From changing bag to laptop bag
Hello wonderful friends of Juniper! Some of you may be aware that I have recently returned to work following maternity leave, after 12 whole months of giving my undevoted attention to a new little man in my life. A new very demanding boss, who gave me no weekends or evenings off, paid me in 3am cuddles and vomit, and had me on call 24/7 to cater to his every need.
The past year has taught me how resilient, strong and selfless we can be, whilst giving me a newfound appreciation of every parent that I know. Because it isn’t easy. The immense responsibility you feel when walking away from the hospital with a new life, combined with the ‘What on earth do we do now?!’ feeling, will remain with me forever. However, having just celebrated Harry’s first birthday and reflecting a lot on his first year, it really has been the most wonderful time of my life.
Therefore, I’m not ashamed to say, the prospect of returning to work was a little daunting. I felt that Harry and I had really found our rhythm together, and the thought of dropping him off at nursery for the first time gave me a lump in my throat. However, I was both nervous and excited to return to work, to use another part of my brain, and to challenge myself again.
So as a planner, I started to prepare myself, to ensure I did everything I could to set myself up for success on my return. I am incredibly fortunate that working for a small and female led company with a close team has meant I have received a lot of support (something I am aware is not always the case when returning from maternity leave). Once I decided I would like to return part time (to try and create the work/life balance that I had hoped for), Nicki and I discussed my options, and what would suit the business as well as myself, which resulted in a change in my role. As Client Services Manager, my new role essentially is to resource, plan and manage Juniper’s workload in the most effective way possible. This requires overseeing the day-to-day running of the business and each project we are working on, ensuring the team has the correct deadlines in place and all the project management tools and resources they need, whilst providing any background knowledge I may have on the programme or client. This requires a great deal of communication and interaction with each team member, as well as collaborating as a team frequently. So far, I have got to work on the following:
- Getting to know my new colleagues, how they like to work, and where I can provide support
- Amending our working rhythm so we have set weekly meetings throughout the week, to ensure we have contact points as frequently as possible, whilst also allowing time for individual work in between
- Arranging for team activities to take place in December, including our annual Juniper Christmas outing, as well as a team meeting where we will review our individual personality profiling assessment results to ascertain the best way to communicate with each other, how we can work best together and play to our strengths
I am now a month into the new role and am grateful that I have slotted back into the Juniper team again so quickly. In many ways, it feels like I never left. I was concerned that all the skills I had gained, and the ‘Juniper mindset’ would be lost, but although I was a little rusty at first, it’s amazing how quickly everything comes flooding back! I would say motherhood has changed my attitude slightly too. Things that I may have stressed about previously don’t faze me as much, and I’ve learned not to sweat the small stuff! Overall, I feel the swap from changing bag to laptop bag has been a success, and so far, both bosses seem to agree :)!