BIG update! What’s next for Mumbelievable….

Mumbelievable started as a blog with a mission to help a million mums regain confidence and recognise how incredible they are.

I knew in my heart that it had to become a business to do something to help the many people who felt the same way I did after becoming a mum; a bit lacking in confidence but determined to combine a great and fulfilling career with loving and being there for our kids.

Last year, among other product launches I started running events and workshops to support working parents.

It began focusing on the return to work phase, but it was important to me that I didn’t pigeonhole myself so things quickly expanded to incorporate support for anyone at any stage of parenting. Every event is different and they now include dads and carers too, many of whom face similar challenges.

I’ve worked with companies and individuals since then, and talked to hundreds of employers and parents with kids of all ages about the issues they face and the solutions they’ve engineered to make things work for everyone.

Mumbelievable is becoming a force for good, and it feels like I’m right where I’m supposed to be.

At some point earlier this year, it hit me that although I LOVE what I’ve been doing until this point, there’s a bigger picture here.

Supporting working parents themselves doesn’t actually solve the problems they face.

Sure, it helps them massively. But the root causes still remain. And if they don’t get sorted, nothing will change.

Too many parents are leaving our workforce because they’re struggling to make their career and home life work. Too many businesses are losing brilliant talent, haemorrhaging cash on unnecessary re-recruitment and ending up with a gender imbalance that affects their bottom line as much as it does their reputation.

I don’t think it has to be this way, and I’m going to change it.

There are literally hundreds of ways an organisation can increase communication, awareness and flexibility and truly champion people with kids and/or caring responsibilities, and earlier this year I started to document the conversations I was having with managers and parents to create a cheat sheet for businesses wanting to increase their support infrastructure for their parents.

I’ve spent the summer working on formalising a new consultancy offering that leverages everything I’ve witnessed and learned since this all began. I’m doing this in collaboration with a truly brilliant organisation because I recognise that this big picture is BIG and I can’t do this alone. (More than that, though, I don’t want to – it’s more fun being part of a team!)

My goal is to encourage businesses to get key functions (leaders, HR, comms and marketing, etc) working more closely together to bring policies to life, increase awareness of the emotional and logistical challenges of being a working parent and support line managers to become more empathetic, consistent but flexible in how they support the parents in their teams.

More announcements and details of the collaboration partner will be coming soon, but I just wanted to get this out there as I realise I’ve been quieter than normal on here and also I’m very, very excited about this!

That cheat sheet I mentioned is now complete. So if you run a business or work in a business you think might benefit from a few tips on how to exemplify best practice when it comes to supporting working parents, just send me a message and I’ll get it sent out to you. I’m giving it away for free as it’s important to me that this stuff is done right in every organisation.

More coming soon!

P.S. This doesn’t change anything for Mumbelievable. It’s just an evolution. The blog will continue as a space for confidence, honesty, empowerment and solidarity for mums, and I’ll revive my social media mojo once I get over the line with launching this thing (sorry and thank you to everyone who has messaged me to ask if I’m ok and to say they’re missing my posts!)  I’ve got more plans for later in the year to create something to help every single mum feel more confident and incredible, so watch this space!!!