The Role of Self-Care in Women’s Leadership Programs

The Role of Self-Care in Women’s Leadership Programs 

Self-care plays an important role in supporting our overall health and wellbeing, both physically and mentally. For one thing, allowing enough time for self-care allows us to invest in ourselves by taking time out from our work so that we can do things we enjoy, or which are important to us – for example, pursuing a hobby or spending time with family and friends.

Self-care also means things like ensuring we are getting enough sleep, eating healthy food and nutritious food that fuels our bodies, practicing mindfulness and gratitude, and not being afraid to say no when we are overcommitting or overworking ourselves. 

Self-care helps to promote better physical, mental, and emotional health and wellbeing, as it gives us a break from work and the demands of life as a female leader. Having this “time out” can prevent us from becoming overstressed, overtired, and burnt out. 

Despite this, allowing enough time for self-care is something that can often be easier said than done. Life as a female leader is often busy, with a never-ending list of to-dos, competing priorities, and deadlines, with your people always looking to you for guidance and direction. The demands of leadership can be particularly significant for female leaders, as they often have other responsibilities such as parenting and household duties to balance with their responsibilities as a woman in leadership.

As a result, many female leaders find themselves putting self-care on the backburner, as quite often it seems like there are just not enough hours in the day. In fact, a significant number of women reports feeling like they never have enough time for self-care. Research shows that only around 32% of women make time for self-care in their day-to-day routines. 

Unfortunately, not making self-care a priority can have a number of detrimental impacts on the physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing of female leaders. These can include feeling burnt out, overwhelmed, stressed, and anxious. Not allowing enough time for self-care can also put women leaders at a greater risk of experiencing mental health issues like anxiety, depression, and increased stress. In turn, this can have a knock-on impact on their physical health and put them at greater risk of health conditions like heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, obesity, diabetes, and other physical symptoms of stress. 

Female leaders who engage in adequate self-care are likely to enjoy better physical and mental health and wellbeing than female leaders who do not, and they are also likely to be better leaders as a result. Given this, self-care is something that is being talked about and emphasised more and more in women’s leadership programs. These programs are designed to help women in leadership develop important skills that will enable them to be effective and thrive as leaders.

These skills include communication, negotiation, conflict resolution, decision making, problem solving, influencing, and emotional intelligence. Self-care is just one of the many skills that female leaders can develop through these kinds of programs. 

Women’s leadership programs play an important role in empowering women leaders to enjoy a good work-life balance that ensures they have enough time for proper self-care. Many women’s leadership programs teach women strategies that allow them to ensure they are making time for themselves in their busy daily routines. A lot of these programs will also talk about how women can treat themselves with compassion and be kind to themselves – something that also plays a role in self-care. 

Examples of how female leaders can establish an adequate self-care routine include things like not being afraid to delegate to reduce their own workload or blocking out time in their diaries for it just as they would any other meeting, deadline, or commitment. These are just a few examples, though women’s leadership programs teach female leaders a range of other strategies they can use to ensure they are allowing enough time in their days for self-care.

Working with a coach or mentor can also be a valuable tool for many female leaders, as many find value in working with someone who has walked the path before them, who can provide them with their insights and firsthand experiences with balancing life as a leader with creating a good work-life balance. 

Given the many benefits that proper self-care can have for women leaders, it is important that this is something that continues to be encouraged through women’s leadership programs. These programs aim to equip aspiring and current women leaders with the tools, resources, and support they need to thrive as leaders, whilst still having a good work-life balance and enough time for self-care.

 

Caroline Kennedy is an award-winning CEO with a track record of leading multinational companies with up to $250 million in revenue. She is also the founder of Empowering Women Leaders: Awaken the Powerful Leader Within – a transformative eight-week program designed to help women master the art of leadership. If you’re ready to unleash your hidden potential and become the leader that you were always meant to be, find out more at https://www.carolinekennedy.com.au/women-leadership-program/.