to do your part to make a difference. Showing compassion for others on the team instead of encouraging intense, unhealthy competition sets the stage for higher employee satisfaction, improved workplace productivity and collaboration, and overall better work environment.

OTHER MOM TRANSFERABLE SKILLS

Empathy is just one of many transferable mom skills. When preparing your resume, cover letter, and interview talking points, consider other mom skills, such as relationship building, research and problem solving, adaptability and agility, strategic thinking, communication, motivation, and organization. For even more mom skills that transfer to the workplace, click here.

Transferable Mom Skill: Motivation

If you have ever tried to convince a toddler to put on a coat or pick up a room full of toys, you know the power of tapping into what motivates people. With each child, you quickly learn that what motivates one person may have little effect on another, and you adapt your methods accordingly. As a mom, you become adept at motivating different personalities and temperaments in order to achieve desired outcomes, responses, and behaviors.

Those motivational skills come in handy at home, but have you ever thought about how you can use them in the workplace? Being able to successfully motivate others fosters productivity, increases performance output, and boosts morale. It is not surprising, then, that it is a valuable skill employers look for in potential employees. If you are considering a return to paid work, be sure to highlight your motivational skills in your resume, cover letter, and interviews. Follow the talking points below to show how the motivational skills you’ve honed as a mom transfer to the workplace.

How to Transfer Your Mom Motivational Skills Into the Workplace

As a mom, you know how to motivate your family - you do it every day! That ability to guide and inspire your family is useful at home, but it is also valuable in the workplace. Here are a few ways you can position the motivational skills you’ve developed as a mom into a must-have asset for potential employers.

You know how to provide vision and purpose to your “team”.

As captain of the ship at home, you set the course for your family. You know how to clearly communicate what you are working towards, as well as what each member needs to do to achieve family goals. For example, you might share how household responsibilities contribute to a smoothly running home, or what needs to be done to prepare for a vacation. In the workplace, this ability to communicate goals and cast vision gets everyone on the same page, unifies them in a common purpose, and motivates them to work hard to achieve those objectives. 

You are experienced at fostering teamwork.

Whether it’s cleaning the house for company, taking family pictures (a true test of cooperation), or building a loving family environment, you know how to rally the troops and encourage everyone to work together. Teamwork is essential for strong family bonds, and you are experienced at cultivating common purpose, accountability, appreciation of differences, and mutual trust and respect. In the workplace, the ability you’ve developed as a mom for bringing together diverse personalities and viewpoints to achieve a common goal will help you engage your coworkers and encourage them to work together to carry out team objectives.

Your high emotional intelligence will build trust and positive relationships.

Your toddler’s tantrums or teenager’s mood swings may have stretched your limits, but they also developed your emotional intelligence. As a mom, you’ve learned how to manage your emotions and maintain your composure, even in the face of meltdowns and outbursts. You also know how to empathize with your kids when they’re upset and connect with them at a deep, individual level. These abilities to regulate your emotions and build strong, positive relationships not only help you motivate your kids at home, they will also help you motivate adults in the workplace. As an emotionally intelligent leader at work, you will make your coworkers feel valued, inspire their trust, and influence their performance.

You will encourage and empower your team.

Mom life is full of teaching new skills, and you’ve spent years empowering and inspiring your kids as they grow and develop. You’ve learned when to be hands-off and when to give guidance, when and how to praise and correct, and how to build confidence in their abilities. You know how to nurture each child’s skills for productive purposes, and in the workplace, this ability to encourage and empower will produce a team that is highly motivated to perform at their very best.

You are experienced in tailoring motivational methods to unique personalities.

If you have multiple children, you have seen how different individuals can have widely different motivators. Where one child may be highly motivated by praise, another may be more motivated by new responsibilities. After a few years of parenting, you have become well-versed in various motivational methods, and you know how to apply them to your children. This ability to tailor motivation strategies to unique personalities will be a valuable asset to future employers as you bring out the best in every person on your team.

Other Mom Transferable Skills

Motivational skills are one example of transferable mom skills, but there are many others! When preparing your resume, cover letter, and interview talking points, consider your other mom skills, such as research and problem solving, adaptability and agility, strategic thinking, communication, and organization. For even more mom skills that transfer to the workplace, click here.

And if you need a little extra motivation in your job search, then join us for THRIVE! Learn more about how this program can help you as you return to paid work below.

A Solution For Returning to Paid Work: THRIVE

Get the help and support you need to return to paid work with THRIVE group coaching!

THRIVE is a supportive community of like minded returners going through the same thing you are, returning to work after a career pause. THRIVE connects you with other talented, paused parents as you explore career choices, define your strengths, learn how to leverage your skills, and get excited for this next chapter in your life.

Join us for this 3 month return to work program in the fall of 2021! Let THRIVE be the catalyst for you to move towards what’s next.

Dates: Wednesdays October 6, 13, 20, 27, November 3, 10, 17, December 1 & 8

Time: 9am PT/ 10am MT/ 11am CT/ 12pm ET

Location: this THRIVE will be online through Zoom so you can join from anywhere!

Join THRIVE Online today!

Mom Transferable Skills Prepping You For The Workplace

Many mothers who have taken a career pause have fears that they have become “rusty” when it comes to the professional world. Some skills are out-of-date, they now have an experience gap in their resume, and they have no idea what employers are looking for these days. The world changes fast, and it’s terrifying to jump back into the fast-paced rhythm of working professionals.

Whether you realize it or not, you’ve been training to get back to work throughout your career break. While these fears are understandable, it’s time for a mind-set shift. Let go of fear and embrace all that motherhood has taught you. There are dozens of skills that are transferable to the workplace, many of which may surprise you. 

Below you’ll find a list of ten transferable skills that most moms develop during a career pause. This list is not comprehensive, but will give you an idea of the amazing ways mothers can break into the workplace without missing a beat.  

10 Skills Motherhood Taught You That Transfer To The Workplace

1) Motivating employees - If you have ever tried to get a toddler (or teenager, for that matter) out of the house on a cold day, then you know that tapping into what motivates individuals can go a long way. Part of what motivates adults in the workplace is having trust through relationships with colleagues and managers. You’ve done that with your children and can use that success in the workplace. With trust and a mutually-respectful relationship, you’ll know how to motivate even the most challenging of people to do their best work.

2) Empathy - Science shows that when mothers are pregnant, our brains and social cognition changes to help develop and nurture our babies. In an article by Annie Brown about the study, she says, "it also prepares a mind, a brain for motherhood, and … these empathy and social cognition brain regions [in mothers to-be] became fine-tuned to be able to respond to their babies emotionally and to be able to understand and pick up their babies' social cues, which of course is what we need, we need parents to be able to do, to respond to their babies."  How cool is that! Our brain rewires to make us more receptive to developing skills for empathy during pregnancy! And as most mothers can attest, from the time our children are babies, we get lots of opportunities to practice empathy and hone this skill. Many parenting books talk about letting your child know that she is seen and heard. This message is as applicable to a frustrated toddler as it is to an overstressed colleague. Empathy is a highly sought after skill and makes stronger team players and leaders.

3) Budgeting - If you manage your household’s budget, you can confidently boast budgeting skills on your resume and in an interview. Knowing how to allocate the necessary funds to certain buckets of needs, without going over budget, is critical in the workplace. 

4) Strategic thinking - You can’t really be a mom without developing strategic thinking skills. Planning ahead regarding schedules, potential problems you need to prepare for, and keeping everyone from being at each other’s throats during hectic seasons are a benefit in many situations. If you’ve taken a road trip with the family recently, that alone probably provides enough evidence of your strategic thinking skills.

5) Research and problem solving - Remember all those times when you were up late reading up on parenting techniques, food and diet options for your little ones, extracurricular activities, and all the different school choices? You showed dedication to researching the best options and finding the best solution. Many jobs need this skill, and many employers have a hard time finding someone who can demonstrate this well. Share your motivation to uncovering solutions with a potential employer and you’ll be one step closer to landing the job. 

6) Saying no - Even the biggest people pleasers say ‘no’ to their children for the sake of their safety and health. Saying ‘no’ to a toddler who wants to eat candy will set them up to have good eating habits in the future. In the same way, saying ‘no’ in a diplomatic way to something that will be worse in the long run for a company is important for a manager to be able to do for the health of the business. Knowing when it’s OK to say no, and how to say it, will take you far in life, but also in your career. You can frame this skill as being confident in your role and knowing how to have the tough conversations.

7) Working with a team - If your children are school-age, chances are you have been involved in some sort of PTA, or school/community committee. This is an amazing experience for the workplace as it strongly demonstrates your ability to work well with a team. Did you help recruit volunteers for events, manage sign ups, or do event planning? Whatever experience you have in this area is easily transferable to the world of paid work– stick it on your resume! 

8) Fundraising - One of my clients does a flower sale through their kids’ school every fall and spring, and guess who is the one leading the fundraising effort for our family? Her! Even though her kids help, she is the one that leads the charge and uses her networking skills to find success with the flower sales. This is small scale compared to what many employers require in a professional position, but if you can demonstrate the skills it takes to fundraise: networking, building connections through relationships, and mining repeat and referral business, you’ll be high on the list of potential candidates. 

9) Coaching - Coaching is hard. When your child is struggling in the classroom or in sports, it’s your job as mom to coach them through it. What’s the issue? How does your child feel about what’s happening? What solutions can your child come up with to overcome the issue? What support is needed for success? Coaching adults isn’t much different than coaching kids, so it’s an easily transferable skill for moms to take to the workplace.  

10) Managing several projects at one time - Moms are the queens of managing multiple schedules and thinking ahead to make sure everyone is where (and when) they need to be. Not to mention the hard work of coming up to solutions for conflicting schedules. I had a return to work candidate tell me that the work that she did in her MBA logistics and operations class translated very nicely to the work that she did at home in that she mastered managing several projects/tasks at one time. This is project management 101 and a highly sought after skill in the workplace. 

This is just the tip of the iceberg for all of the transferable skills that moms can bring the workplace. Take some time today to think through the specific skills you’ve been developing while at home with your children. Don’t shy away from your skills. Embrace them and be proud of what you’ve accomplished.

If you’d like support during your transition to returning to work, Parents Pivot is here to help! Learn more about the resources available to you.