Can you really balance a boardroom role with the demands of a newborn? The answer is yes – but there’s a caveat. Thoughtful planning, clear communication, and the right support are essential to making it work. In the first blog of this NED Mums and Dads series, we looked at your legal rights, time commitment options and pay during the parental leave period. This includes making the decision whether you stay on the board.
In this blog, we focus on the practical realities if you decide to stay on the board. How do you manage a NED role during maternity or paternity leave? We also share insights from three mothers – Sarah Pierman, Liz Caine and Michelle Baker – who have navigated being a NED alongside caring for a newborn, and caring for children with additional needs.
Watch the video below to hear their personal experiences.
Advocating for yourself
Boards don’t always have experience in supporting parents in NED roles, so there often isn’t a ‘playbook’ like there might be in a day-job. They may not automatically know what you need, which is why it’s important to start the conversation early. Creating a strong line of communication about how you will balance your role as a Director alongside your new parenting role helps ensure you can continue contributing effectively.
Be proactive in asking the Chair or Company Secretary for the support you need. Sometimes that’ll be practical adjustments: I need a room for my baby and other caregiver to use during the board meeting. And other times it might be preparing a short briefing note or extra catch up call on recent discussions.
Keeping your head in the game
If you decide to stay active in your NED role, consider what this will look like in practice and how you can proactively make it manageable. Here are a few things to consider:
- Schedule check-ins: Arrange brief conversations with the Chair or fellow NEDs to discuss urgent issues, provide input on key decisions and stay connected with what is happening on the board.
- Stay informed: Subscribe to company newsletters, investor updates, and relevant industry publications so you’re aware of major developments without being overwhelmed.
- Set clear boundaries: Be upfront about what you can realistically manage and communicate this to the board. You might explain that responses could take up to 48 hours or request to be contacted only for urgent issues for a period of time.
Navigating board meetings
In a typical 9-5 role, there’s often flexibility to reduce hours or adjust your schedule. As a NED, however, you are either a Director or you are not, and maintaining that responsibility becomes challenging if you’re not actively engaged with board meetings. But, how can you make them work with a small child in tow?
Attending in-person
If you’d like to attend board meetings in-person then speak to your Chair, state your intentions and be clear about any special adjustments you may need to accommodate this.
Liz Cain had a positive experience of being a new mum while managing in-person board meetings. She began her first NED role while working full-time in her early twenties. During her second year in the role, she had her daughter, Annabelle, and two years after that, her son, Ethan. She took maternity leave from her day job but continued fulfilling her NED responsibilities throughout both periods of leave. “The Chief Exec, Board and Chair were all very supportive. They were delighted that I still wanted to come to meetings,” she says.
To help facilitate this, the Chief Executive made his office available to Liz and her young family for board meetings. “I turned up with my husband, small child and all of the paraphernalia that is involved with transporting a tiny human and took over his office,” she says. “Annabelle debuted at her first meeting when she was five weeks old. My husband kept an eye on her and I just brought her into the meeting, breast-fed her during the board meeting and handed her back to my husband who then put her to sleep. We did that for the first few meetings when she was tiny until I felt able to leave her. Then we did a similar routine with Ethan when he was two or three weeks old,” adds Caine.
Joining remotely
It’s important to agree with your board in advance on which meetings require in-person attendance and which can be joined remotely. In the months immediately after having your baby, you may only be able to attend virtually. Just make sure expectations are clearly communicated. The option to join meetings remotely is essential for many, but it can present real challenges when most participants are gathered together in person. It can be harder to read the flow of conversation, know when to contribute or even see and hear clearly sometimes.
“When everyone was joining remotely, it was actually much easier to have a conversation on Teams or Zoom,” agrees Sarah Pierman, CEO of Dynamic Boards. “Now, in a hybrid setup, the people joining online can feel they don’t have as easy an experience as there’s often just one camera covering the whole room. The people in the room can see and hear you perfectly, but it’s much trickier for you to pick up their facial expressions.” She adds one tip that’s worked particularly well is to ask everyone in the meeting room to switch on a camera facing them, while keeping their devices muted and sound off to avoid echo or reverb. “You don’t realise how important it is to see people’s faces during a board meeting until you suddenly can’t,” explains Pierman, “it’s vital that everyone can see and hear all the board members”.
Balancing Governance with Wellbeing
It’s impossible to predict how your parenting journey will pan out. Alongside her NED roles, Michelle Baker has navigated parenting two children with disabilities, balancing medical appointments, and periods of hospitalisation due to serious illness for each child. It’s important to keep communication strong with the board, and be ready to adapt your plan if required.
Good boards are designed to function collectively and don’t depend on any one individual, so you don’t necessarily need to be across every detail to be effective. Even as a tired parent, your contribution is often more than enough for that moment in time. “There will be days when I’ve had no sleep, and making people aware of that situation really helps, because everyone has been there at some point in one capacity or another. People are often a lot more understanding than you would expect,” says Baker. “Also, it’s important to remember that if you’re not bringing your A game, your B game is probably brilliant – and a lot better than people’s A games!” adds Caine.
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