Designing Leave That Strengthens Culture, Retains Talent, and Reinforces Performance

Parental leave isn’t just time away. It’s a major identity and life transition.

For many employees, it becomes the moment they reassess ambition, loyalty, and long-term fit. Organizations often focus on the leave policy but not the experience around it.

Join Sixth Wing for a candid, human-centered conversation about how thoughtful parental leave design and leadership support can strengthen culture, retain top talent, and reinforce long-term organizational performance.

This is not a compliance webinar. It is a demonstration of how we approach leadership development in real time, where identity, ambition, culture, and performance intersect.

What We’ll Explore
• Why returning to work is often harder than the leave itself

• The reintegration challenge and the complexity that leaders underestimate

• The emotional realities of guilt, fear of losing ground, and shifting identity

• How managers can support without absorbing the entire workload

• Why leave policies are table stakes, and experience is the differentiator

• The difference between the benefits that attract talent and the support that retains it

We will examine parental leave through both a strategic talent lens and a deeply human one. From performance continuity to psychological safety, from operational design to cultural signaling, this session explores what organizations consistently get wrong and how to get it right.

Who Should Attend
• Executive leaders
• HR and Human Capital leaders
• Expecting parents
• Clients and prospective partners
• Anyone shaping culture inside their organization

Whether you are preparing to take leave, supporting someone who is, or designing organizational-level policy, you will leave with practical insights and a broader leadership perspective.

Panelists
Lindsay Previdi
Head of Human Capital Strategy, Freestone Grove Partners
Offering the organizational lens on how parental leave experience, not just policy, shapes retention and culture.

Kellie Mix
Executive Coach, Sixth Wing
Sharing from the perspective of someone preparing to step into parental leave and navigating the identity and leadership considerations firsthand.

Lacey Sladky and Joe Delaney
Executive Coaches, Sixth Wing
Actively coaching leaders through parental leave transitions, offering perspective on identity shifts, maintaining leadership momentum, and exploring how parenthood can deepen leadership capacity.

Matt Sitter
CEO, AFN | Partner, Sixth Wing
Facilitating the discussion and connecting themes across leadership philosophy, performance, and culture.

Why This Conversation Matters
How an organization handles parental leave sends a powerful signal.

Handled thoughtfully, it reinforces trust, models values, and strengthens long-term performance. Handled poorly, it quietly undermines retention and culture.

Parental leave is not a pause in leadership. It is a leadership inflection point.

All attendees will receive The Parental Leave Leadership Moment: A Practical Tool for Navigating the First 90 Days Back, a resource designed to help both leaders and employees approach reintegration with clarity, intention, and shared expectations.