Returning to work after maternity leave is a leadership transition, not a confidence problem
January has a particular energy. Fresh starts. Full diaries. Back to pace. Have you felt it?
But guess what, this is a glimpse for us all into how it feels for many women returning to work after maternity leave or still finding their feet months later. That energy doesn’t feel motivating. It feels exposing. It's like a January that can go on for months.
On paper, everything is in place. Childcare arranged. Laptop reissued. Meetings booked. New eye liner and lippy purchased. Ready. And yet internally, something doesn’t quite click.
You might recognise these signs:
You’re capable, experienced, trusted but massively second-guessing yourself
You’re “back”, but still renegotiating who you are at work
You’re questioning confidence, ambition, or visibility in ways you didn’t expect
It’s sooooooo easy to label this as a confidence wobble. Or to assume that once routines settle, everything else should fall into place. For many women in leadership roles, that assumption is wrong. Because returning to work after maternity leave is not just a practical shift.
It is, my friends, an enormous identity change layered onto a leadership transition.
Matrescence doesn’t end when maternity leave does. It follows you back into meetings, decision-making, how you hold authority, and how visible you allow yourself to be.
There’s a familiar refrain many women hear at this point, often well-intended:
“You were confident before, you’ll get back there soon enough.” “Once you’re back in the swing of things, it’ll click.” “You’ve done this job before.”
But the reality is, you’re not returning to an old version of yourself. You’re leading as someone new with different priorities, constraints, insights, and nervous-system load. Confidence and boundaries doesn’t automatically return once childcare settles. It’s rebuilt through clarity, safety, and self-trust and support.
This is where traditional leadership narratives fall short. They often ignore identity change and focus only on capability or if you are lucky on your flexible arrangements. That's if you are lucky. In a lot of workplaces women are simply expected to compartmentalise and act as if nothing had happened.
Many of the women I work with aren’t lacking ambition. They’re renegotiating how ambition fits into a fuller, more complex life. They are not regressing, they have a completely changed world view and are maturing through their experience.
Some of the most common things I hear from mothers in leadership, soon after return to work:
“I’m functioning. I’m delivering. But it just takes so much effort”
“Am I still credible?”
“Am I asking for too much?”
“Am I visible enough?”
“Do they think I no longer want the promotion because I leave on the dot to run to the nursery?”
"What about "me" time, how can I carve that out into this mad juggle?"
When women expend energy proving they still belong, there’s less capacity for strategic thinking, creativity, and long-term leadership impact. Which in my humble opinion, makes it not only a motherhood issue. It’s a leadership sustainability and retention issue.
And it matters whether organisations, and individuals of course, recognise the return to work after maternity leave as a leadership transition, rather than a temporary wobble to push through. Providing support at this point doesn’t mean lowering standards. It means providing solid handrails while someone finds their footing again.
Interestingly, when women are properly supported during this phase, they often emerge as more grounded, values-led, and decisive leaders than before. I know this, I’ve been there, and I see it with so many of my beautiful clients. They emerge with these brand new leadership superpowers. I've said it before and I'll say it again.
What actually helps during the return-to-work transition:
First and foremost recognising the return to work as a leadership transition, not a confidence, commitment or ambition problem
Having structured space to think and feel heard and seen
Rebuilding confidence through aligned decisions, not reassurance
Feeling met and accepted, rather than assessed and judged.
This applies whether you’re three weeks back, six months back, or years on but still carrying quiet doubt. And if you’re reading this as a leader, manager, or HR professional:
Returning to work after maternity leave deserves the same care as any major leadership transition.
So here we go just like January doesn’t need a harder push. Neither does the return to work. It just needs better understanding.
That’s the conversation I’ll continue holding space for here, for women navigating this moment, and for the systems around them.