“My principle, as a long-term working mother, has always been the notion that you have to design your life. And one of the most important concepts of that framework, is that you have to have a parallel plan. You always need a plan A, a Plan B, and to prototype that plan,” said Dr. Lynn Perry Wooten, Author, Educator and University President.
A lot of us were taught to “just work hard” and “be excellent” to grow professionally. But it rarely plays out that way, and after kids, the whole model breaks. In the past 13 months, women — mostly mothers and Black women — have left the US workforce in alarming numbers. This is rarely choice based. We have a system that penalizes caregiving and in many cases, undermines prosperity for women and families. So, what can you do to overcome the obstacles and rise in your career?
You’re Not Imagining it, There’s More Pressure
Caregiving Factors into Our Career Outcomes
The reasons women leave jobs, are not surprising. Last month, Catalyst shared results from its recent survey. It cites, “42% of women who voluntarily left their jobs reported that caregiving responsibilities, including the cost of childcare, drove their decision to exit the workforce.”
Self-Investment Is More Important
Okay, back the current climate. Periods of intense disruption have some upside. You get really clear, really quickly which tends to open new possibilities. The “old way” of winning at work, was never female or family friendly. Yet women have been the driving force behind community building, volunteerism, and philanthropy for decades. We also lead innovation in long-overlooked fields, like women’s health. So, whatever you’re planning this season, the world needs you and your brilliant ideas. Don’t ignore those goals you want to pursue, now is the time.
Personalize Your Professional Learning
I asked Lynn about her ascension into the highest level of leadership, in a demanding, male-driven and rather inflexible field. She explains honing a mix of personal and professional practices including continuous learning. Developing a personal curriculum or learning plan has become a more accessible path to advancement.
Although Lynn is a University President, she wisely reminds us learning doesn’t have to be formal or costly. There are many modalities. Including learning “on the job” versus what happens to prepare for upgrades or transitions in your career.
Seek Employer Support
Lynn said, “Every year I would decide, ‘okay these are the training programs I want to go to’ and then advocate for my boss to send me. If that wasn’t possible, I found conferences that were cost efficient or ways to make an exchange, as a speaker or volunteer, to enter the program for free.” She also explained there are countless free resources on platforms like LinkedIn and YouTube.
If you work for a traditional employer, show them how to invest in your development. It doesn’t have to cost money, you can also ask for sanctioned time for trainings and industry events. If you’re a business owner, incorporate some amount of self-study and skill building into your strategy for the year. The people you meet can also help accelerate your progress.
Upgrade Your Systems at Home
Caregiving is More than Managing the Time
Caregiving is such an integral part of the human condition and how we contribute to our communities. A growing number of people in the workforce, care for children and adults in parallel. And it’s overwhelmingly still women who manage the invisible work, mental load and ongoing complexity, to make space for it.
She added, “I often say my college education, training and mentoring prepared me for my career, but nothing prepares you for life when you leave work and juggle all the balls. You just can’t fully explain it to young women, until they have that responsibility.” So how do you set yourself up for success?
Grow Your Capacity Through Wellbeing
She said, “On the health side, I’m very much a stickler for what I eat. And on the professional side, you have to manage your calendar. If you don’t manage your calendar, it’ll just take over your life.”
Curate and Tend to Your Village
In part one from our interview, Lynn shared strategies to flourish in the workplace, like finding allies, sponsors and how to analyze the potential return on investment from career transitions and tradeoffs. Building a strong network is by far the most effective way to find new professional opportunities. And she’s applied the same concepts in her personal life. “I have spent most of my life in higher education and left home at 18 for college so, I’ve never lived near family. I’ve had to be resourceful and create that village wherever I’ve been.”
Relocations force you to create new infrastructure and she’s adept at reinventing a supportive network in new cities. She added, “I’ve been blessed throughout my motherhood journey to have a village. Including friends, family, members of my faith-based community and civic organizations. We collectively did our mothering together and there’s no way I could have done what I’ve done without that collective.”
Recommendations Can Exceed Research
The lack of discretionary hours to pour into everything on the list of commitments and interests is the main issue. Researching, commuting and navigating daily needs takes hours every week. Managing life and leadership is not a solo endeavor. Lynn leverages her village to create smart shortcuts. “Whether it’s getting a child to dance lessons, finding the best teachers, camp schedules, or pediatrician, you just can’t do those things on your own. You need referrals, best practices and people to share the tasks with you.” Amen!
Keep Asking for Local Support
When I asked, how did you recreate your village in so many different cities? She explained, “I’m a good connector and when you work at a university it’s kind of an easy place to start. Because it’s a bit like being in the military, we all move around to the same college towns so, you meet people and connect about resources. I’m also intentional about always reconnecting with people in my church, mentors and allies.”
We tend to forget that we can ask for support, help, and advice. It can feel time consuming, or too vulnerable when you haven’t established strong ties. But it’s critical to ask for and offer guidance. Lynn said, “I teach women in academic medical leadership. So, I hear from a lot of doctors and they’re spinning because they consider themselves the sole source of the answers. Like, ‘I don’t know where to find a nanny’ or ‘I don’t know what camps are good for my child’ it’s often because they didn’t ask anyone. You have to be out there.”
As she wisely reminds, the best people to ask for this advice? Other moms in your community who are generous with their wisdom and experiences.
Many thanks to the talented Dr. Lynn Perry Wooten!
Check out books Lynn has co-authored, “Arrive and Thrive: 7 Impactful Practices for Women Navigating Leadership,” and “The Prepared Leader: Emerge from Any Crisis More Resilient Than Before” and follow her great adventure on LinkedIn.
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About Dr. Wooten:
Dr. Wooten is the ninth president of Simmons University and the first African American to lead the university. A seasoned academic and an expert on organizational development and transformation, Lynn specializes in crisis leadership, diversity and inclusion, and positive leadership – organizational behavior that reveals and nurtures the highest level of human potential. Lynn is an innovative leader, presenter, and prolific author whose research has informed her work in the classroom and as an administrator. With leadership at the core of her work, Dr. Wooten’s research has ranged from an NIH-funded investigation of how leadership can positively alleviate health disparities to leading in a crisis and managing workforce diversity. She is co-author of the Wall Street Journal best-selling book Arrive and Thrive: 7 Impactful Practices for Women Navigating Leadership and a co-author on her latest book The Prepared Leader. She has also authored two previous books, Positive Organizing in a Global Society: Understanding and Engaging Differences for Capacity Building and Inclusion (2016) and Leading Under Pressure: From Surviving to Thriving Before, During, and After a Crisis (2010). Sharing her work at nearly 60 symposia and conferences, she also is the author of nearly 30 journal articles and more than 15 book chapters, as well as managerial monographs and numerous teaching cases.
Lynn has also maintained a robust clinical practice, providing leadership development, education, and training for a wide variety of companies and institutions, from the Kellogg Foundation to Harvard University’s Kennedy School to Google.
Lynn grew up in Philadelphia. She is married to David Wooten, a chaired marketing professor at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. They have two children, Justin and Jada.
