The Lumière Observership Program: activating a woman's returnship journey

musings from an observer's diary

To work or not to work

For a woman, the decision to take a career break or to rejoin the workforce is not taken overnight. On the contrary, it comes through many nights of deliberation and weighing the pros and cons of these decisions.

Surprisingly, most of the time she doesn't keep herself at the center of this crucial decision. Whether it is relocation due to marriage, taking a break for child care, or being a primary caregiver for elderly parents, her decisions are fundamentally influenced either by her life stage and its demands on her time and effort, or by the lack of professional growth opportunities.

The decision and its consequences

Taking a break or rejoining the workforce are decisions that come with their share of ramifications on various aspects of her life. And while family, friends, and other societal structures can play their part in providing her the needed support, it is a journey she has to navigate on her own.

In this journey, one of the most crucial parts to manage is her mental and emotional well-being. Self-doubt, fear, lack of confidence, anxiety, and many such myriad emotions become a part of her mental chatter, and it is a challenge not to get consumed by this negativity.

Strengths-based approach: a pathway to rediscovery

Hence, the Strength-based transformational coaching approach that Lumière adopts to enable women to navigate their returnship journey plays a pivotal role in silencing this negative self-talk and regaining their lost self-confidence and self-belief. The emphasis on CliftonStrengths assessment, followed by a structured coaching program, serves as the first step in helping her rediscover her sense of self and identity, providing her with appropriate tools and techniques to leverage her talents.