The Juggle

Clarissa Rayward, otherwise known as the Happy Family Lawyer,  joins us on today’s show.   Clarissa fits all the ‘categories’ of people we love to chat to - she is a parent, an employer through her business Brisbane Family Law Centre and a thought leader ‘expert’ in all things happiness.   Clarissa very kindly joined us on what was supposed to be her maternity leave, having welcomed baby Daisy into the world just 7 weeks ago, for what she describes as a very candid conversation about what maternity leave really looks like when you have your own business – warts and all.  We talk about:  * The pressures women put on each other when we each decide when to return to work, especially around how we choose to manage our family responsibilities.  * The need to find out what makes you happy by finding your purpose and creating space in your life to spend time on it.  * How to harmonise the competing aspects of our lives and Clarissa’s views on whether happiness requires effort.  * How Clarissa encourages happiness amongst her employees and how she makes flexible working a success in her business via her leadership style and other means.  You can find Clarissa along with information about her books and podcast at The Happy Family Lawyer and on Facebook and Instagram.   If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review and a star rating. Doing so really helps other people find out about our show. We’d also love you to join our community of women managing the juggle in our Facebook Group. Thanks again to LawCPD  for sponsoring today’s episode.  To celebrate Law Week this May, LawCPD is offering our listeners 25% of all their online courses until the end of the month. Jump on their website  and use the code MayJuggle at the checkout. LawCPD’s online courses are a great way to get your CPD organised early this year and have some peace of mind for the rest of the year!  Happy Juggling!

While many people look forward to performance reviews like a hole in the heart, they can be an incredibly useful and rewarding experience – if done right!  In this episode, we consider employee performance reviews from the perspective of part-time employees and ask: how can you combat the stigma that comes with being a ‘less-than-full-time working’ parent? Dealing with the part-time stigma  Our three key messages are:  Start with your mindset! This seems to be a common theme for us and that is because it is so important. Stop seeing performance reviews as a waste of time and instead, ‘sit at the table’. Ask yourself what you can get out of it. Take credit for your accomplishments and assert yourself with confidence.  Be prepared. What good did Girl Guides do if not to teach you this!? Understand the process from your employer’s perspective, make sure it is followed and be ready to back yourself up with all your great achievements.  Focus on outputs and outcomes, not time.  In professional roles, outcomes rarely have direct correlation to the number of hours worked, so look at the value you have brought to an organisation, not the number of hours spent at your desk. Even if your employer talks about time, be prepared to bring the conversation back to actual value.  We’d love you to share your performance review experiences – good and not so good – with us in our Facebook Group.   Thanks again to LawCPD  for sponsoring today’s episode.  To celebrate Law Week this May, LawCPD is offering our listeners 25% of all their online courses until the end of the month. Jump on their website  and use the code MayJuggle at the checkout. LawCPD’s online courses are a great way to get your CPD organised early this year and have some peace of mind for the rest of the year!  As promised, you can find Sheryl Sandberg’s TED Talk Why we have too few women leaders here.  Once you’ve listened you’ll also want to check out her book, Lean In. Happy Juggling!

Natalie Goldman, CEO of FlexCareers, a disruptive recruitment platform connecting talented people with progressive employers offering flexible work, joins us to share her keys to making flexible working a success. Not only does Natalie work flexibly herself, she also manages a team of flexible workers and leads an organisation that was founded with a vision to create a future where flexible work is the norm, not the exception. Keys to flexible working Natalie notes four factors that are crucial to making flexible working a success: teamwork, delegation, high trust and good management of what Natalie calls “performance energy”. Performance energy involves managing your time and setting boundaries to ensure that you don’t burn out.  Good management of performance energy enables you to bring your best self to your work and to the rest of your life.    Some of the key highlights from this episode include:  How technology is crucial to flexible working, particularly to keep staff connected Natalie’s views on the importance of managing expectations we have of ourselves and others (See Episode 10 for more on this topic) How the gig economy and portfolio careers are changing the nature of work   How to request and negotiate flexible working arrangements when applying for a new job How phrases such as “working mums” and “full time” vs “part time” are impacting a woman’s ability to be seen as fully invested in her career You can find out more about FlexCareers on their website or follow Natalie’s flexible working journey on LinkedIn.  If you wish to continue the conversation, please leave a comment below or come and join our Facebook community. 

“Money, money, money…”   Today we talk about money mindset. While some people seem to spend way too much time thinking about money, others seem not to think about it enough. However, no one would disagree that money is a necessity.  Unfortunately, many of us are not taught the skill of managing money or how to adapt to our changed money circumstances at different times in our lives.  Fran Hughes, director of Intuitive Money and Womens Money Forum has a passion for working with women to better understand and manage their money. Fran joins us in today’s episode to share her top tips around money mindset and managing money when you have a family. Some of the highlights from this episode include:  * Managing money starts with your money mindset, your expectations and values.  * We should not be afraid of money. Money is just an enabler.  * What you can do now to prepare yourself financially for when you have children in the future. * How to navigate issues that may arise when two individuals with two different money mindsets form a couple.  * The key to ‘the juggle’ around money is managing expectations and having open communication. (See, we’re not the only ones who know the importance of managing expectations!) * Fran’s top tips for ‘The Money Juggle’:  * Plan ahead and set realistic goals  * Set up a ‘baby bank’ account and start storing away savings to fund the time off work  * Be kind to yourself – it’s ok to live within your means   * Track your spending and determine where you can reduce spending    * Prioritise – what’s important to you? “Quality over quantity” You can find Fran at Womens Money Forum and on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. Listen to our 7 ways to outsource household responsibilities for our advice around money and time. Visit Managing The Juggle to find out about our upcoming events, subscribe to our mailing list and join our free Facebook Community for women managing the juggle.

Expectations aren’t facts or reality. They are just beliefs or opinions that you or somebody else has, therefore it is totally normal for your expectations not to match someone else’s.  One of the easiest ways to become disappointed, upset or angry – at yourself or someone else – is to fail to meet expectations. Whether in a personal or work environment, it is extremely important to ensure that you understand the expectations others have of you, and to make sure others are aware of your expectations.  During this episode of The Juggle, Jo and Lucy talk about strategies to manage expectations in relation to yourself, your family and friends, your clients and your employer/colleagues.  The key theme is – you guessed it – communication!  Some of the strategies discussed include:  Working out what’s important to you and not setting expectations that are too high.  Concentrating on quality rather than quantity.  Sharing calendars and having family meetings to discuss the important matters for the week or month ahead.  Be honest and clear when communicating your needs. Don’t make assumptions.  Give yourself some wriggle room when setting deadlines to allow for unexpected changes.  Use email sign offs to ensure you communicate your availability.  Have contingency plans so that when things go wrong (as they often do!) you are still able to meet the expectations of you.  We’d love to hear what you think. How do you manage expectations? Join our Facebook group, The Juggle Community, and share your tips with us.  If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review and a star rating, it helps other people find out about our show. To subscribe to our mailing list and be the first to know when a new episode is released, visit www.thejuggle.com.au.

This week we’re joined by Dean Brajevic, General Manager of Human Resources at Monadelphous. Dean has been leading the gender and diversity initiatives at Monadelphous and brings a refreshing and modern view to what is needed to bring about company cultural change. Dean has personal experience of the juggle having a high powered career and being a single dad of four. His personal experience and his willingness to try new initiatives has led to great results at Monadelphous and bodes well for further progress. Some of the key highlights from this episode are: * The need to run your own race when it comes to gender diversity and inclusion rather than being held to someone else’s view on what is needed. * Using documented policies to create focus on an issue and gain traction more quickly. * “Manels” (all male panels) at conferences, and the men who are being rewarded for being at diversity events. * The need to be organised and upfront with your employer about your family commitments and how they impact on work. * The need to have times when you separate work and other commitments to be “in the moment”. * The value of having men working flexibly as good role models within an organisation. * Trialing new programs and using a section of your organisation as a test group before rolling out more broadly, and focusing on continuous improvement. * The need for managers to be empowered to respond to requests for flexibility in a positive way, and approve requests as appropriate. * The need for a culture with openness and trust to foster true flexibility at work. * The need for a suite of policies and procedures around gender diversity, equal opportunity etc to provide a framework for the organisation. We hope you enjoy this as much as we did. If you wish to continue the conversation, please leave a comment or come and join our Facebook community.

Today’s episode features Jessica Courtney. Jess is a lawyer in commercial litigation at an international law firm, and mum to 2 year old daughter Elodie. Jess also runs an Instagram account @pumpingmumma which she created to chronicle her journey of exclusively expressing for baby Elodie and to provide support to other mums who needed to express due to breastfeeding difficulties or after returning to work.  Some of the things we discuss with Jess include:  The benefits of sharing household responsibilities with your partner and outsourcing to ensure that you can prioritise quality time with your children  The benefits of having children at an early stage in your career  The benefits of increasing visibility when you are part time  The need to put yourself and your health first in order to be able to be a good mother and employee.  Difficulties of breastfeeding and making the best of the alternatives  Creating her @pumpingmumma Instagram account and following   If you enjoyed the episode, please leave us a review and rate the show to help other people find it.  Links mentioned in this episode * If you want to connect with Jessica you can find her on Instagram and LinkedIn. * The Juggle website, where you can find all episodes of The Juggle and sign up to be notified when a new episode is released * The Juggle Community, our online Facebook group * You can also find us on Instagram and Facebook

In today’s episode we hear from Meg Burrage, founder of BubDesk. BubDesk has been described as the Airbnb of childcare and was created to solve Meg’s own experience of struggling to find a reputable day care centre to care for her son when she returned to work. Meg talks about: * The need to be constantly listening to your customers and how BubDesk has evolved from being a co-working space with a crèche, to being a co-working space contained within fully operational day care centres; * The de-centralised structure of BubDesk, with centres located all over the Perth metropolitan area (UPDATE: And now, Sydney*); * How BubDesk serves as a transitional step for parents who are returning to work; * The benefit of being on-site with your child to enable you to be available to combat a child’s separation anxiety (or the parent’s!), to allow for continued breast feeding, to really get to know the staff caring for your child, and to have a co-working space where you can network with parents in similar circumstances; * Her favourite success story of a graphic designer whose son was struggling with separation anxiety, but was able to adjust with her presence on-site. The designer had the added benefit of networking and gaining significant new business; * Her personal juggle and the difficulties of running your own business; and * The value of resilience. Special offer Meg has generously offered listeners a special offer to trial BubDesk: $10 for 10 days to be used in a 30 day period. Contact Meg at info@bubdesk.com.au to find out more. Links mentioned in this episode * BubDesk website and Facebook page * The Juggle website, where you can find all episodes of The Juggle and sign up to be notified when a new episode is released * The Juggle Community, our online Facebook group * You can also find us on Instagram and Facebook * Update We mention in the show that Meg has plans to launch nationally this year. We are pleased to say that Meg has already met this goal with the opening of BubDesk in child care centres in Sydney.

In this week’s episode of The Juggle Podcast, Jo and Lucy discuss outsourcing.  We’re often asked “how do you do it all”, but the truth is, we don’t! There are only 24 hours in a day and a good portion of that is reserved for sleeping (we hope!). Instead of struggling to “do it all”, we get help.  We don’t all have the ability to outsource work tasks, but we can outsource many of our family and household responsibilities and free up some of that precious time. The highlights from today’s episode include: * Seven family and household responsibilities that you can outsource * A bonus tip from both Jo and Lucy, because seven things to outsource just wasn’t enough! We’d love to hear how you handle outsourcing family responsibilities. Join our Facebook group, The Juggle Community, and share your tips with us. Links shared in this episode: – Visit our website www.thejuggle.com.au where you can find all episodes of The Juggle and sign up to be notified when a new episode is released

On today’s episode we have the privilege of hearing from Dr Clare Allen, CEO of VisAbility and Guide Dogs WA, iconic charities that are leading the way in transforming workplace culture. Clare has amalgamated her many years of success as a leader into its core essence which she teaches through training, speaking and coaching. Highlights from our conversation include: * The meaning of work life harmony and why Clare feels that this phrase is better to describe the way she fits work into her life. * The need for everyone to find their purpose in order to always be acting in the state of flow required for work life harmony. * The benefits of creating a high trust culture and the need for clear expectations around job requirements as a base for successfully implementing a flexible work environment, where employees (within job expectations) can decide their hours, place and way of working. * The need for senior leadership to be constantly modelling the high trust culture requirements, and recognition from leaders and managers that change won’t happen straight away – it is a gradual process that strengthens over time. * The need for employers to have real open discussions about a person’s needs for flexibility and what a role genuinely requires – rather than just sticking to the script of a role being full time etc. * A discussion around the benefits of employing working mums. Links mentioned in this episode If you would like to get in touch with Clare you can find her at: www.drclareallen.com You can learn about VisAbility at: www.visability.org.au Subscribe to learn when each podcast episode is released: www.thejuggle.com.au Like our Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/managingthejuggle/ If you would like to continue the conversation, come and join us in our private Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thejugglecommunity/

In today’s episode Jo and Lucy interview Sonia Cason, mother of 2, business development manager in the recruitment/labour hire industry, and flexible worker. Sonia shares her personal experiences of: * looking and applying for jobs whilst on maternity leave, and not being afraid to ask for what you want * constantly adjusting work and life routines as children grow and progress (eg. adjusting to the new school juggle after years of day care) * remaining confident in your skills, experience and overall worth after having children and deciding to return to work part time * avoiding over commitment and learning to choose priorities. Links mentioned in this episode: Subscribe to receive notification of each new episode of our podcast. Join The Juggle Community on Facebook. You can contact Sonia Cason via LinkedIn.

Women with professional careers are often advised to hide their families, and specifically to make sure they don’t form any part of your personal brand. In this episode we delve into whether that is good advice, what personal branding is, and how to construct the right one for you. In this episode, Jo and Lucy interview Julissa Shrewsbury, the Director of New Work Consulting. Julissa is an expert in helping people create their own personal brand. She helps people build and maintain a stand-out professional image in the online space that will draw opportunities to them and help them achieve their professional goals. Some of the key takeaways from the episode include: * What is a personal brand? Your brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room. It is formed from lots of different touch points – in person and online. * Ensure that your online presence (eg. on social media) is consistent with the brand you want to present. Be aware of privacy settings to avoid private content becoming public and negatively impacting your personal brand. * Should you tell someone that you have a family? You are a whole package. People want to connect with human beings – people do business with people, so it is important to share what makes you human and relatable. But choose how much to communicate and to what audience. You don’t want to use language or act in such a way that others will view you as lacking commitment. * The benefit of a personal brand is that it demonstrates the value that you bring to your work. * How to describe breaks from work when drafting resumes or Linked In profiles. * How what you wear is part of your personal brand as it influences the impression that people take of you. People get more information from what they see as opposed to what they hear or read. * It is important to feel confident when you return to work after a career break. To do so, take some time to determine what is amazing about you and what you bring to your professional life. Brainstorm what you bring to work, what you are good at, love doing and the change that you like to see that you help to create. * The 3 key things to focus on for your personal brand: * Know what makes you amazing and lights you up – knowing that means you know what to focus on in your personal brand. * Know your current goals and focus on that. Eg. Make sure your online profile highlights your experience and skills and where you want to go next. * Get your Linkedin Profile refreshed and up to date. Bonus tip: Linked In is about building relationships. Don’t just set it up and wait for people to find you. Links mentioned in this episode: Julissa Shrewsbury can be found at: Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julissashrewsbury/ Twitter: @NewWorkAU You can find more about her offer of a free 15 minute phone consultation to discuss your personal brand at her website: www.newworkconsulting.com.au You can subscribe to receive notification of each new episode of our podcast at: 

Join Jo and Lucy as they discuss their views on the meaning behind concepts like “the juggle”, “work/life balance” and “boundaries”. Three key take aways from the episode are: 1. The dictionary definition for juggle is: “continuously toss into the air and catch (a number of objects) so as to keep at least one in the air while handling the others”. (Source: Google dictionary) 2. The four burners theory which describes the four quadrants of your life and raises the question of the need for trade offs in order to be successful (see James Clear) 3. Theming your days as a way to put in place boundaries to prevent your work overly impacting on other areas of your life. Please leave a review or provide your feedback on an episode or possible future guests by email to hello@thejuggle.com.au.   Links shared in this episode: – Website: www.thejuggle.com.au [Where you can find all episodes of The Juggle, sign up to be notified when a new episode is released, and find a link to join the facebook group The Juggle Community.]

The Juggle is the brain child of Jo Alilovic and Lucy Dickens. After meeting in early 2018, Jo and Lucy quickly realised that they shared similar values and a serious desire to see the world of work changed for women who want to maintain satisfying professional careers and also have a fulfilling family life.   Women are often referred to as circus jugglers – juggling all aspects of life: work, children, health, friends and more. But it is not an easy skill to learn, or to maintain. In fact, it is often so difficult to juggle all these areas of life that women sometimes make the choice to leave (or put on hold) their profession.   Jo and Lucy have created this podcast to inform, create discussion and identify success stories that can be shared to improve the situations of others. They will be interviewing women who can share their personal stories of balancing career and the other aspects of life, and employers who have created a workplace that enables more women to maintain a career after having a family, as well as thought leaders to share inspiration and innovative techniques and strategies. Jo and Lucy will also have conversations where they discuss recent media or matters which relate to “the juggle”.   Topics will include personal branding, the need for a high trust culture to support flexible work arrangements, seeking new employment whilst on maternity leave, the difficulty of continuing to breastfeed after returning to work, outsourcing, different kinds of child care and more.   New episodes will be released weekly on Thursday, and the conversation will be continued each week in the Facebook group “The Juggle Community”.   Please leave a review or provide your feedback on an episode or possible future guests by email to hello@thejuggle.com.au.   Links shared in this episode: – Website: www.thejuggle.com.au [Where you can find all episodes of The Juggle, sign up to be notified when a new episode is released, and find a link to join the facebook group The Juggle Community.]