career development Archives - Amanda Bernardo

Rethinking Parental Leave: It’s time we start recognizing parental leave as career growth, not career interruption

admin — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 18:52:39 +0000

Becoming a mother changes everything—your routines, your priorities, and even how you see the world. But beyond the sleepless nights and endless to-do lists, it also equips you with new skills, perspectives, and even emotions that make you a stronger leader.

With that in mind, we need to flip the narrative on parental leave.

It’s not “time away” from our careers—it’s time that enables them. Just like any other learning experience, parenthood challenges us, teaches us, and strengthens us in ways that directly benefit our professional lives. The resilience, adaptability, and leadership we develop as parents make us better colleagues, decision-makers, and problem-solvers.

It’s time we start recognizing parental leave as career growth, not career interruption.

So what can we learn from this time? For me, here are a few takeaways that stand out:

Motherhood has strengthened my ability to juggle competing priorities while staying focused on what truly matters. As a leader, this skill allows me to balance strategic goals with day-to-day challenges, ensuring progress without losing sight of the bigger picture.

Raising a child requires patience, understanding, and the ability to see things from their perspective. As a leader, this translates into creating a workplace where my team feels valued, supported, and heard—leading with both strength and compassion.

Parenthood teaches you to expect the unexpected and bounce back quickly from setbacks. As a leader, this resilience helps me navigate change, uncertainty, and challenges with a solutions-focused mindset.

From managing tantrums to making quick decisions that impact my child’s well-being, motherhood has honed my ability to think fast and make confident choices. In leadership, this means I can assess situations effectively and take decisive action when needed.

Children don’t just listen to what we say—they watch what we do. This has reinforced my belief in leading with integrity, modeling the behaviours I want to see in my team, and fostering a culture of accountability and growth.

Parenthood isn’t just a personal journey—it’s a leadership masterclass.

These examples alone show that time spent raising children isn’t time away from our careers—it’s time that creates better leaders (and employees). It creates leaders with empathy. Leaders with a renewed understanding of work-life balance. Leaders equipped with the skills to achieve results and become better people managers. So when it’s time to welcome these parents back, we should embrace what they bring to the table. In fact, we should prioritize hearing from their experience and exploring how it can improve the workplace.

Whenever someone steps away from an organization or role and returns, there’s a huge learning opportunity. The trick is leveraging this feedback to strengthen your organization instead of losing this insight altogether.

If we take this one step further, when we talk about supporting employees and embracing diversity, equity, and inclusion, parenthood needs to be part of that conversation.

Creating a truly inclusive workplace means recognizing the unique challenges parents face and ensuring they have the flexibility, support, and resources to thrive. Family-friendly policies, flexible work arrangements, and a culture that values the leadership skills gained through parenthood aren’t just “nice to have”—they’re essential.

If we want to build workplaces where everyone can succeed, we need to treat parenthood as an asset, not an obstacle.

So, if you’re still reading, I challenge you to think differently about how we support working parents. Let’s move beyond the traditional mindset and start actively embracing the leadership potential parenthood brings. Create spaces for parents to share their experiences, listen to their insights, and implement changes that truly support them. From flexible work arrangements to DEI strategies that include parental support, we have the power to build more inclusive, effective, and empowered teams.

The question is: Will you make the changes needed to support this shift?

The post Rethinking Parental Leave: It’s time we start recognizing parental leave as career growth, not career interruption appeared first on Amanda Bernardo.

The difference between sponsorship and mentorship

admin — Mon, 18 Sep 2023 13:45:00 +0000

Sponsorship and mentorship are two vital support mechanisms in the professional world, each with distinct roles and impacts on an individual’s career trajectory. Throughout my career, I’ve been fortunate to have great mentors of my own, while serving as a mentor to many others and championing opportunities for growth where possible.

While both are extremely valuable, opportunities for sponsorship are often harder to acquire … though highly sought after.

Mentorship involves a trusted advisor providing guidance, knowledge, and feedback to help an individual develop their skills and abilities. It’s about sharing experiences, providing insights, and offering constructive criticism to nurture personal and professional growth.

On the other hand, sponsorship goes beyond guidance and involves an individual advocating for another’s career advancement. A sponsor actively promotes and endorses the sponsored person, facilitating opportunities for growth and visibility.

In essence, mentorship is a relationship built on advice and development, while sponsorship is a strategic alliance aimed at creating opportunities and opening doors. Both are crucial for career advancement, with mentorship focusing on personal growth and skill enhancement, and sponsorship centering on advocacy and exposure to career-enhancing opportunities.

It’s often beneficial to have both mentors and sponsors in one’s professional network, as they complement each other in fostering a well-rounded and successful career. While mentors guide you through your career, sponsors actively champion your progress, leading to a more fulfilling and accelerated professional path.

So, why does sponsorship appear so hard to acquire? And what impact can a lack of sponsorship have?

Unlike mentorship, sponsorship demands a higher level of engagement and personal investment from both parties involved. Without sufficient individuals willing to sponsor and champion talent, many deserving professionals might struggle to break barriers and attain the visibility necessary for reaching their full potential. The lack of sponsorship opportunities can consequently hinder talented individuals from accessing the necessary exposure and opportunities for growth within their respective fields.

Development programs, actings, assignments and performance-based promotions are great examples of sponsorship opportunities. However, these are often the exception and not the norm, occurring behind closed doors for some and without equal opportunity to many.

So, if you’re a leader reading this, mentorship is a start, but sponsorship propels careers forward. Sponsorship is about actively championing talent and creating opportunities, not just guiding it. Your advocacy can elevate individuals, giving them a seat at the table and opening doors to success.

Don’t just show people how to get to the door, open it.

The post The difference between sponsorship and mentorship appeared first on Amanda Bernardo.

How do we motivate our up and coming leaders?

admin — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 13:28:00 +0000

More and more, I’ve seen managers question their growth into leadership roles.

They ask: Is it worth it to make the jump? Will I still find worklife balance? What about all these articles on executive burnout?

Then I also here: I’m not sure how to keep growing. What opportunities even exist? Do I have what it takes? How will I know?

Motivating the next generation of leaders is an important responsibility of current leadership, as well as organizations more broadly. It needs to be a priority to not only support recruitment and retention, but also to address looming gaps due to high levels of retirement in the coming years.

So, how do we motivate our up and coming leaders, many who already are in their own right, here are a few suggestions:

Provide mentorship, mentors who can guide employees and help them develop the skills necessary for leadership roles.

Encourage participation, encourage employees to get involved in activities that promote leadership skills, such as volunteering. This a great way to build leadership opportunities through corporate initiatives. This is also a great opportunity to encourage take me with you moments, where employee participation is encouraged to create wider exposure to the organization and better understanding on how leaders work.

Create opportunities for employees to take on leadership roles. This can be achieved through acting opportunities, developmental programs, assignments – to name a few. This is also where sponsorship can help identify talent within an organization to create visibility for employees that could benefit from these roles.

Offer leadership training and development programs that provide the next generation with the necessary skills and knowledge to become effective leaders. Often times, training exists but employees don’t know it or don’t know how to access it. Promote both internal and external training opportunities that will help them become a well rounded leader and fill potential gaps in their current experience.

Lead by example and show the next generation what leadership looks like. This can be done through your actions, communication, and decisions, and should align not only to the leadership competencies but also values and ethics.

…

These are just some examples to keep in mind as we consider the people management aspect of leadership and how prioritizing the growth of your team can help empower our future leaders of tomorrow.

The post How do we motivate our up and coming leaders? appeared first on Amanda Bernardo.