EXPATRIATE TRANSITION COACHING IN 4 STAGES

Stage 1

CONTEMPLATION & DECISION:

Should I take up the expatriate life challenge:

  • You have been thinking about living and working abroad for some time, but are still confused and need clarity if it is the right step to take to reach your personal and professional goals.
  • You are seriously considering making an international move, but have no unbiased ally helping you to gain clarity on your true motivations, creating an action plan and having an accountability partner to keep you on track, before, during and after your international travel.

Health & Wellbeing:

  • You have been offered a long awaited promotion, but it is in a “hardship” destination and you are concerned if and how your wellbeing will be affected.
  • Creating a sense of wellbeing is important to you, but you change countries frequently as part of your job and the stress affects you mentally and physically.

Relationships:

  • You have been offered an interesting international assignment by your company, but are not yet sure if uprooting yourself and/or family, partner at this stage in your life is the right step and needed for a fulfilling life.
  • Your essence is craving to live abroad to widen your horizon, but your family sees you as irresponsible and wants you to go the well travelled path of what they consider a successful life.
  • You take up the expat life as a single and face loneliness and struggle finding new friends, partnership and a supportive social network.

Responsibilities:

  • You are in your middle age and feel it is now or never to fulfill your dream of getting out of the corporate rat race and pursue a better work-life balance out of your home country, but you are concerned about leaving aging parents and important friends and other family members behind.
  • You want to take time off from your stable corporate job for a year and travel with your family, but are concerned about safety and finances.
  • You want to live, study or travel abroad, but feel guilty because taking care of your parents and siblings, adhering to family traditions and social expectations is part of the culture you were brought up into.

Career:

  • You consider taking up a job abroad but are offered a contract with local terms & conditions and you worry about job security and a potential financial loss.
  • Your company gives you the opportunity to take a sabbatical year, but you are not yet sure how to plan so that upon your return you have a new skill set to be used in your job.
  • You have a job that fulfills you and want to work location independent, but do not know how to proceed.

The contemplation & decision phases are important and difficult ones, because they are the first steps that move you from an idea towards a shift into the unknown future reality and it can stir up a lot of mixed emotions.

What I will work with you on during this stage:

  • Identifying your motivation for wanting to move (finding yourself vs. escaping yourself)
  • Expectations and managing them together with your fears and anxiety
  • Short and long-term personal and professional goals
  • Aligning your values and belief system with your travel plans
  • Awareness of limiting beliefs about the change process
  • Getting you to a commitment level of 10/10 to do what it takes to reach your expat living dream

Stage 2

PREPARATION & MOVE

  • Are you excited to move, but overwhelmed by all the preparation to do before moving and not sure about all that needs to be prepared? Are you concerned about all the possible cutting through the red tape, etc.?

Congratulations!  In step 1 we have identified together that an international move is in the best of your interest and you are committed to taking the necessary steps and we now get to the preparation of your move.

There are some people who fly by the seats of their pants and they like it that way, but those are mostly the ones who only have responsibility for themselves with no attachment. Some lightheartedness and spontaneity have their place in the expat adventure, but the important decisions need preparation especially if you have a family in tow you have responsibility for.

What I will work with you on during this stage:

  • We are creating an action plan for you to handle the move and the logistics to be done. If family members are part of the move we involve them in the action plan tasks.
  • I will keep you accountable for achieving the tasks on time
  • We will set realistic timelines so that you will not feel overwhelmed by all there is to do and keep an overall feeling of wellbeing and excitement about your new life
  • I work with you so you can effectively handle the move and all the logistics

Stage 3

THE TRANSITION FROM HONEYMOON TO CRISIS PHASE

Finances and Work restrictions

  • Are you a travelling spouse who has agreed to the international move, but now find it hard to financially depend on your partner, having given up your previous career and are not allowed to work because of work visa restrictions or you work in a job well below your qualifications?

Relationships:

  • Are you living an expat life, thrive in the excitement, but due to the transient nature of your assignment start to miss a reliable support network and meaningful friendships?
  • Are you a single women having taken on an international assignment in a patriarchal society, are professionally successful, but feel that you sacrifice your personal and sentimental life and are torn between staying or leaving?
  • Are you a married man or woman, drawn to the excitement of your new life and status, but now struggle to remain loyal to your old family values?
  • Have you decided to take up an international assignment for career advancement and providing financially better for your family, but your family decided to stay in your home country, making you feel lonely and left out of major milestones of your family back home?
  • As a single person, have you met a partner of a different culture in your newly adopted foreign land, but do not know how and where to plan your future?

Job:

  • Are you excited about managing cross-cultural teams in your new role, but are now realizing that you struggle with the local business environment?

Culture shock:

  • Have you taken the leap of faith and are living and working abroad and after the initial honeymoon phase when everything was new, the excitement is now wearing off, reality kicks in and you realize the grass is not always greener on the other side?

Where do I belong:

  • Do you like your life in your newly adopted country, but at the same time miss your home country and are torn between two new identities and how to combine those two?

If you have been sent by the company in your home country on a foreign assignment you might have had the support during the preparation and move stage, but that is where it often ends.

Once you have arrived in the foreign land, boxes unpacked, kids at their new school, new colleagues met, favorite grocery stores found, etc. you are on your own.

But it is during the transition from honeymoon to crisis phase when for many people the support is most needed, but they are on their  own, sometimes even without their partners as they face their own crisis.

Once the honeymoon phase is over and reality kicks in people are often left on their own.

What I will work with you on during this phase:

  • We identify if your initial plan and goals have changed and if you wish to change or re-adjust them
  • We re-evaluate your values to ensure they are still in alignment with those prior to living abroad

Stage 4

THE RETURN

  • Are you a long-term expat having decided to return to your home country, but struggle with reverse culture shock and nobody at home understands you?
  • Have you been away from your home country on several different foreign assignments and now lack a sense of belonging?
  • Were you looking forward to returning home and now you feel frustrated, alienated and critical of your own culture?
  • Were you looking forward to seeing your old friends and hoping you carry on with them from where you left, but realize no one really wants to hear about your experience and they cannot relate to it?
  • Have you gained valuable skills and experience abroad, but feel like your newly acquired cultural and practical coping skills are not relevant at home?

Reverse culture shock is real, your life has changed, you have changed and it takes patience to settle back in.

What I will work with you on during this phase:

  • We will find ways how you can apply your new knowledge and skills in your home environment
  • We will work on strategies how you can take part of your expat life back home with you when reverse homesickness kicks in
  • We will re-evaluate your goals and dreams after your return
  • We work on strategies to avoid boredom after returning from your expat assignment
  • We will work on re-adjusting in your home country

A FINAL WORD

All of the above challenges, blessings and dilemmas and many more are real to many current, would like to be, or planning to be expats.
Some of the challenges were and still are certainly true for me too and I have learnt the hard way and often on my own to work through them.

We certainly grow from many of those challenges, but an international move is already no walk in the park, therefore accepting an ally who wants to see you succeed and thrive in your new life can help you solve and avoid many pain points yourself, before, during and once you return to your home country.

I would be honored to go that journey with you. You might wish my help during all the stages or maybe just some of them, the decision is entirely yours.

Contact me for more information