Many women consider maternity leave as a vacation, a period when they can relax and devote time to their family. Others, on the other hand, find it very difficult to “fall out” of their work schedule and can’t wait to get back to work again. Whatever the case may be, returning to work after maternity is not easy. Some moms can’t start interacting with clients for a long time because the music from the child’s favorite cartoon is still playing in their heads. We found out how to regain business communication skills after maternity.

Why maternity leave is not a career break

Maternity leave should not be perceived as a career break. Being at home can teach a woman a lot of useful skills: improve her stress tolerance, develop multitasking, improve time management and learn to resolve conflicts. Isn’t that what raising children or being isolated for long periods of time with your family teaches you? All these qualities will definitely help you in your future career.

And also, being on maternity leave, women spend a lot of time on the Internet, so it is possible during this period to master various digital tools and be aware of all the trends, which will undoubtedly be appreciated by your employer in the future. So, for example, you can learn to create short videos for social networks or master the work of neural networks – these tools are needed in almost any modern sphere of activity.

Still, the main thing that a woman on maternity leave should not lose is her voice and business speech. When raising a child, many moms begin to pussyfoot, they even change their intonation, and this may be inappropriate in a business conversation. In order not to lose these skills, you can do the following in maternity leave:

• more often switch to a professional style of communication: perform various exercises for diction and voice:
• pump up your confidence in public speaking. Even if you become the chairman of the parental committee or call yourself to go to the governor with the question of building a new playground – this is already a great experience that you will be useful in your future career;
• read business literature aloud. This will not only help you not to lose your business communication skills, but will also allow you to spend the time of maternity with the benefit of self-development.

How to train communication

If you have to go to work after your maternity leave in the next year and you are worried that you have lost your business communication skills during this time, then we suggest that you train your communication skills in the following ways:

• attend networking events. If possible, try to go to specialized events in your profession at least six months before you go to work. Don’t be afraid to take initiative and meet new people who may be useful for your future career;
• start blogging. Try starting a blog on social media related to your specialty, tell subscribers about your successes and failures. This will help to smoothly transition back into the business field;
• take small actions that are useful for work. Every day, take small steps that will be useful to you in the future. For example, send a business email or make a useful acquaintance.

Skills that can be developed while on maternity leave

Now let’s list the skills that can be developed in maternity that will be very useful for the realization of your future career.

Communication and the art of negotiation

During maternity, a mom has to negotiate a lot: with doctors, educators, nannies, other moms. Therefore, communication skills will not go anywhere, but it is important to direct them in the right direction before going to work. To do this, the following recommendations will help:

• a few weeks before going to the office, resume communication with colleagues on social networks;
• try to find time to pop into the office for a cup of coffee;
• read company news and industry articles and keep up to date with all the events that have taken place at work during your absence.

Ability to learn

Many moms coming out of maternity leave for work feel that their knowledge and skills are outdated and the world has moved on. So if possible, take short courses on new technologies, attend workshops or relevant training sessions before going into the office. Additional training will help you feel freer to return to your previous position.

Time Management

With the entry into the workplace, the schedule of a young mom will become even more tight than it was during the maternity period. Therefore, we suggest discussing your workload and tasks for the first few weeks with your management in advance, in order to calculate your strengths and plan a rough schedule.

But even this will not distract you from thinking about your child during the first working days. A familiar cartoon tune will be playing in your head, and your hand will be reaching for the phone to ask the teacher if everything is okay. At the same time, you will have to perform work tasks. Therefore, it is recommended to immediately start a Google calendar or a daily planner to record there the important things to do.

By the way, it is very important to make a schedule in such a way that the sleep left at least 7-8 hours, and the food at the same time was useful and timely. Without these components, a woman simply will not have the strength and energy to properly start working after a long break.