Introducing the Executive Mom Reset!

Leanna Laskey McGrath  0:08  

Welcome to the executive coach for moms podcast, where we support women who are attempting to find balance and joy while simultaneously leading people at work and at home. I'm your host, Leanna Laskey McGrath, former tech exec turned full time mom, recovering perfectionist and workaholic and certified executive coach.

Leanna Laskey McGrath  0:34  

Hi everyone. Welcome back to the show, and thank you so much for being here. It is September. Somehow I feel like it was June and July, and then I blinked and it was September. Does anyone else feel this way? Oh my goodness. So it's September, and earlier this week, I did a webinar called Reduce the Mom Guilt: Back to School Edition. If you missed it, I'll have it up on my website as soon as I figure out how to do that, but feel free to reach out to me via email, leanna@coachleanna.com or shoot me a LinkedIn message, and I'll be happy to share it with you if you think it might be something that would be helpful for you. I talked about mom guilt. Why we have it, where it comes from. I talked about the mom guilt cycle, and we brought some awareness to that, and we looked back on the summer and thought about how we could release some of that mom guilt. And I took the participants through some exercises on how to do that, and then we looked forward to the school year and got really clear on what our expectations for the school year, and how are we going to reduce our guilt ahead of time. So working to break the cycle coming up here. 

Leanna Laskey McGrath  1:47  

So it was wonderful session, and I would love to share it with you if you are interested, if that sounds helpful to you, and it was so amazing to hear the feedback from some of the attendees. I just I really love being able to help people, especially women, especially executive moms, and I feel like I was able to do that with this webinar. So I plan to offer more of these free webinars in the future, just to offer more value and help more people. 

Leanna Laskey McGrath  2:13  

Another thing I talked about on that call is I actually unveiled my new program, because I know that a webinar might meet your need at this point, but there might also be a deeper need for kind of more in depth coaching, and for us to work more closely together to identify some of the things that you want to work on. So I was really excited to unveil this. I've actually been doing this program for a while now, but I recently gave it a name and just kind of like wrapped it up with a pretty bow to make it much easier for people to understand what I offer. And of course, I wanted to let you know about it as well, because now that school has started back up and my daughter is in kindergarten, I have a little bit more capacity, and you might also be able to think a little bit more clearly without kids running around and trying to manage camp schedules and childcare coverage and things like that. So hopefully we're all in a place, as we've kind of started to get the school routines down and get back into that rhythm, where we can start to think about what might be helpful for us. 

Leanna Laskey McGrath  3:21  

My goal for my coaching business is really to help support as many women as possible, especially executive moms, and to grow my business with my daughter as she gets more involved in school and activities, then I can help more and more people. So I'm currently enrolling for this program, and I currently have four open spots available. So I wanted to tell you about it in case you might be interested, or maybe you know someone who might be interested, and I would so appreciate if you would share this episode with them. 

Leanna Laskey McGrath  3:49  

The name of the program is the executive mom reset, and it is a six month coaching program. The current format is one on one. I plan to also offer a group format in the future, but right now, we are doing one on one, which is great, because you get much more personalized coaching. Some people ask, Do I have to be an executive, or do I have to be a mom? The answer is, No, it's not a requirement. I know it's in the name, and that is really who I think I'm best set up to help are executive moms. But of course, depending on the size of an organization, you know, you might be a director and have a larger team that you manage than some executives. Really, I am best suited to help leaders. And the reason that I wanted to focus on executive moms is because I noticed in the executive coaching space, I actually had a friend who was going back to work after baby, and she was looking for an executive coach. And most of the executive coaches out there are older men or women who are also older, and I think traditionally, it's been more the case that women would have their children and then build their careers. But I think now for millennials especially, it's much more common, we're seeing it a lot more, where women are building their careers and waiting to have children and then having children while they are at a higher level within the organization. And so I think it's a newer challenge that we have, trying to balance a young child or young children while also leading a large team or an organization. So that's really where I think I can help, because that's something that I have done in my lifetime.

Leanna Laskey McGrath  5:39  

And I just have a much better understanding of the struggles and challenges that come along with trying to juggle that at all. But also, I have clients who are not moms, I have clients who are not executives, and they get a lot of value, and I love working with them as well. 

Leanna Laskey McGrath  5:57  

So you might be curious, kind of what we do inside the program. So I'm going to kind of explain that a little bit. We will have weekly one on one sessions for 45 minutes to an hour where we'll focus on something different each week, you get to set the agenda. So it's what is most pressing for you. We work together to really kind of figure out what are the biggest areas for growth, and what are the areas that maybe you feel pretty good about, and the four areas that I focus on the most, because I find that most of my clients are facing these different areas and challenges. So first is stress management. So that's actually where the reducing the mom guilt comes in, reducing anxiety and kind of just finding ways to better manage stress. I think that we have such high expectations for ourselves that we often just feel like we're failing at everything, because we're trying to do so many things, and we're trying to do everything in 100%, and so what we do is work together, and really the goal there, and one of the things that a lot of my clients experience, is that you are not feeling guilty when you spend time with your kids. You're not feeling like you are letting down work, and also you're able to get all of the work done without feeling guilty that you are not spending time with your kids. So really looking for feeling less guilt anxiety and stress about not giving enough. 

Leanna Laskey McGrath  7:32  

One of my clients actually, after our first session, it was so fun to hear in her second session, she said, I just spent the weekend with my kids, and it was the first time that I didn't have that, like underlying anxiety the whole time about checking in on work and what am I missing at work. So that is one of the areas that we work on, because I think that that is so pervasive, and what I really want my vision for women who are trying to juggle everything and balance both, is that when you're at work, you're at work, and you're not feeling guilty about not doing other parts of your life, and you're able to get your work done really well, and when you're with your kids and your family, you love that time, and you're able to be present, and you aren't feeling like, Oh my gosh, I'm missing out on something at work and just really reducing and eventually eliminating that kind of underlying anxiety that loves to follow us around. 

Leanna Laskey McGrath  8:32  

The second area we work on a lot is work life balance, or work life integration, kind of, whatever you want to call it, but the idea of feeling like you're out of balance, feeling like the ground beneath you is shaky, and you're letting everyone down, and you're unable to focus on anything because you're trying to focus on everything, and then also really not being able to find time for yourself. I think that what we often do as moms is we prioritize everything else before ourselves, and so we work through that. When we figure out, you know, what makes the most sense, whenever we look at your goals, then we can do some empowered prioritization and figure out, how do you want to spend your time and what is the best way to spend your time to meet those goals. We also work on setting healthy boundaries and feeling peace about that, and really, depending on where you're at with this, a lot of times, women have a hard time communicating what they need and asking for help, and also just kind of learning to say no, and so we spend a lot of time working on this so that you're able to find a better balance and just feel empowered to really identify and communicate your own needs and also believing that your needs are valid and that you're worthy of having them. 

Leanna Laskey McGrath  9:56  

The third area that I love to work on with my clients is confidence and authentic leadership. I think that whenever we become moms, often, not always, but often, we kind of feel a little bit different, and some of our confidence actually goes away like it takes a hit, because we kind of feel like we've lost a part of us, or maybe we're not sure how others are gonna perceive us as a mother whenever we've always been this kind of badass working professional, and so we kind of work to restore that and work to empower you to be a leader and bring yourself to the role. I had worked in tech so in a very male dominated industry, for a long time, I was the only woman, and I often just felt like I couldn't bring myself to the role, because I was looking at all these men around me, and they were doing things so differently than me. And I thought, if everybody's doing it that way, like maybe the way that I want to approach things is not the right way, maybe I'm doing it wrong. What if I am? And so I second guessed myself a lot, and what I found towards the end of my tenure as an executive in the tech industry was that when I was able to kind of shed that and work through that and bring myself to the role, I showed up so much better, and my organization and my team benefited from it so much, getting all of me and my authentic version of leadership, which was so different from the way that the men were leading. So I really want every woman to be able to show up as the leader that they are. Because I think that our organizations need that. They need our perspectives, and they need us showing up in our unique ways. 

Leanna Laskey McGrath  10:27  

So one of my clients, Angela, she's a VP in the biotech industry. I just love her story, because she really came to me looking for more confidence, and we worked through it so much, and she is showing up at work so much stronger and more herself. We worked together to create her authentic leadership vision. And she realized, you know what? This is actually different from what I have seen in my leaders, because most of my leaders have been men, and so I want to show up differently and so really working together every single week to build up that confidence to be able to show up that way. So my goal for you in this area is really that you're able to show up as a leader in your personal and professional life and also not feel like an imposter. I think that imposter syndrome is a big thing that we tackle in this area, if that's something that you're experiencing, it's so so common for so many of my high achieving executive clients. 

Leanna Laskey McGrath  12:49  

And then the final area that we focus on is fulfillment. I believe that we all are put on this earth for a reason, and that we have the opportunity to spend our time in the way that feels most true to us, and that is different for everybody. And I think it's so important to really think about and consider, how do I want to spend my time? What feels right for me? When I am at the end of my life and I'm looking back, what would I regret the most if I didn't do? What would I feel like I had missed out on if I didn't prioritize? And so we really kind of take a look at that life vision for you and figure out, like, what is it that you want big picture? And figuring out how to find fulfillment and enjoyment in life, getting really clear on that, because I think that's something that we don't spend a lot of time doing, is stepping back and looking at the macro version of our lives and careers. And so that is what I want for us. I want us to be working hard, of course, and collecting all of the successes and accolades and accomplishments while raising our families and taking care of our families and leading our families. And I want us to enjoy it. I think that that is possible. I think that so often we are just stuck in kind of the hamster wheel of going to work, taking care of the kids, going to bed, get up, do it all over again. And I believe that whenever we carve out a little bit of time for ourselves to take a look at this, it gives back so much because we're able to really step back and figure out, what do we want. Am I living my life the way I want to, and how do I make shifts so that I can really live the life that I want to so my goal here for all of my clients, is to create a life that you love on your own terms and really feel good about how you spend your time, living your life on purpose, having a healthy relationship with yourself and taking ownership of decisions and situations and just getting out of that victim mindset and really shifting from I have to to I want to, or I'm choosing to, in all aspects of your life and career. It'sIt's really about sitting in the driver's seat and taking the wheel for your own life. 

Leanna Laskey McGrath  14:10  

That kind of tells you a little bit about what we focus on, of course, depending on the person, it is completely individualized and customized for each person. So the way that we start off is with a consultation call, and in that we talk about where you are now, where you want to be, and we look at where you are in these four different areas, where you're feeling stronger, where you're feeling like you really want to focus more. And then we design our program based on that, and we really design it for you to make sure that you get what you need. 

Leanna Laskey McGrath  15:23  

So if you are an achievement oriented, success driven, career focused woman, or if you know of any, I would love to talk to you. If you go to my website, coachleanna.com you can sign up for a free consultation call, and that will be a one hour call. It's completely obligation free, where we just, like I said, talk about where you are now, where you'd like to be, and, of course, how I might be able to help you to get there. I believe that even spending an hour of time stepping back and looking at where we want to be is so beneficial in itself. So you might choose that you want to figure that out on your own, and that's totally fine. I'll be here, and you can continue to listen to my podcast and all of my free resources and webinars and things like that. But if you're wanting to fast track or kind of take it to the next level, then I'm here for that too. So I would love to talk to you. Let's connect on LinkedIn or head on over to my website to book a consultation call, and let's talk about what you see your life looking like, and how we might be able to work together to help you get there. 

Leanna Laskey McGrath  17:03  

I hope this has been helpful for you to think about what's possible, and even if you have no interest in coaching, to maybe think about those different areas of your life and take a look at how are you feeling about stress management, work life balance, confidence and fulfillment for yourself right now. I would invite you to scale them on a scale of zero to 10, and just sit down and kind of figure out, like, what do I want my life to look like? How do I want to spend my time? And spend some time thinking about that. I think it's so important for all of us. I have spent the last four years being coached to think about things in a whole new and different way, and I believe that my life is a representation of what's possible when we spend time focusing on ourselves and pouring into ourselves, because I am living a life that I absolutely love. And I just wish that for you too. I wish that for everyone, I believe our world would be such a better place if everyone was living into their purpose and feeling fulfilled and just enjoying their lives. So that's available to you, and I hope that you create that for yourself if you want to. And of course, I'm here to support you in your journey every step of the way. Having a coach has changed my life for the better, and it can absolutely 100% do the same for you. Thank you so much everyone for being here today, and I am wishing you a wonderful week. We'll see you next week. 

Leanna Laskey McGrath  18:37  

Thanks so much for tuning in to the executive coach for moms podcast, please like, subscribe or follow the show, so you'll be notified when the next episode is available. I hope you'll join me again next time. Take care.