Executive Coaching & Menopause at Work: Why Rhode Island’s Law Is a Boardroom Wake-Up Call
Executive coaching and diagnostics to protect pipeline and preserve promotability.
When Rhode Island became the first US state to require workplace accommodations for menopause, it did more than change HR guidance, it handed boards and leadership teams a mirror. At Lightbulb Leaders we see the mirror as an opportunity: to fix the hidden leaks that silently erode value, slow decisions and push promising leaders out of the pipeline.
We’re a leadership development and value-creation consultancy. We help organisations turn human complexity into predictable outcomes. That includes executive health and yes, that includes menopause at work. Ignoring it is no longer an option.
The simple business case
Menopause doesn’t always look dramatic. Often it looks like small, repeated frictions: a delayed decision, a declined trip, a leader who sounds less decisive in a critical meeting. Those micro-moments add up to measurable commercial drag. Rhode Island’s law forces employers to take this seriously, and that gives you permission to act before you lose talent or deals.
What boards and CHROs should actually do
Diagnose the problem, not the person. Start with an executive-grade diagnostic — we recommend running the Workplace NOPAUSE™ Scorecard across your senior teams. It maps where menopause is costing pipeline, performance and profitability and produces personalised precision scores to move the conversation from “feelings” to “facts.” (See our services: https://www.lightbulbleaders.com/services.)
Use executive coaching as the activation lever. Where diagnostics highlight risk, targeted executive coaching (for roles C → C-3) rebuilds decision architecture, restores presence and protects promotability. Coaching is the behavioural engine that converts clinical or policy fixes into sustained performance.
Embed the fix into governance. Put menopause at work on your talent risk register and succession reviews. Short-term accommodations must be matched with medium-term development otherwise you create stopgaps, not sustainability.
These steps aren’t academic. We’ve helped executive teams run programmes that reduce decision latency, restore capacity and preserve critical promotions. The ROI shows up in faster deal execution and fewer costly replacements.
Why Lightbulb and The Menopause Maze is a better answer
You shouldn’t have to invent solutions in-house. That’s why Lightbulb Leaders works with our sister company, The Menopause Maze the market-leading menopause performance specialists (and multi-award winners, including Business Coaching Service of the Year). Together we design leadership level executive coaching programmes that protect talent and accelerate value creation. When we combine diagnostics, coaching and governance, organisations get predictable outcomes, not guesswork.
A realistic 90-day sprint you can run next quarter
Weeks 1–2: Run the Workplace NOPAUSE™ Scorecard across your leadership layer. We’ll produce an anonymised risk map.
Weeks 3–6: Launch an executive coaching pod for your three highest-risk leaders (C → C-3), each with measurable KPIs (decision speed, presence, impact and influence).
Weeks 7–12: Deliver a board brief and a recalibrated succession map; measure impact and scale the programme if KPIs improve.
Run the workplace diagnostic to reveal where menopause is costing your business.
This is how you turn a legal prompt into strategic advantage.
The cost of inaction
Do nothing and you pay twice: once in hidden performance loss, and again in recruitment and replacement. Do this right and you preserve promotable leaders, protect institutional knowledge and accelerate execution, clear value creation.
If you want Lightbulb Leaders to design a confidential diagnostic, coaching and board brief, we’ll deliver a full ROI case in 60 days. Book a consultation: https://www.lightbulbleaders.com/services
The ROI of Menopause Support when you prioritise menopause at work
