Comeback Coach

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Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Phil Bush, a Credit Control Manager for Euromonitor International in London where he’s worked for 17 years. He responsible for managing a department that collects unpaid debt for the business and minimises financial risk to the company. He lives in Brighton with his partner Jo and their 15 month old daughter Sadie. He’s a runner who has been very keen to do the London marathon and finally this year got to do it after applying and being unsuccessful for the previous 8 years. He’s also a community-minded man who volunteers for the charity Fairshare.

We talk about:

• Why he took a sabbatical not Shared Parental Leave.
• How he supported his partner's return to work (to a new job).
• The difference having a supportive partner makes to a woman's return from maternity leave.
• Coping with hospitalised baby.
• What a 'supportive' employer looked like for Phil.
• Volunteering whilst on sabbatical.
• Feeling strange separating from family to go back to work after intense months together.
• Finding a new normal as a family.
• Deciding to have counselling to deal with the shock of an ill child.

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.

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Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Gemma Hill, a Heart FM radio presenter whose maternity leave was covered by non other than the formidable Anna Whitehouse AKA Mother Pukka but even still she says, maternity leave was still pretty terrifying. 

We talk about:

• Not being instantly delighted that you're pregnant
• 3am worries about going on maternity leave
• Having a bl**dy brilliant maternity leave cover
• Miscarriage
• How staying in touch with work can reduce anxiety about going back

Gemma started on air age 20 on stations around the Midlands and the North, before hanging up her headphones to pursue what she calls “a real job.” She was a national sales manager for a construction company for 6 years living in London with a stable job, a pension, maternity pay, but binned it off to chase the dream again when she was offered a job in Birmingham on the Free radio Breakfast show (for which she did her demo in Pat Sharp’s towel cupboard.) After a couple of years she made her move to Heart, where she did the breakfast show across the west midlands for 3 years before moving to Drive. That’s where she is today and where she was when she found she was having a (surprise) of a lock down baby. 

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.

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My guest today is Andy Lancaster who took three months leave for planned eye and shoulder surgery from a job he loves at CIPD Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. We count CIPD among our clients and love working with them.

Andy champions and leads the vision for innovative workplace learning and has been at the heart of CIPD's transformation to digital and self-directed learning, with its professional development opportunities now accessed in over 180 countries. 

He has more than 30 years’ experience in learning and organizational development in a range of sectors and has a research Masters' degree in instructional design. He regularly speaks at conferences, writes, and contributes to research in evidence-based learning. His award-winning book “Driving Performance Through Learning” is published by Kogan Page and he is currently working on a new book on social collaborative learning called: “Organizational Learning Communities” which is due out in 2024.

In this episode:

• How to prepare for leave as a leader of a big team.
• Why being vulnerable is good for us and the people we lead.
• Coping with brain fog and pain management.
• Three aspects of returning to work: the physical, the mental and the social.
• The unexpected good that can come out of sick leave.
• Why we shouldn’t rush to pick up exactly the same job we had before we went on leave.
• The difference between being resilient and being a hero (and why none of us should be heros).

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.

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Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Kerry Hickman, a past coachee of ours at Ramboll. Since qualifying as an Accountant at 21, she’s had a very broad commercial career in Accountancy, Audit and Financial Management before landing in roles that manage Sales & Customer Insight.  She’s travelled across sectors including consultancy, media, FMCG, currency and public sector, and worked both in the UK and internationally.  

We talk about:

• Being made redundant when you've just come back from maternity leave.
• Working with a career coach - why, what, how?
• Using LinkedIn to find openings. opportunities, learn and expand your network.
• How to set about landing a quality PT role.

Live Q&A tickets mentioned in the episode for 31/10/23: HOW TO HOLD YOUR BOUNDARIES AND WHAT IS A GOOD ENOUGH PARENT?

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.

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Hello Bright Minds, today you’re going to eavesdrop on a one-time coaching conversation with "Zara" (not her real name) and get some expert tips on making a career change from Natasha Stanley at Careershifters. I said I'd include a link to the 8 week Career Change Launchpad experience that I talked about with Natasha that 3000 people have been through over the last 10 years.

My guest coachee today used to be a diplomat and we’re talking at a point when Zara has applied for roles that she’s overqualified for and although she’s been invited to interview she hasn’t secured the job. After her last interview she was told they were not convinced she would settle and were concerned that she would leave because of the nature of the work and the income.


EPISODE MARKERS

• 2:32 Coaching conversation with Zara.
  
  
• 38:50 How to make a career change with Natasha Stanley, Head Coach & experience designer at Careershifters.org.
  
  
• 51:51 Three summarising tips for making a career change.
  
  
• 54:04 Tips for people who have been on a career break and want to change careers.
  
  
• 56:28 Zara's update one month on from our coaching session.

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.

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Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is Cecily Motley, an accomplished entrepreneur with a proven track record of growing companies and brand building in competitive markets. She is the founder of JustParent, a new company working to close the gender pay gap by helping small companies offer more paid parental leave.

Previously, Cecily co-founded Motley London, a VC backed, direct-to-consumer brand making world class design affordable. Whilst she was there she was both the pregnant employee and the CEO trying to put good parental leave provision in place. Which led her to her next venture. She lives in London with her husband and two year old son.

You’re going to hear about:

• Putting yourself under stress at work before you give birth
• Worrying about what people will think of your commitment as you become a parent
• What it’s like to be a venture capital backed entrepreneur
• Why it’s good to define your leave period and stick to it 
• Not finding your tribe on maternity leave
• The positive power of a partner who takes shared parental leave
• What Cecily hopes her new venture, JustParent, will do for the take-up of Shared Parental Leave among men who work in SMEs
• And as always the wobbliest moment and peak moment of my guest’s return to work experience.

REFERENCES FLAGGED IN THE EPISODE

• If employers really want to increase the uptake of men taking Shared Parental Leave, here’s how: https://www.talentkeepers.co.uk/employers-fathers-taking-spl/
• The single best thing you can do for mothers in your organisation right now: https://www.talentkeepers.co.uk/the-single-best-thing-you-can-do-for-mothers-in-your-organisation-right-now/ 
• What do business leaders think about SPL: https://www.talentkeepers.co.uk/business-leaders-shared-parental-leave/
• Expectant fathers at work: https://www.talentkeepers.co.uk/breakingthebias-iwd2022/

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.

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Hello Bright Minds, my guest today is an HR leader who recently returned to a new job in a new organisation after being bereaved. Having met at university Helen Rowell and her husband Mike married in 2015 and went on to have a son together, Alfie, who at the time of recording is five. 

In March 2022 Mike was killed in a skiing accident, leaving Helen to raise Alfie alone. One of the many decisions she needed to make was how to approach her career. Up until that point she had worked full time for a global bank, progressing to Director level at the age of 33. After a period of leave Helen has now returned to work having made some radical changes.

You’re going to hear about:

• Choosing the attitude that’s going to help you the most.
• Remembering who you were before the bereavement.
• How employers can support bereaved colleagues including the importance of a bereavement policy.
• Signs you’re ready to start thinking about returning to work.
• Deciding to start a new job, in a new organisation.
• The difference a brilliant line manager makes to your self esteem.
• The joy and purpose Helen found in setting up a charity, Brightest Star and why she started The Widowhood podcast with Rosie, another young widow.

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.

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Hello Bright Minds and welcome to an impromptu and somewhat experimental "Just Jessica" episode of COMEBACK COACH, the podcast for people returning to work after a break. I’m Jessica Chivers, a coaching psychologist, author, founder of The Talent Keeper Specialists and developer of the Comeback Community employee experience of which this podcast is a part.

I started to write this fortnight’s edition of Caremail – that’s our newsletter for people returning to work and looking for support for that transition and career development beyond their break – about the happiness and opportunity that can be found in rejection and thought: I wonder if I might turn this into an episode of the podcast. So here I am experimenting! If you listen all the way through and like it please let me know and maybe I’ll do some more. If you’re on Instagram an easy way to tell me what you think is via a DM and you’ll find me @comebackcommuk.

3 SELF-REFLECTION QUESTIONS FOR YOU

1. What are you repeatedly asking yourself to do that is draining for you?
2. What piece of self-knowledge are you repeatedly ignoring?
3. Where would your time be better spent?

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 is Divya Manek, a senior portfolio manager at BlackRock and a mother of two beautiful girls who I had the complete pleasure of coaching when she returned to work two summers ago. Day to day Divya’s work involves being close to market developments, being close to clients and what they want and making sure client money is managed in the best way possible. She manages 5 people directly and 6 indirectly and she cares hugely about supporting the people around her. And she works extremely hard, you might think too hard when you listen to this. 

 We talk about:

• Doing maternity leave your own way – and not comparing yourself to what others are doing.
• Studying for a qualification on maternity leave
• Having an incessant hunger to achieve
• What it’s like to ask for and receive family support on maternity leave
• The mindset to employ when a colleague says something hurtful
• Divya’s tips for making your comeback.

Here's the link to the Live Q&A with Dr Mandy Lehto on taming your overachiever gremlin and spotting the signs of burnout (26/9/23 8pm BST) that I mentioned during this episode. Complimentary tickets available via this link.

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,

Chantelle Angel started her career as a Montessori teacher before going onto work for a children’s disability charity where she became pregnant with her first child. That baby is now 3 ½ and she has another son who is 17 months. Chantelle is now a qualified paediatric sleep consultant and founder of  Dreaming Angels,  working with a range of parents, mainly in the UK, although she’s reached as far as Singapore and the US.

You’re going to hear about:

• Common baby sleep issues and what you can do about them
• Chantelle’s transformative experience of being helped by a sleep consultant
• The science behind why babies who are cuddled off to sleep are more prone to waking and crying later in the night
• Top tips for settling babies
• And as always the wobbliest moment and peak moment of my guest’s return to work experience.

Here's the link to the Live Q&A with Dr Mandy Lehto on taming your overachiever gremlin and spotting the signs of burnout (26/9/23 8pm BST) that I mentioned during this episode. Complimentary tickets available via this link.

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.