Useful Points For Negotiating Flexible Working With A Stubborn Boss

When you find out that a new arrival is on the way, there is little to match that feeling of ecstasy or exuberance that your whole family will share with you. 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. You may soon come to realise that the business is classified squarely in first position in the eyes of your boss and if you want to consider flexible working hours as you go forward, you are going to have to be really persuasive.

You may come to find that your boss is really a dinosaur and can be very inflexible, unfortunately, so you will have to call on all your powers of creativity and persuasiveness.

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. Now is the time to do a lot of research and to find what solutions could be available to you, according to other friends or acquaintances in other professions or industries.

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.

Don't forget, that you must work out what would be the ideal situation for you, first and foremost. Be sure of what you are doing, as after all, remember that you must be careful what you wish for!

Look for an ideal scenario and come up with options for less-than-perfect deals. Above all else, look at your home situation and understand what you will be able to accommodate before asking.

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 more than willing to pull your weight, of course, and before you consider approaching others or your boss with the idea, be fully confident that it will be a win/win/win position for everybody.

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!

Contemplate online life coaching as a valuable source of research. Luckily, coaching for women can generally help by suggesting various options for a variety of situations. In this day and age, professional coaching is not just for sports players or executives any more!

Amanda Alexander is the Director of Coaching Mums and a widely renowned ICF-accredited coach who delivers professional coaching programmes to working mums across the globe who long for more time, balance and fulfilment in their busy lives. Download our free eBook especially for working mums with 5 easy ways to achieve balance.