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How To Negotiate Flexible Working When Your Boss Is A Dinosaur

By Amanda Alexander

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 19Mar2010
Word count: 559
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There is little to match the exuberance or ecstatic feelings that you and your whole family share when a new arrival is on the way. This is one of the most momentous times of your family life and for an expectant mother can be simply amazing.

Friends and acquaintances will also be over the moon and will all look forward to the big day with much anticipation.

You could be forgiven for thinking that the whole world would be happy for you and while this is largely the case, sometimes you may encounter an element of negativity.

Surely, your boss is happy for you, but he or she may not be on quite the same level as everyone else and be particularly concerned with the operation of the business. In fact, in this case the business may come squarely in first place and you may have to be particularly persuasive if you are considering flexible working hours for your busy times ahead.

If your boss is something of a dinosaur when it comes to flexibility in these situations, then you will have to be creative if not very persuasive.

If you have a friend and co-worker who has been in your position before, now is the time to have a down-to-earth chat and to see whether she was able to achieve any two-way communication with the boss and how she handled the situation. While you are at this research stage, talk to other friends in other industries or professions and see what solutions they were able to come up with.

This is the time to be very creative and forward thinking and consider telecommuting or working from home. The good news is that this is becoming more and more of a trend as companies seek to save overheads. If the kind of work you do supports this, all the better.

Above all else, you must first decide what would be the absolutely ideal situation for you. In other words, be careful what you wish for!

Look for an ideal scenario and come up with options for less-than-perfect deals. Look at your home commitments first before asking for something you might not be able to accommodate.

Be strategic, yet careful when you discuss ideas and options with colleagues. If you all collectively share a workload, see how you could come up with ideas to divide the work accordingly, giving you a more flexible schedule. You must be willing to pull your weight in other areas and above all else make sure that you are confident it would be a win/win/win situation for the colleagues, the employer and yourself.

If your job essentially allows you to complete certain tasks regardless of time, or what used to be known as a "job and finish" situation, determine whether you would be able to do this during your personal time as part of a newly revised schedule.

The more you can show your boss that you would be equally as productive, if not more productive by working a flexible schedule, the more the dinosaur is likely to stop chewing the vegetation and listen to you!

Online life coaching can be another source of research for you. Coaching for women can generally help by suggesting various options for a variety of situations. Professional coaching is not just for sports players or executives anymore!

Amanda Alexander, Director of Coaching Mums, helps pressure-cooked, exhausted working mums who long for more hours in the day and space to think. Through professional coaching programmes and online coaching courses, Amanda helps mums to create a balanced, fulfilling life that works for them. For self-coaching tips tailored to working mums, sign up for Inspire, our free newsletter, at coachingmums.com

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