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
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“Balance feels like that
impossible dream.”
MARLENE THOMAS
ICF-CERTIFIED COACH, WASHINGTON, D.C.

family for a job and worried about staying
connected with his family as his daughter
looked for colleges. Another executive was
raising a 4-year-old as her husband worked
overseas for six months of the year. For
large stretches, her life consisted of work-
ing and overseeing their household. She
too wanted balance.

“It feels diffi cult when you’re trying
to do it on your own,” Thomas says, add-
ing that coaching is not therapy but an
opportunity to get clients to focus on
their values and priorities.

Parents “can have it all,” she says,
“[but] we sometimes don’t take the time
to stop and think about what we want.”
New trend
Professional coaching is now an annual
$2.35 billion industry globally with more
than 50,000 coaches worldwide, accord-
ing to the International Coach Federation.

While baby boomers make up a large
part of the clientele, women are showing
a growing interest in using coaching as a
more personalized way to seek career and
life advice.

Janet Branch, CEO of a Mary-
land-based behavioral health fi rm and the
mother of a grown child, sought the help
of a professional coach more than a year
ago so she could better organize all that
she was juggling at her job. “This sounds
kind of corny, but in certain positions,
you really do feel alone,” she says. Her
coach held her accountable in a way that
her employees could not, which made for
a “trusting place to make mistakes, and a
great experience.”
“One of the biggest things I learned is
that I was human,” she says.

Karol Kain Gray, senior vice president
for fi nance and budget at Virginia Com-
monwealth University, fi rst encountered
coaching years ago while working at the
University of North Carolina in Chapel
Hill. Her perception then — and one that
she believes many continue to hold — was
that professional coaches were brought
in when there was a problem at the work-
place. But Kain Gray says coaching is
really about professional development.

In fact, it’s a perfect way for companies
and workers to advance themselves.

“I think the one-on-one of coaching is
much more conducive for people to share
the issues they have on the job,” she says.

“It’s much more intimate.”
Like Thomas, with whom she has
worked, Kain Gray cautions that coaching
is not therapy, “It’s a reset. It’s a redirec-
tion,” she says. “In some cases, it could be
an upgrade.”
For example, one of her workers was
“miserable on the job.” Kain Gray sent
her to a coach who helped the employee
focus on her skills and goals. The
employee ultimately found a diff erent
job, one in which he was more productive
and happier.

“I think everyone needs a coach,”
she says. ■
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