Power of the Parent 9: S6 Ep9: Avoiding Performative Action

1. You can still utilise a ‘calendar’ approach, but make it transformational
2. Let people share the in between moments
3. Partnerships (and it’s not all about writing a cheque…do we even still use those?!)

Episode Transcript

Hello and welcome to Power of the Parent, the podcast. This series is a new format and we are going to be focusing on a different topic each week, bringing you three things you need to know about whatever that may be, mainly from an employer perspective. But of course, there’s plenty of reframing that parents could do to benefit from the content as well.

We will be covering everything from parental leave transitions, managing boundaries, what to do when your talent pipeline looks a bit dodgy, tips on gathering feedback, and things like establishing parental support networks.  So let’s dive in.

Today we are talking about how to avoid performative action. I don’t think any of us are immune to the eye roll when we see a company suddenly start being a supporter of Something that, you know, they’ve not engaged with before and probably won’t engage with again.  One of the projects I had with a client a couple of years ago was to unpick the damage they’d unintentionally caused by running events during Baby Loss Awareness Week and then didn’t have any sort of policy to back up what they were saying.  And they were swimming in anecdotes of dodgy line manager behaviour when it came to supporting employees through some of the most traumatic moments of their lives. So with an abundance of calendars available out there, when it comes to recognizing national days, weeks, and months,  how do we make sure that we’ve got that blend acknowledging them, but also not being a flash in the pan? 

So the three things I’m going to talk about today are one, you can still use a calendar approach, but make it transformational. Two, let people share the in between times. And three, partnerships. So let’s dive in a little deeper.

So first up, you can still utilise a calendar approach, but make it transformational. There are so many resources online telling you which month is celebrating what or the days of remembrance. Some might call it low hanging fruit because the information is so accessible and it is good stuff. Those national and international days, weeks and months have the potential to be wonderful platforms for raising conversation and awareness. 

However, we do need to make sure that we back this stuff up with longer lasting organisational narrative. So, think about how you can use the calendar approach to be truly transformational. Plot out the comms and activities in the run up to a day in a more public way, so that it doesn’t look like you’ve scrabbled around in the week before to sellotape something together. Talk about your intentions at the beginning of the year, reference what’s coming up in your established comms channels, and then after the moments have been observed, look at the opportunities for follow ups. Where are the opportunities to revisit the messaging and sentiments from the days and weeks you’ve observed?

Which leads me nicely into number two, which is let people share in between times.  I’m going to bring this to life with an example. I worked with an organisation to come up with activities for National Work Life Week in 2023.  There was all sorts going on, vlogging of life behind the scenes, story sharing about different flexible work setups, panel discussions, a relaunch of their flexible working policy, fireside chats with a cross section of the organisation to hear their realities. It really was brilliant.  And we wanted it to be a movement, not a moment. 

So alongside this focus week, we encourage these anecdotes and realities to be shared throughout the year. We created a section on the company update bulletin that kind of went out weekly, that people could volunteer to share what they were juggling, what had helped them and what had hindered. There was an internal podcast started to carry on the more in depth conversations with a new episode shared just monthly.

It wasn’t anything too intense   and it was low maintenance, but impactful.  They had a whole business get together twice a year that focused a lot on commercial performance and new product development. But during those get togethers, they now have a slot where there’s an update on the activity that started in National Worklife Week.

Most of these new things were maintained through existing channels, and they’re not about adding an obscene amount of extra time to people’s already busy days, but instead deepening their understanding of each other and making sure the cultural legacy is established. 

And finally, number three, Partnerships. There’s the obvious here, which is to think about charities and foundations you can support financially throughout the year, which I’m guessing most of you already consider,  but it’s not just about signing a cheque. It’s also about finding ways to offer practical support and perhaps partner in running events to raise awareness. 

It sends a really strong message about who you are as an employer. Not only do you say you’re supporting your people, you also make sure the ripple effects are going out into the world.  It could be things like partnering on research and insights, if that’s applicable to your organisation, running CV or practice interviews for people if you’re talking about getting people back into the workplace. Or perhaps even just offering up use of your office or event space to a charity. It could quite literally be anything.

That’s all for this week. I’ll be back next week with three things you need to know about crafting a strong return. 

Thank you so much for joining me for another episode of Power of the Parent with podcast. If you have got a few spare minutes, who am I kidding? Of course you haven’t got a few spare minutes, but if you would like to choose to spend a few of your minutes  giving me any sort of review or rating, I would massively appreciate it.

It does help other people find it. And it also lets me know that I’m hitting the spot with listeners. For more free resources, you can head to the show notes. where you’ll find a link to the Power of the Parent website, or do head on over to LinkedIn and give me a follow. Search Charlotte Speak and my grinning face should pop up.

Until next time, take care.