The First 90 Days - Expat Style

Michael Watkins wrote the book on adapting to a new role, “The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter”.  In the Amazon advertising page he points out, “While transitions offer a chance to start fresh and make needed changes in an organization, they also place leaders in a position of acute vulnerability. Missteps made during the crucial first three months in a new role can jeopardize or even derail your success.”

If this is true for people transitioning into leadership roles at home, how much more vulnerable are those transitioning into expat roles where not just the role or the organization is different but also the background culture, underlying systems and unwritten rules of relationships? 

In any leadership role the new leader needs to prepare him / herself.  As Watkins says, adopt a learning approach, devise the most appropriate strategy, aim for early wins, build critical relationships with the new boss, new team and the new cohort and keep his / her balance while achieving results.  

Click to read more ...

Changing Climates

It’s mid winter here, Downunder.  Some of you may not be aware of that fact.  I’ve received a number of emails in the past week wishing me a lovely summer, or helping me to prepare for summer break.  However, while those of you in the Northern hemisphere are thinking of beaches and sunbathing we are thinking of ski fields, central heating and snuggling under the doona  (duvet / quilt). 

I have heard stories from expats and migrants who moved here, unaware that the seasons were in opposition.  They arrived shivering in their summer weight clothing or sweating in their fur coats. 

But aside from getting your packing and shipping clothes in the right order, does moving climates matter?  Does the weather affect us and create another thing we need to adapt to?

Click to read more ...

Wrap your children in a rainbow

Moving globally may be a great career move for you, or an opportunity for your global adventure, but your child may be viewing the move from a less positive perspective.

Children’s concerns over leaving friends, loved ones or the home they have known are best acknowledged and supported. 

This weekend I was reminded of a great way to do that. 

Click to read more ...

Expats - don't leave before the end

I was at a rock concert on Saturday. 

That’s not a sentence I write very often!

In reality it was a picnic alongside a rock concert.  

A Day on the Green -four bands playing in a vineyard.  The main act was legendary Australian band Hunters and Collectors.  It was a great concert with the crowd dancing and singing along for many of our old favourites. 

Like all bands they left the stage with the crowd wanting more. So we clapped and shouted “more, more, more”, knowing they would come back, waiting for classics yet to be played.  Some people around us began to pack up, and many, including the people beside us, left the ground. 

“How can they leave?” I wondered, “They haven’t played ‘Throw Your Arms Around Me’ yet.” The band returned to screams and thundering applause and played another bracket that included the song I’d been waiting for.   But the people beside us had missed it.  They’d already gone.

Click to read more ...

The Sounds of Relocation

“Australian birds are so noisy”, my sister, visiting from New Zealand, complained about the wake-up calls outside her window.  We helpfully ran through some of the potential culprits,

Kookaburra? 

Cockatoo? 

Kurrawong?

Click to read more ...