Globally Mobile - the family story

Sometimes, when I’m training or coaching international assignees it can feel like I’m in a Harvard Business Review case study. 

I can appreciate and understand the opportunities and challenges that the international assignee is facing.  I recognise the pressures on organisations globally to succeed and I’m familiar with the skills and competencies needed by those assignees in their new locations.  I am also familiar with the pressures faced by global mobility to get the assignee in country and operating as quickly as possible while keeping within the global policies of talent management, remuneration and benefits, and of course the international laws of immigration and taxation. 

But sometimes it’s the personal challenges that are most difficult to assist with. 

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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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Book Review: A Career in your suitcase

For many expatriates and those of us supporting them this book has been a staple on the ‘must-read’ list ever since it’s first edition in 1998.  This is the 4^th edition, not just reprinted but fully revised and updated. 

In this edition original author and prolific expat writer, Jo Parfitt, has been joined by career development expert Colleen Reichrath-Smith in a re-branded version that will speak to many in situations of career transition. Expat partners, global migrants and those considering a portable career doing work they love will find this book invaluable.

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Do expat partners need high cultural intelligence?

In all the work I do I am consistently espousing the importance of high cultural intelligence for successful expat performance.  Another thing I have a tendency to rave on about is the critical role of the partner (spouse) in a successful transition; in ensuring the assignment is completed and in ensuring the expat employee is working effectively.   In research terms, partner satisfaction mediates the outcomes for all of these variables.   

So it was really interesting to me to meet a researcher who was looking at expat spouses in China and the impact of CQ levels on their satisfaction.   (Regula and I met during a Cultural Intelligence Facilitator Certification course with David Livermore in Hong Kong and enjoyed a number of nerdy discussions about CQ and what her research is showing)    So what were the results?  I’ll let her tell you below…

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