Leading Through Perimenopause: Managing Yourself When Others Depend on You
Perimenopause can affect emotional regulation, memory, and management style. This guide helps leaders navigate the transition without losing effectiveness.
The Particular Demands Perimenopause Places on Leaders
Leadership roles demand sustained emotional regulation, rapid decision-making, clear communication, and the ability to hold complexity without becoming visibly overwhelmed. These are precisely the capacities that perimenopause can temporarily affect. Mood fluctuations can make emotional regulation feel effortful in ways it never used to. Working memory changes mean that names, figures, or details that once came instantly require more effort to retrieve. Fatigue from disrupted sleep reduces the cognitive reserve that leaders draw on during difficult conversations or high-pressure situations. None of this means perimenopause is incompatible with leadership. Many of the most effective leaders in their organisations are navigating this transition at this very moment. But doing so with awareness of what is happening, and some deliberate strategies, is considerably easier than doing so in the dark.
Emotional Regulation and Management Style
Emotional volatility is one of the more challenging aspects of perimenopause for people in people-facing roles. Irritability, a lowered threshold for frustration, or an unexpectedly tearful response to a mundane situation can be confusing and distressing, particularly for someone accustomed to composure. Understanding that these responses are hormonally mediated rather than characterological is important. They reflect fluctuating oestrogen levels, not who you are. Practical strategies help. Creating a brief internal pause before responding to something that triggers strong emotion, even a few seconds, reduces the likelihood of reacting in a way you later regret. Being aware of your highest-risk times, whether that is in the hour after a poor night's sleep, in the late afternoon, or in the week before your period, helps you prepare and set expectations for yourself. If possible, defer difficult conversations to times when you feel more regulated.
Working Memory, Decision-Making, and Cognitive Strategies
Working memory is the cognitive function used to hold information actively in mind while processing it. Leadership depends on it constantly: tracking multiple threads in a meeting, recalling relevant context while listening to a report, holding a strategic decision in mind while a colleague presents alternatives. Perimenopause can reduce working memory capacity, and this shows up in meetings, in complex negotiations, and in writing that requires holding an entire argument in mind simultaneously. Compensatory strategies are genuinely effective. Taking brief notes during meetings rather than trusting your memory allows you to track the thread without losing it. Building in a review moment before key decisions reduces errors. Using structured frameworks for decision-making creates an external scaffold that working memory does not need to carry. These are not signs of weakness but practical intelligence.
How Symptoms Can Affect Your Management Style
Leaders often have a well-developed sense of their own style and how they come across to their teams. Perimenopause can introduce unexpected deviations that are disorienting for both the leader and their reports. A manager who is typically measured and approachable may find themselves being sharper in tone than intended. A decisive leader may experience unusual hesitancy. A calm presence may feel more reactive under pressure. These changes are often temporary and closely related to the most acute phases of the transition, but they can affect team dynamics if left unaddressed. Checking in with a trusted peer or mentor about how you are coming across is a practical step. It provides accurate feedback that your own perception may not be giving you, and it demonstrates the self-awareness that effective leadership requires regardless of health.
Creating Psychological Safety for Disclosure
Leaders who are open about navigating perimenopause make it possible for others to do the same. Many women say that the barrier to asking for adjustments is the perceived stigma, not the actual response of their employer. When a senior leader normalises the conversation in an appropriate context, whether in a team meeting or a one-to-one, this shifts the culture meaningfully. You do not need to share anything you are not comfortable sharing. Even noting that perimenopause is something the team can talk about openly removes the silence that amplifies stigma.
Building Resilience Systems Around Your Leadership
Effective leaders in any circumstance build systems that do not rely entirely on their own individual performance on any given day. Perimenopause makes this even more important. Delegating meaningfully, not just tasks but the authority to make decisions, means the team continues to function well on days when you are not at your sharpest. Documenting processes and context reduces the burden on your memory. Investing in strong deputies or seconds-in-command creates resilience that benefits the whole organisation, not just you. These practices are consistent with good leadership regardless of perimenopause, but the transition creates a useful prompt to build them more deliberately if they have not been in place before. Building a team that does not depend entirely on you is both good management and good self-care.
Role-Modelling Wellbeing at a Structural Level
Leaders set the cultural tone for how people in their organisation treat their own health and wellbeing. Taking your own lunch break, leaving at a reasonable time, being honest about your own health when appropriate, and not rewarding presenteeism all signal to your team that wellbeing is valued. During perimenopause, where the temptation may be to push through and hide what you are experiencing, modelling a different approach has organisational value beyond your own situation. The PeriPlan app lets you log symptoms and track patterns over time, which can help you identify your most sustainable working patterns and protect your capacity as a leader. Understanding your own rhythms and needs is the foundation of managing yourself effectively, and managing yourself effectively is the foundation of managing others well.
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