Living internationally (expatriation) necessarily involves coping with change and with the effects of significant cultural differences. Depending on individual circumstances, the challenge this poses to individual expatriates ranges from significant to overwhelming. Of course, everybody learns and adjusts over time, but what is learned, how long it takes, and the forms adjustment takes vary widely when the process is not supported and managed.

Offered early, training and coaching interventions can be of great value, ensuring a swifter and more successful transition to a new home and workplace. Given the depth and opacity of our own cultural filters, with proper support even experienced expatriates can expect to acquire valuable insights into their own and others’ cultural determinisms.

In order to ensure an in-depth relocation programme that allows for transformational learning to take place, I offer a combination of 1-2 day relocation training followed by coaching sessions. The extent and duration of the training & coaching depends on the client´s needs and experience.

Relocation Cross-cultural Training fosters cultural awareness and provides an array of coping strategies to properly manage the adaptation process and significantly reduce the negative consequences of reactions to ‘culture stress’. The coaching that follows supports ongoing learning once expatriates begin to perceive their environment more accurately.

The Relocation cross-cultural training addresses the realities and initial needs upon arrival to the new country. It aims to address the following areas:

Navigating the settling in process: understanding the different stages of the adjustment process and devising the best strategies to deal with these
Understanding the environment: understanding the subtleties of contemporary Egypt and its society from the inside out – so as to be able to escape the limited and limiting perspectives of the expatriate ghetto
Integrating foreign ways of being, knowing and doing: supporting clients in seizing the opportunity to expand who they are and what they are able to achieve

The follow up coaching offers a confidential space to go deeper in addressing the particular professional and personal challenges each expatriate will necessarily encounter in the course of both ongoing adaptation and everyday work.

The main objectives of the coaching sessions are to:

Support individuals in developing the resources to meet the cross-cultural challenges they encounter in their professional and personal settings;
Provide immediate support and effective coping mechanisms in areas where cultural adjustments and lifestyle changes threaten to become overwhelming;
Respond to each particular individual’s needs and interests, so that their expatriation experience yields tangible benefits;
Assist individuals in leveraging the complexity of their international assignment for increased work performance and productivity.