A generation or so ago it was traditional for the husband within a marriage to have a career and for the wife to raise the children at home. While this program might have worked perfectly back then, life is wildly different in this day and age, as both members in almost every relationship seem to have busy jobs to think about when planning for a family.

The prospect of balancing career obligations with child rearing can be very daunting, but especially so if you are in charge of the business. As the Managing Director, you have a great deal of additional responsibility and you’re the individual who makes all the hard decisions. It might be difficult to imagine how the business can operate without you, so what is going to happen when you need to take months away on maternity leave?

As the person in charge, your main responsibilities have to be addressed far before your absence, and you’ll need to constantly look for ways to manage your time more effectively in the meantime. Time management, as we know, is critical as a business leader and you will now find that you have two babies to watch – your newborn and your business interest!

By formulating a plan on how you’ll efficiently manage your priorities, you can set up ideal strategies, goals and rules that will help you perform to the highest of standards at work, and when you’re at home, enjoy your time fully.

Consider what additional support you will need both as a manger and as a mother once your baby is born and you return to work. For example, what contingency plans can you put in place if your child becomes ill and nursery imposes one week isolation? Or if you are lucky enough to have a live-in nanny, what would you do if (or when) she isn’t at her best, takes off on holiday or leaves? This is something that they don’t teach at ante-natal classes, but it pays to explore back up plans before it happens!

A surprising number of senior managers and CEOs get involved with professional coaching to help them plan a smooth transition going into, during and after maternity leave.

In senior positions coaching for women is now commonplace and it’s certainly a sound investment in your work life integration as well as your business! You may well be used to working with consultants in other areas of the business to help you run your operation efficiently, so why not consider online life coaching as well?

Communication with all stakeholders is paramount – colleagues, employees and most importantly customers. If you inform customers of your forthcoming absence and let them know how you intend to cover for this to ensure a seamless service to them, you will grow their loyalty. Now is certainly the time to nurture the relationships with your existing client base rather than developing new ones, as you will not be able to closely oversee the delicate process of rapport building new clients.

As a leader, you are probably well aware of the importance of delegation. However, if this has not been your forte, now is the time to build up your delegation muscle! As you get closer towards your maternity leave, increase the delegation and make sure that you are training your “number two” in as many areas as you can safely hand over.

In short, your four essential success criteria for planning a smooth transition to your maternity leave are:

1. Seek Support

2. Plan

3. Communicate

4. Delegate

Once you’ve done what you can to prepare for your absence, relax and enjoy your new “promotion” to motherhood!

Amanda Alexander is the CEO of Coaching Mums. She is a widely renowned ICF accredited coach, who for more than six years, has been providing her services to thousands of working moms from across the Globe in an effort to bring balance back into their lives, help them lose their guilt, show them how to find the time to reinvent their passions, and most of all, to have fun every day! For truly inspiring articles and cutting edge professional coaching tips, sign up to receive our absolutely brilliant free newsletter “Inspire”, right now!