You Can
Do It!
Working parents turn
to coaching for support
BY JESSICA GREGG
Work-life balance: It’s one of the most
commonly used terms among today’s
working parents, as in how exactly do
we achieve that work-life balance?
Janet Ladd, a Maryland-based profes-
sional coach with Life Meets Work, a
Talking Talent Company, doesn’t have
much use for this on-trend catchphrase.

“The term itself diminishes our ability to
achieve it,” she says. “It implies there is a
magic ratio, but in reality, one area of our
lives bleeds into other areas of our lives.”
In a world made more “frenzied” by
technology and multiple responsibilities,
many parents find themselves at work
and thinking about home life, she says, or
at home and working their mind through
job problems.

Instead, parents might want to try a
different mindset: “I am a good parent.

How does my work fit into that?”
“There is an awful lot to figure out,”
says Ladd, who works with women lead-
ers, workers transitioning to and from
maternity or paternity leave and other
“high achievers.”
She spent many years working as a
consultant before a cancer diagnosis was
her career “wake-up call.” She quit her
job, enrolled in a program to become a
professional coach and became accred-
ited through the Kentucky-based
International Coach Federation. Now
she works with clients throughout
the East Coast.

Coaching differs from consulting as it
allows her to work individually with cli-
ents rather than a whole company and,
in general, with clients who are open to
change. Her job, as she sees it, is to “hold
the space” for clients as they embark on
that change.

Working parents can work toward
more “work-life fulfillment,” her
preferred term, by starting with a sim-
ple question: What does life look like on
your best days? Parents then need to set
realistic expectations for each week and
prioritize, she says.

One of her clients, an attorney, fol-
lowed this practice and stopped work
30 minutes before she left for the day to
allow for time to reflect on what had been
accomplished and to plan for the next
day. This preparation gave her the peace
of mind she needed before she clocked
out and readied her for the parenting that
waited at home.

Balance is indeed what today’s work-
ing parents crave, says Marlene Thomas,
an ICF-certified coach who works in the
D.C. area. “Balance feels like that impos-
sible dream,” she admits. “A lot of people
are in these high-demand jobs that look
perfect to the outside world, but they are
not fulfilled.”
Her clients have included an executive
who had moved hours away from his
GETTY IMAGES PLUS/E+/ FATCAMERA
38 WashingtonFAMILY
SEPTEMBER 2019