The Leader You Are Now
A Workbook for Returning to Work After Maternity Leave
You're somewhere in the middle of one of the most significant transitions of your professional life. You've become a mother, and now you're preparing to return to work. It sounds straightforward when you describe it, and almost never feels that way when you're living it.
The return isn't just a logistical puzzle, even if logistics are how it shows up first. The harder questions are a lot more subtle. Who are you now, professionally? Have your priorities shifted in ways that change how you want to work, and if they have, what does that mean for the career you've built? Can you protect your time and energy without losing ground? Is the momentum you worked so hard for still waiting for you on the other side?
It is. And this workbook will help you find it again.
A 38-page workbook for high-performing women returning to work after maternity leave. Built around five practices: figuring out who you are now (identity), resetting expectations on both yourself and your organisation (expectations), protecting your capacity (capacity), building visible momentum without burning out (momentum), and redefining how you want to lead (how you lead now). This workbook includes reflection prompts, real coaching scenarios, and a worksheets for re-using the tools long after the first read. Find out more.
What’s Inside
This isn't a generic "back to work" guide focused on logistics. It's a 38-page workbook designed to help you navigate the return as a person, not just a project and to step back into your work as the leader you are now, rather than the one you were before becoming a mother.
Who Are You Now?
The identity piece is the one women are usually least prepared for. This section closes the gap between who you were before and who you are now. You'll get honest about what's changed, name what you want to keep, and make a deliberate choice about who you want to be at work going forward. Ends with your Identity Compass, a reference point you'll come back to throughout your return.
Get Clear on What Matters Now
Two things have changed while you were on leave: your organisation, and you. This section helps you reset expectations on both fronts and build a realistic 30-90 Day Return Plan, one that accounts for your whole life, including the parts that aren't on your work calendar.
Protect Your Capacity
Capability and capacity are not the same thing — and this is one of the most common places women get tripped up coming back. This section unpacks why boundaries feel so hard after maternity leave, what effective ones look like in a high-performance environment, and helps you build a Capacity Protection Plan with one non-negotiable boundary you'll hold for the first 90 days.
Build Visible Momentum
Real momentum doesn't come from being in every meeting or answering every email at 9pm. It comes from being clear about what you're working toward, visible in the moments that count, and consistent in what you deliver. This section helps you build a sustainable weekly rhythm that keeps you moving forward without burning you out.
Redefine How You Lead
The way you lead will evolve after becoming a mother — that part isn't optional. What is optional is whether that evolution happens by default or by design. This section helps you reconnect with your strengths, clarify the values that matter most to you now, and write a Leadership Statement that reflects the leader you actually are today.
What You’ll Get
The complete 38-page workbook (PDF) — designed to be worked through over four to six weeks at your own pace. Includes Identity Compass, Return Plan, Capacity Plan, Momentum Plan, and Leadership Statement
Lifetime access — both files yours to download, print, and return to as often as you need
A 38-page workbook for high-performing women returning to work after maternity leave. Built around five practices: figuring out who you are now (identity), resetting expectations on both yourself and your organisation (expectations), protecting your capacity (capacity), building visible momentum without burning out (momentum), and redefining how you want to lead (how you lead now). This workbook includes reflection prompts, real coaching scenarios, and a worksheets for re-using the tools long after the first read. Find out more.
Who Is This For
New people leaders who can already feel that there aren’t enough hours in the day
Mid-career professionals working toward a promotion who know that doing more isn’t the path forward
High performers who recognise the pattern of staying late to finish things they could have delegated, but haven’t worked out how to break it
Senior individual contributors who’ve been told to “operate at the next level” but haven’t been given a roadmap
If you’ve ever rewritten a team member’s work at midnight and told yourself it was just easier this way — this workbook is for you.
What Makes This Different
Most leadership content is written for the leader who are looking to enhance their leadership skills. It skips the part where the doer in you is still desperately trying to keep producing, because that's how you've measured your value for years.
This workbook starts there, with the two parts of every high performer that don't always agree: the doer in you, who got you here, and the leader in you, who can take you further. The whole workbook is about helping those two parts work together rather than against each other.
Every framework, scenario, and worksheet in the book comes directly from coaching senior leaders through this exact transition. The work made self-guided, at a fraction of the cost.
About The Author
Written by Aliya Ladhani, founder of Base Pace Coaching. ICF-certified PCC coach with an MBA from INSEAD and 15+ years in senior leadership roles at Goldman Sachs, RBC, Manulife, and high-growth startups. Coaches senior professionals navigating leadership transitions, career clarity moments, and the return to work after maternity leave.
Format And Delivery
• Format: A PDF files (the workbook + worksheets-only), delivered instantly after purchase via email
• Length: 38 pages, designed for four to six weeks of structured engagement
• Pace: Self-guided. Work through it as fast or slow as suits you.
• Access: Download immediately and keep them forever
• Note on refunds: All sales are final, as this is a digital download you’ll have permanent access to
A 38-page workbook for high-performing women returning to work after maternity leave. Built around five practices: figuring out who you are now (identity), resetting expectations on both yourself and your organisation (expectations), protecting your capacity (capacity), building visible momentum without burning out (momentum), and redefining how you want to lead (how you lead now). This workbook includes reflection prompts, real coaching scenarios, and a worksheets for re-using the tools long after the first read. Find out more.