An expatriation is a significant life transition offering wonderful opportunities both professionally (job promotion, international responsibilities…) and personally (quality of life, exposure to a new culture, international travel…). It also entails certain adaptation and integration challenges.
In order to make the most of this new adventure, it is essential to identify and address these challenges. Expatriate support, through intercultural training and / or coaching, enables to uncover and better apprehend various encountered difficulties and ultimately foster a successful and fulfilling expatriate experience.

The outcomes of such support for an expatriate and his / her family include:
- A higher a wareness of the adaptation process and an appreciation that it may differ from one person to another, even within the same family.
- A better understanding of what cultures hockis and how it differs from country shock (environment, climate, commodities, infrastructures...)
- An idea of what “culture” is, and an exploration ofone’s own cultural codes, stereotypes, and biases.
- Increased knowledge of the host country’s culture from both a professional and personal viewpoint in order to limit cultural misunderstandings and critical incidents.
- Acquired intercultural skills and increased intercultural sensitivity. It’s impossible to completely master another culture, however by developing certain skills such as empathy, mindful curiosity and humility, expatriates can have the tools to safely navigate the complexity of multicultural interactions.

During an expatriate assignment many other questions may arise :
- What about my spouse’s career ?
- How do we raise “third culture kids” ?
- How do we successfully return home (professionally and personally)? ... All of these concerns deserve to be addressed within the mobility framework.

Ibasho can offer support with all of these issues. Our objective is to facilitate expatriate adjustment and performance making expatriation an enriching and fulfilling experience for the expatriate, his/her family as well as for the organisation!

Expatriate support can take various forms and happen at different key stages of an international assignment.
Training, from one day to several days, can be delivered either before an expatriate’s departure to help him/her and his/her family prepare for the transition to their new host culture; or just after when they have already set foot and have numerous questions following their first impressions.

Our trainings are designed to meet specific demands and we take into account the corporate culture, context, and expatriate’s needs. Our approach is based on a co-creative process of learning from self-experience. Facilitation is done through experiential activities and conceptual input, using a constructivist framework to develop awareness and giving space for emergent learning.

Coaching is offered on an individual basis and focuses on personal development in line with professional challenges. Coaching sessions are spread over a period of time allowing for on-going support into the assignment. Attuned to organisational and professional objectives, coaching will address the expatriate’s specific issuesiesettling into his/her new job, dealing with a multicultural team, adapting to a new cultural working context….Ultimately the expatriate will in crease his/her autonomy within his/her new professional and cultural environment.

All these services can be delivered in English or in French and coaching can take place remotely.
Karolina Ehretsmann, certified executive and corporate coach, founder of Ibasho.