Comeback Coach

Ask me a Q

Hello Bright Minds, this episode is for anyone who is currently grappling with a drop in motivation at work or a loss of drive to push forward in your career after a break from work – a break that has shifted your identity in some way. I want to let you know that it’s normal. And that your drive is still there. It’s just staying quiet for a while – and that accepting it will take time for that mojo to resurface is the kindest thing you can do for yourself.

I’m Jessica Chivers, a chartered coaching psychologist, author of “Mothers Work!” and executive coach who is on a mission to get more mothers into top jobs. I’m so pleased you’re here and listening to this JESSICA episode of COMEBACK COACH. These solo episodes are where I get into the psychology of something I think could be of value to the Bright Minds I coach and they’re in service of fuelling their careers. 

If listening sparks a question or you’d like to say hello and tell me how the episode has moved you, you can DM me on Instagram using the handle @comebackcommuk or e-mail [email protected]. 

Resources flagged in the episode:

• My book, Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work (Hay House, 2011).
• How to settle quickly when promoted into a new peer group: https://www.talentkeepers.co.uk/newpeergroup/
• Strengths Profile that we use with coachees returning to work from a break: https://www.strengthsprofile.com/
• Comeback Community employee experience programme: https://www.talentkeepers.co.uk/comeback-community/
• Log-in to Comeback Community for our coachees: https://comebackcommunity.co.uk/
• Executive coaching for pivotal career moments: https://www.talentkeepers.co.uk/executive-coaching/

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Get Jessica's FREE fortnightly note, Pivotal.
• Watch our coaching Success Stories. 
• Take our new FREE Career Fuel diagnostic - and get a personalised free report.
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Contact us about executive coaching.

Ask me a Q

Hello Bright Minds, my chat with Suzy was deeply engaging for me as a fellow psychologist – and therapeutic at times - and I think it’s a great big, warm, virtual hug for anyone who is wrung out from taking care of children, partners, direct reports and all the other people who you give to in your life. 

We talk about themes connected to Suzy’s latest book, How to be selfish, which is about vocalising your needs and your wishes and tending to yourself. You can get more of Suzy on Instagram @suzyreading.

I hope you take some learning from it.

• Register interest in joining the next Raising & Rising career leadership retreat for mothers in senior roles. 
• Free Career Fuel diagnostic tool and report.

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Get Jessica's FREE fortnightly note, Pivotal.
• Watch our coaching Success Stories. 
• Take our new FREE Career Fuel diagnostic - and get a personalised free report.
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Contact us about executive coaching.

Ask me a Q

Hello Bright Minds, this is an episode written from the heart on my 47th birthday about audacity being a behavioural muscle we can develop in service of fuelling our careers and getting more women into top jobs. I'm Jessica Chivers, a chartered coaching psychologist, executive coach and author of "Mothers Work!"

** TELL ME ABOUT YOUR AUDACIOUS ACTS & ASKS AT WORK - link to Google form or copy and paste: https://forms.gle/aUjrEiTAxbQtHzzm6  ** 

• Register interest in joining the next Raising & Rising career leadership retreat for mothers in senior roles. 
• LinkedIn State of Women in Leadership report 2026
• The Village by Stylist.

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Get Jessica's FREE fortnightly note, Pivotal.
• Watch our coaching Success Stories. 
• Take our new FREE Career Fuel diagnostic - and get a personalised free report.
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Contact us about executive coaching.

Ask me a Q

My guest today is Microsoft’s AI Workforce Lead for Government who recently returned to the business after her second maternity leave. Rakhi Sachdeva moved from India to the UK in 2015 and she’s risen in one of the world largest technology companies without a traditional tech background. 

Rahki is a wonderful example of the power of not waiting until you feel fully ready before you put yourself forward for opportunities at work - and on that note, if you are a mother in a senior role who is feeling stuck or torn about whether or when to push for the next significant step up I would love you to be part of the second Raising & Rising cohort in London in October. It’s a very special one day leadership career retreat for 12 women with me and parenting expert and author Anita Cleare and you can find out more at www.talentkeepers.co.uk/rising. 

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Get Jessica's FREE fortnightly note, Pivotal.
• Watch our coaching Success Stories. 
• Take our new FREE Career Fuel diagnostic - and get a personalised free report.
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Contact us about executive coaching.

Ask me a Q

Hello Bright Minds and welcome to the first episode of season 10 of COMEBACK COACH with the author of the brand new book, People Glue: Hold onto your best people by setting them free. If you have ever craved more freedom at work, if you are a business leader worried about losing your best people or if you are a Chief People Officer tasked with generating a new talent attraction and retention strategy, this is for you. As a coaching psychologist who works with employers to help them keep and fuel their most talented people at pivotal career moments I found Helen’s book fascinating. And as a person who’s highest value is freedom, I lapped this up.

Links to things we talked about

Retaining talent diagnostic for HR

Helen’s people manager development list

Helen’s Freedom Index

Sigal Barsade and companionate love at work

People Glue by Helen Beedham

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Get Jessica's FREE fortnightly note, Pivotal.
• Watch our coaching Success Stories. 
• Take our new FREE Career Fuel diagnostic - and get a personalised free report.
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Contact us about executive coaching.

Ask me a Q

Hello Bright Minds, this is the third of three bonus episodes of season nine where I’m lifting the lid on what the people I and my colleagues coach, actually get from coaching. I’m Jessica Chivers, a chartered coaching psychologist and executive coach of 20 years. 

I’m the founder of a boutique coaching business called The Talent Keeper Specialists, and this year we turned 13 and completely refreshed our website. We added a new page called Success Stories where you can watch short films of real coachees honestly reflecting on their experiences of executive coaching. 

You’re about to hear from three women in the world of asset management; Meena Santhosh, Selina Tyler and Karina Langan. I first worked with Meena when she was at BlackRock and we’ve had three coaching engagements – one after each of her three maternity leaves and she’s now at Robeco. And then you’ll hear from Selina Tyler who’s had fantastic career progression since we first worked together when she was at Federated Hermes. She’s now the Head of UK at Jupiter Asset Management. 

Both Meena and Selina had their coaching paid for by their employers and you can watch more success stories and read about the five professionals we coach at www.talentkeepers.co.uk. 

The third person you’ll hear from is Karina Lanagan, who is the Head of HR at TT International, another asset management client of The Talent Keeper Specialists. Karina talks about the power of comeback coaching from an employer perspective and the positive ripple on line managers.

I hope it’s a useful listen and as ever, if you have questions or comments you can e-mail me [email protected] or DM on Instagram using the handle @comebackcommuk. 

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Get Jessica's FREE fortnightly note, Pivotal.
• Watch our coaching Success Stories. 
• Take our new FREE Career Fuel diagnostic - and get a personalised free report.
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Contact us about executive coaching.

Ask me a Q

Hello Bright Minds, this is the second of three bonus episodes of season nine where I’m lifting the lid on what people really get from coaching. If you’ve listened to any COACH episode of the podcast you’ve heard coaching in action. Now’s the time to hear the impact and the positive ripple effects of coaching.  

Please enjoy the reflections of Laura Scougall, the Head of ITV Academy who was also my guest on episode 94 where we talked about redundancy risk on maternity leave, being open at work about the demands at home, having an autistic son and how to get back to sleep. 

After Laura you’ll hear from Kirsty Duncan, ITV’s Head of Learning, Development and Wellbeing with whom I’ve had the pleasure of working for 8 years. 

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Get Jessica's FREE fortnightly note, Pivotal.
• Watch our coaching Success Stories. 
• Take our new FREE Career Fuel diagnostic - and get a personalised free report.
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Contact us about executive coaching.

Ask me a Q

Hello Bright Minds, on a whim at the end of the final episode of season nine with Jeremy Bradbury from ITV (episode 117) I wondered aloud about doing a few bonus episodes about what people really get from coaching. This was inspired by the conversations I’ve had recently with a series of past coachees for a 'Success Story’ page on our new website. Listener Suzy heard that and voicenoted me on Instagram saying “yes please”. So here we are.

Sincere thanks once again to Little Dish for sponsoring the whole of season nine.

Now please enjoy my chat with Jessica Duncombe, an intellectual property lawyer from Kilburn & Strode and there are more executive coaching success stories at www.talentkeepers.co.uk.

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Get Jessica's FREE fortnightly note, Pivotal.
• Watch our coaching Success Stories. 
• Take our new FREE Career Fuel diagnostic - and get a personalised free report.
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Contact us about executive coaching.

Ask me a Q

Hello Bright Minds, my guest today loves his job and is incredibly appreciative of the support he received from his employer, ITV, when illness came out of nowhere. This year Jeremy Bradbury had two months away from work with ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and took around four months to phase back to full time. ITV has been a client of The Talent Keeper Specialists for eight years and I had the pleasure of working with Jeremy in a coaching capacity as he transitioned back to work.

For new listeners, my colleagues and I work with professionals at pivotal career moments, including returning to work after a break. Our Comeback Community™ employee experience programme is designed to keep employees feeling confident, connected and cared for before, during and after leave - and we work with line managers as well as the people taking leave.  It’s about maintaining employee engagement, shrinking the time it takes to feel comfortable and fuelling ongoing sustainable performance and progression. Have a look at our newly revamped website to find out more: www.talentkeepers.co.uk.

This episode and the whole of season nine is generously sponsored by Little Dish. The home of happy, healthy mealtimes for kids.

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Get Jessica's FREE fortnightly note, Pivotal.
• Watch our coaching Success Stories. 
• Take our new FREE Career Fuel diagnostic - and get a personalised free report.
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Contact us about executive coaching.

Ask me a Q

Hello Bright Minds,

I am worried about what's happening to mothers in UK Plc. In February I am hosting the first Raising & Rising retreat with my colleague Anita Cleare. It’s a small, intimate gathering of 8-12 mothers (of children 0-18) in senior roles to give them space, tools and encouragement to explore what they want next in their careers. These women are the ‘talent pipeline’ to become Partners, Managing Partner, Heads of Department and Board members – some sooner, some later. They are the women their organisations want to keep and rise.

Our expectation is that employers will sponsor your place and that you will not self-fund. I

This episode is the story of why it's taken me 14 years to create Raising & Rising and the statistics about the difficulties mother face in raising their careers compared to fathers and childfree men.

Here's the link to watch the replay of the HR webinar I mention in the episode, "What's Stopping Women Stepping Up" plus more stats about the load mothers are carrying at work compared to fathers and childfree men.

Best wishes,

Jessica

MORE FOR YOU

• DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk
• Get Jessica's FREE fortnightly note, Pivotal.
• Watch our coaching Success Stories. 
• Take our new FREE Career Fuel diagnostic - and get a personalised free report.
• Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers.
• Contact us about executive coaching.