Curated Solutions for Your Overwhelm with Natalie Benamou

Today host and Founder of HerCsuite™ Natalie Benamou is “fired up” about the business imperative that is a driving force at HerCsuite™- Reducing Overwhelm for women and their organizations.

Personal Journey: I have been driven my whole career… on a superhighway to success as HerCsuite™ member Jen Pestikas, podcast host of Brave Women at work calls it. Driven to go the extra mile. Always achieving. Even when at the height of my sales career, selling $20 million a year, it never quite felt like I had arrived. In fact, it was always surprising to be asked-‘what is your sales secret?' Reaching that level of success happened while I had two young daughters, was traveling, and working all the time; the stress was always there.

Fast forward to today. Thinking back to those days, my heart goes out to every mother who has had to juggle so much more than the usual schedule during the pandemic.

There is a common thread, a theme that comes up in every conversation: ‘I am overworked and under-resourced. I am burnt out. I don't know how to do more…'

And yet, we tell women in order to succeed you need to work harder. Do more. Volunteer. Raise your hand. Don't miss out on life's moments. The result of being on that superhighway is that when the stress starts to increase, instead of being in the fast lane, you start to feel like you are about to be Thelma and Louise driving off that cliff.

Does this sound like where you are today? I feel you. As someone who has been in the fast lane a long time, it can be hard to take a breadth. To realize you should be taking time to simply Be.

The Business Case for Reducing Overwhelm

The reality of the 5.4 million women leaving the workforce is that women who are left behind are doing 2 and 3 people's roles until those positions are backfilled. All the while, they are also balancing the demands of their personal lives-being a caregiver, a teacher, a friend, mother, daughter, sister the list goes on and on. 

Each time a member of a team leaves…the pieces must get picked up by someone. Or the work, whatever that was, is left undone. It is a domino effect, on the organization and the bottom line. You see the cost to replace that one person- the 1.5x isn't the full story. There is the ripple effect of increased stress and, customer experience or delivery decline in the interim.

Employee Groups Need External Resources

One of the best ways women find supported is inside an employee resource group where they can share experiences and find others who relate to their situation. These organizations are led by volunteers. The interesting thing is that as part of the organization, programs are recommended to be hosted for the members. Here comes the overwhelm and under resourced feeling again.

While fulfilling your role and backfilling other roles, you might also be asked to plan events for your employee group. One the highest stress professional jobs is an event planner-in fact it ranks as 5th across all industries.

Lightbulb Moment

Recently we had an aha moment at HerCsuite™. What if we can help women do less? What if employees had a concierge resource to support them and remove the stress of planning programs?

In response to these questions, we created the first cross organization mentorship program for Coupa and three other organizations https://hercsuite.com/press-release-herpower2-inc-and-coupa-empower-partner-to-make-professional-mentorship-more-accessible-for-women/. Creating an easy to use mentor-mentee matching services for mentor circles for organizations like Terumo BCT helped simplify the process.  Mentoring and matching is only part of the stress reduction formula.

Outcome Driven Results

Becoming a go-to resource extension and providing programs with speakers, registration and hosting has taken that stress role out of the hands of volunteers. The experience for ERG members attending the events has included gaining outside perspectives and a positive impact on reducing overwhelm.

One program we recently held was an amazing event called Owning Your Purpose with a HerCsuite™ member and coach, Christine Render, CEO of Scale Up Coaching and Consulting. She guided members of our Coupa Empower Mentorship program on strategies to own our purpose. A key takeaway is that your purpose will change over time, and there is no right answer only the answer that is right for you.

Only you know the stress and overwhelm level you are experiencing today. My hope is that whatever that is, you find your tribe, your people, your support network who will lift you up. Here is to us all taking time out of our day today to just Be.

Find out more about how HerCsuite™ is curating solutions to reduce overwhelm here: https://tinyurl.com/bfa2x7k7. Schedule a call today and let's curate solutions to reduce your overwhelm https://tinyurl.com/5hfm82at

Thank you to Julie Deem, our podcast editor and Meghan Draper our Creative Digital Solutions and CX Director !