Expat partners matter

Expat partners matter for a number of reasons. 

Global mobility reports like the Brookfield surveys have consistently shown us that expat partners matter right at the beginning of your talent search.  For family reasons, some partners refuse to become expat partners and your employee refuses the offer of an overseas assignment.

“Family concerns continue to be the number one reason cited for assignment refusal and ... the third most common reason cited was spouse/ partner career.” Brookfield Global Relocation Trends 2013 Survey report

Expat partners (those who do take up the challenge of an assignment) matter because they are traditionally one of the top reasons for early return from assignments. 

“The most common reason cited for the early return from assignment has traditionally been family concerns, although the percentage of those indicating family concerns (23%) slipped behind the percentage indicating acceptance of another position within the company (25%) to become the second most common reason for the premature end to assignment in this year’s survey report.”

Don’t misread me here – I am very aware that assignment failure rates are much lower than often quoted by service providers trying to scare you into purchasing services.

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Dancing with uncertainty – a critical skill in cross cultural relocation

Jonathan Fields, is releasing a book tomorrow.  

Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance.  He has challenged people to share their stories of the times they have “danced with uncertainty …and won…where you felt the butterflies, the anxiety and fear, where you thought about turning back, maybe you even did, but then turned back around and ended up creating, or becoming or doing something amazing.”

 My first thought wasn’t of my own dances but of the people I work with who are often stepping out into new lives in very different locations, lives they may not have personally considered but may be going to because of a job or a partner or a parent.  They are often feeling butterflies, anxiety and sometimes fear.  And then I remembered it was my own dance to China with a young family in the early 90s that got me into this work. 

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Running in the wind

It was blowing a gale when I went for my run the other day.  Truly.  Gusts ranged from 60 knot winds through the 70s and at one stage it was even 80 knots.  Running in a gale is quite fun when it’s behind you but my route is an “undulating circuit”.  So I turned the corner at the bottom of the first hill and it hit me full in the face and left me gasping for air.  And sort of running on the spot.  It immediately took me back to when we lived in Wellington (New Zealand).  I ran my first fun run there and the training involved a lot of hills and a lot of gales.  If you didn’t run in a gale in Wellington, you didn’t run very often.

It got me thinking about places I have lived in and adapted to exercising in.  Perth (Australia) was hot, at least for someone who moved from Wellington.  It was midsummer when we first arrived and the 35-45 degree days were too much for me to run in. A swimming pool in the backyard was a continuous joy! But gradually it cooled somewhat and my need to pound the pavement overcame my fear of heat collapse.  I learnt to run carrying a water bottle and never left home without a hat, sunglasses and sunscreen.

Hefei  (PRC) was humid in summer and freezing in the winter.  But the greater inhibitor there was my desire not to be regarded as an object of curiosity by the locals.  Or perhaps it was an object of insanity.  My bright red jogging face was a great concern for the locals.  Again I tried other forms of exercise but the jogging shoes were calling and eventually I put my embarrassment aside and learnt to run in the humidity, ignoring the stares.

When we think about moving to different places we often think of the bigger stuff we’ve learnt.  Languages, cultural insights, relationship skills, cooking styles, but sometimes the little things can be important too.  Each little adaptation makes it easier to live in the new location. Changing small but incremental aspects makes the bigger adaptations more likely.  

And for me, making changes that enabled me to continue doing the things that were my joy, that took me into flow and brought stress relief – this brought me far greater satisfaction than the effort required.  This was flexing my adaptation muscles for real strength development!

What little things have you adapted to in different locations that have made your life better?  Let me know in the comments below!