Motivation for Change: The Human Factor Behind International Mobility
Pauline Six - Bright Expats
Being an expat is more than a status. It is a dynamic way of life, full of changes and transitions: an open mind to adopt when the change is coming that will make the Expat travel from one place to another and certainly will make him/her discover move about him/herself.
Knowing that the two leading reasons for assignments fail are (1) the change of business circumstances and (2) the family being unable to adapt to the host location, consider and take care of the people in the international mobility context is a must. Changing job from one country to another might be an opportunity for someone as it could be the first reason to turn down a job opportunity abroad for another.
Change versus Transition:
According to William Bridges (Managing Transitions), change is something that happens to people, even if they don't agree with it. Transition is internal: it is what happens in people's minds as they go through change. Change can happen very quickly, while transition usually occurs more slowly. For instance, in the context of moving abroad: the change is the relocation in itself. The transition is the emotions, the confusion, the excitement through which the expats goes.
The consequences of badly managed transition are: important stress, lower productivity, loss of time, possible risks within the team, no benefits from the executive competences acquired abroad while the company has invested in, lower self-confidence, etc.
Motivation:
Therefore, coaching the Expat in order for him/her to become conscious and better understand his/her motivations, values, capabilities when he/she got a job offer abroad, is a real added-value. The Logical Levels of Change model of Robert Dilts helps in this coaching process. Each layer of the pyramid is challenged to the Expat’s perspective and clarifies what is relevant to the person. At the end the findings and awareness points benefit to the Expat’s career and/or family’s objective; and eventually it is easier to make a decision, build an action plan and grasp the opportunity of change.
Pauline Six - Bright Expats, The Local Partner of Global People