Digital Disruptors in Global Mobility

Rapid changes influence the traditional workforce in digital market trends, technology advancements, and connectivity. New attitudes toward work and careers evolve from the connected workforce generation. Disruptive technology already affects long-standing business models and established companies in all business areas.

“Disruptive technology,” coined by Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen in 1995, is defined as “ when a new business model attracts an under-serviced market or revenue stream and grows until it supplants incumbent competitors. Technologies are not in themselves disruptive, but their application in a new business model can be” (Christensen subsequently refers to the same concept as “disruptive innovation”).

Have you recently faced increased pressure to adapt the way you work to the new digital market trends and the advancements in technology and connectivity? 

Organizations focus exponentially on digitization (moving to more digital formats) and digitalization (strategically shifting to digital processes and activities) of the mobility function. 

This article will explore a new set of emergent challenges your Global Mobility team will have to overcome if you want your company to remain competitive in the face of the digital disruptors that influence the sector.

As changes in the business ecosystem happen faster than ever, the most successful organizations in the future will be those that can keep up with the evolving business environment. So if you’re wondering HOW your company can achieve this, embracing digital know-how and creativity is the answer.

One of the biggest challenges of Global Mobility will be to bring digital innovation to the core of company business models, evaluating how the technology available today can augment the human workforce. 

You should be particularly aware of digital innovation’s impact on Global Mobility. I picked the four areas that, according to Deloitte, are likely to have the most consequences in the short-term future. 

Digital Innovation and Disruptors

Global Mobility functions will undoubtedly face increased pressure to change how they work. As changes in the business ecosystem happen faster than ever, the most successful businesses in the future will be the ones that can adapt to the evolving business environment, embracing additional skills, including entrepreneurship, problem-solving, and especially digital know-how and creativity.

One of Global Mobility’s most significant challenges will be bringing digital innovation to the core of company business models and evaluating how today’s technology can augment their human workforce.

Analyzing the impact of digital innovation in the field, the six areas which will likely have more effect on Global Mobility in the short term are automation, the gig economy, workplace tools, and artificial intelligence.

#1 Automation

Often considered the most prevalent and accessible disruptive technology (Robb et al., 2017a), robotics will be a key asset for mobility functions in the future. Mobility functions are already experiencing success where this technology is implemented to perform tasks that humans would normally be assigned to. Examples include sending routine emails or copying and pasting information from public or private sources. In turn, workers can be repurposed to high-value tasks to benefit the mobility function.

By adopting and introducing those techniques into existing processes, Global Mobility teams will be able to focus on diminishing costs, increase productivity by improving operational efficiency, and retain talent. In fact, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) technology is already being used to speed up administrative/transactional processes in mobility functions. Equally important is that automation can also reveal itself crucial in reducing hierarchical thinking.

Teams will need to ensure that workers are given the opportunity to learn and upskill as the ubiquity of technology increases. 

While embracing this new way of thinking, Global Mobility teams must remember the importance of maintaining the human touch. This will allow mobility functions to make a genuine asset out of robotics and automation software in the near future. 

#2 Gig Economy

Several factors favor the growing popularity of the gig economy, among which an increased number of Millenials on the job market, a greater acceptance of technology, and advanced network infrastructures combined with the organizations’ growing demand for a more fluid talent pool. In an era in which technology continues to disrupt business models across sectors, the flexibility and agility typical of the gig workforce become very appealing features for businesses wanting to promote innovation and reduce costs.

The Great Resignation has also contributed to filling the gig workers’ pool, which doesn’t mean the talent shortage in certain industries is about to resorb. Indeed, the flexibility offered by independent work has become a critical advantage for many workers; for some, it is a determining factor when looking for a job. Since this liberty is not always possible in traditional work settings, employers who won’t or can’t offer this will have more difficulty filling their openings.

In the Global Mobility arena, crowdsourcing is gaining momentum. Also known as silent offshoring or workforce-on-demand, crowdsourcing is an evolution of outsourcing models and shared services. It is bound to play a fundamental role in the future of Global Mobility. There are always more employers who turn to that less conventional resource; Ernst & Young now has its own GIG NOW platform for freelancers to apply to a myriad of projects.

In these times, for Global Mobility to perform successfully, it is essential to develop and implement a varied policy suite that meets the needs of a diverse workforce (e.g., gig workers, freelancers, business travelers) and their alternative working practices (Robb et al., 2017b).

#3 Workplace tools 

Core office technologies such as telephone, word processing, and email have already evolved to expand the possibilities of connected and collaborative working. Employees can now access the latest information, join video conferences, share and work on the same documents or workspace at their convenience from a device and location of their choice. 

The next generation of workplace tools will allow more collaboration, training, and learning opportunities. It will also enable business leaders to deliver a better experience to their teams and assignees. Even more importantly, new ‘digital learning’ means that organizations will be able to transform what is tricky stuff in life into something fun. For instance, organizations could use augmented and Virtual  Reality (AR and VR, respectively) to transform the employee’s onboarding experience or allow them to meet and  collaborate with colleagues in other countries. Additionally, it can be used to virtually recreate cities to immerse oneself in the new environment before deciding to move there.

#4 IT Security vs. Collaboration

Companies have always needed to worry about security, privacy, and compliance, but digital disruption has significantly increased risk in all those areas; thus, risk management becomes constantly complex. To keep on top, one must be reactive and agile since everything evolves quickly in that domain. Resorting to outside help (i.e., gig workers) means more open access to your network. Collaboration means your network is more vulnerable. Businesses can’t wait for governments and other regulating bodies to legislate on ever-evolving risk and security conditions and keep a compliance-based security strategy: they must be proactive. Otherwise, they would always lag, which could potentially be a great danger for their employees, clients, and the company itself. User privacy and data protection must be upheld against cyber threats to protect your company, its reputation, and everyone involved. It is crucial that the human remains at the forefront of security preoccupations.

#5 Artificial Intelligence (AI)

By using smart devices to predict, detect and prevent risks in moving people around the globe, AI is already helping organizations go beyond traditional ways of managing the global workforce. With the massive increase in the data volume available to organizations, the emergence of advanced AI-based algorithms, and the growing availability of data scientists, systems are becoming increasingly self-managing and potentially self-defending against risks.  

#6 Cognitive technologies 

Algorithms, robotic process automation, machine learning and natural language processing are already being tested to improve and train existing tax research and GM deployment tools.  These tools are complex, and the real-life cases of expats even more so; we cannot rely solely on algorithms and machine learning to administer and manage processes that have a major impact on real human lives Only by using them to execute tasks for efficiency’s sake and ensuring that they are well balanced with human checks and balances, the combination of AI and Humans may provide an appealing scenario for the future. 

Many organizations have focused more than ever on both digitization (moving to more digital formats) and digitalization (strategically shifting to digital processes and activities) of the mobility function. As a result, companies’ engagement levels depend on how “digitally mature” their global mobility programs already are. Some might be just  ‘exploring digital,’ while others might be already ‘becoming digital.’ 

But keep the HUMAN TOUCH in mind and ensure that the combination of AI and Human Global Mobility Managers are well balanced.

Be under no illusion; the digital mobility age is upon us. That doesn’t mean we can’t take advantage of it, but we must be careful and rein it to ensure we all stay on the path to Human Touch. 

Our team is creating the RockMeApp to facilitate private communication with coaching clients and streamline certain aspects of the coaching process. To get in touch with us, please schedule an introductory call here.

Further Reading:

https://www.persuasion.community/p/why-ai-will-never-rival-human-creativity

https://globalpeopletransitions.com/bringing-the-human-touch-back-in-the-impending-age-of-ai-and-digitization/

References

Deloitte. (2018). “Global Workforce Insight 2019: Assessing the predicted 2018 global mobility trends and their continued impact in 2019”. Deloitte.  https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/ch/Documents/tax/deloitte-ch-Back-to-the-future-global-workforce.pdf

Deloitte. (2017). “Global Human Capital Trends: Rewriting the rules for the digital age.” Deloitte, University Press. https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/About-Deloitte/central-europe/ce-global-human-capital-trends.pdf

Deloitte. Robb, A., Frewin, K. and Jagger, P. (2017a). (2017) “The Impact of the Digital Age on Global Mobility 2017 Global Workforce Trends.” https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/uk/Documents/tax/deloitte-uk-global-mobility-trends-latest.PDF 

Robb, A., Frewin, K. and Jagger, P. (2017b). “Global Workforce: Digital Innovation in Mobility.” Deloitte. https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/uk/Documents/tax/deloitte-uk-digital-innovation-in-mobility.pdf 

TechTarget (Gavin Wright for), disruptive technology (disruptive innovation) entry, https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/disruptive-technology, accessed on 5 April 2023.

Since the beginning of this pandemic in the spring of 2020, numbers of teams have become virtual, on and off, depending on the surges of the virus and the decisions of their respective companies and governments. Virtual teams, of course, already existed before that, but they have now become a common practice. And now that this phenomenon has become routine, many have focused on this new problem: fostering psychological safety, particularly in remote teams, because it is quite challenging to do so in such a context. Discussions on diversity and inclusivity have been all the rage in recent years (and still are, of course, as we have yet to achieve a perfectly diverse and inclusive world). Still, psychological safety has become a subject of interest, fueled by the unusual circumstances of this pandemic.

But what is psychological safety, exactly? It is the belief that team members have when they are comfortable enough to ask questions or contribute ideas without fear of being judged, punished (in more extreme cases losing their job), or humiliated for not knowing something or making mistakes. Wondering what the difference is between trust and psychological safety? It’s rather subtle: trust is an essential component of psychological safety, as it is defined as “the extent to which we hold expectations of others in the face of uncertainty about their motives, and yet are willing to allow ourselves to be vulnerable’ (Geraghty, 2020). It is how you view other people and how you find them predictable, and how you think you can rely on them, whereas psychological safety is about how others view you or, instead how you think they view you.

But let’s get back to psychological safety. When you eliminate the fear of judgment, your team members can not only be themselves, but they will be their best selves, as they will be allowed to be innovative, creative, and agile, and most importantly, ask for help when needed. Diversity of thought is a great advantage for success (Page, 2008), and this is where psychological safety comes in: “Without behaviors that create and maintain a level of psychological safety in a group, people do not fully contribute — and when they don’t, the power of cognitive diversity is left unrealized” (Reynolds and Lewis, 2018). 

Psychological safety doesn’t happen from one day to the next, though. It needs work, everyone’s participation, and a profound culture change. Everyone needs to go through four stages to feel safe. According to Timothy Clark, these are inclusion safety, learner safety, contributor safety, and challenger safety (Clark, 2020). Psychological safety needs work, a change of attitude, and a change of culture.

Increase mistake tolerance

Based on the belief that nobody’s perfect and we all make mistakes, even if we work hard and try our best, the idea here is to change our mindset and stop viewing failures only as such but as learning opportunities. Teams with better psychological safety will not correct others for a mistake they made to put them down, and they will tell them to help them. Amy Edmondson published a study in 1999 in which she coined the term “Psychological Safety.” In it, she reported conversations she had with employees she interviewed for her study. In one of those conversations, a lady told her that before her team decided to offer a better psychologically safe environment when someone would point out a mistake she made, she would take it as a reproach and would then be on the lookout for a mistake that person would make to be able to blame her in return. After the team made psychological safety a priority and had worked on it for a while, it totally changed her perception and in turn, that changed her behavior. She reported that she viewed it then as a learning opportunity because her colleague would do it purely to help her and help the team make better products (Edmondson, 1999, p.371). Some companies have even created special events to discuss this so that not only the employee making the mistake learns from it, but the whole team (or even a larger circle) does too.

Exercise 1: Hold an Anxiety Party. 

The Google Ventures team decided to implement this because when they were created, they had a rather flat hierarchy and although they appreciated all the advantages and liberties that brought, the team found they lacked critical feedback. They came up with the idea of an Anxiety Party: they hold this type of meeting a couple of times per year, where all team members have to write a list of everything that causes them anxiety. Then, everyone shares and the other team members have to rate the level from the most to the least worrying (5 – you really need to improve in this area to 0 – I didn’t even realize this was an issue). They realized most of the time, people worried for nothing. The score generally makes people feel relieved and stop worrying about non-issues and focus on what actually needs improvement (the 5s and 4s to start with). This is a great psychological safety exercise since the issues are brought up by the people who have them and feedback is then easier to accept.

Keep your biases in check, remember Hanlon’s Razor to adopt a more positive mindset

Hanlon’s razor principle is the assumption that when something goes wrong, it is more likely accidental rather than the result of ill will, or as Hanlon wrote: “Never attribute to malice, that which is adequately explained by stupidity.” Ok, well, stupidity may not be the most probable cause, since hopefully, your team is not stupid, but let’s say humans can sometimes be absent-minded, tired, distracted, overworked, etc. Simply put, when someone makes a mistake, one shouldn’t assume it was intentional. This rule of thumb will help cultivate understanding, compassion, forgiveness, and trust in your team.

Take the case of an email that gives the impression that a colleague was rude or too blunt; you can probably rightly assume that this is purely a miscommunication problem (maybe English is not their mother tongue, or the author is from a culture where things are said in a direct manner, but it isn’t meant to be offensive, or maybe you just misinterpreted things). When in doubt, clarify things in person or on a video call. The use of emojis might also help avoid tone misreadings when you are the one sending a message. Some might not be comfortable using them in a professional setting, but they really can help prevent certain types of misunderstandings. Modifying your biases and assuming good intentions in people can go a long way!

Exercise 2: Ask powerful questions. 

When you doubt someone of the wrongdoing, ask these powerful questions (From Douglas W. Hubbard, 2009, cited in Vinita Bansal, no date):

• Why do I feel this way?
• What data do I have to justify that the other person acted out of bad intentions?
• Are there other instances where they acted this way?
• Have I spoken to them about it?
• What is the probability that I am incorrect?
• Could I be biased at the moment?
• What other possible reasons could make them behave this way?

Make it a Habit for Everyone to Speak Up and Participate.

First, team leaders need to prioritize psychological safety explicitly. Ground rules must be laid down and applied. Leaders, alongside their team, need to establish how failure is handled (no punishment for failure despite efforts, reasonable risks taken, and good faith). They should make failure an opportunity to learn and, above all, to share the lessons collectively learned thanks to failure (which will be not only a learning opportunity but also one to create a safe space for others to know that we can all admit our failures, contributing to this safe space). Finally, teams need to learn how to accept and adopt productive conflict. That is to say, having constructive discussions, allowing questioning, and accepting contesting can be done, by following certain ground rules, such as respect, listening, honesty, and kindness, for everyone to feel safe doing it. Even when there is no conflict, and nothing delicate to discuss, making sure every team member has to participate should become a habit. It is the leader’s responsibility to ensure everyone speaks. To do so, they might use different methods to ensure everyone gets the chance to speak. For example, one can give each a turn to speak, or when with a bigger group, use break rooms to allow everyone to speak up. Speaking up in smaller groups is also easier, and less intimidating. The team must try different methods to ensure everyone gets turns speaking up.

Exercise 3: Create a space for idea sharing. 

Try creating a particular space for ideas (new, crazy, or maybe even bad ideas), whether during meetings or on a specifically dedicated Slack channel, for example. That way, people know there is at least this time or space where they are not only allowed but purposefully encouraged to brainstorm, share and contribute whatever they have on their mind, knowing this frame is meant for it and is a safe space to do so.  

Exercise 4:  Accept Silence to Give Time to Reflect. 

For everyone to have a chance to speak, people need to learn to be more comfortable with silence. For example, during Zoom meetings, participants tend to be uncomfortable when silence arises and tend to want to fill it (or hope someone else will). Doing so can prevent others in your team from speaking up. Sometimes, people need more time to reflect before answering or formulating their ideas before communicating them, especially non-native speakers. Some are shy or new in the company or that position, and don’t have the confidence yet to speak.  Sometimes, we all need that extra few seconds to muster up our courage to share that original idea or essential concern. Leaders have to remember that reflective silence is valuable and to purposely give everyone time to speak up, even if that means letting an uncomfortable silence last longer (it’s not that painful, is it… and something might come out of it!). To avoid experiencing a more detached type of silence, you can let your team members know in advance what kind of input you are expecting from them at the next meeting a bit in advance.

Exercise 5: Value diverse perspectives. 

Diversity of ideas and perspectives is a major factor in creative and innovative thinking. It is one of the important factors to success (Page, 2017, 2:45). To encourage this, ask everyone to play the devil’s advocate alternately. That way, people have to think differently, and it takes away the risk (real or perceived) that the rest of the team will judge them for having different, crazy, or “negative” ideas or points of view, a point of view that could help your team solve problems and even foresee them, before they become one. This strategy using a cooperative approach instead of a competitive one, will be more effective to advance the reflection on the problem discussed (e.g. your product has a bug and you need to find a solution) and will help develop respectful debate habits simultaneously (Menzies, 2018).

Exercise 6: Promote courageous conversations. 

Sometimes a product or a project is just not as good as it could be. But team members don’t always dare say so, even if they can put the finger on what the problem might be. You can pave the road to openness by having sessions, specifically for any critiques or frustrations anyone may have with a product/project, without fear of negative consequences. Everyone must listen without interrupting. After this, everyone has to offer solutions to the problem. 

Exercise 7: Hold a blameless post-mortem.  

Another way to promote difficult conversations is having blameless post-mortems. The goal here is not to find out who made mistakes but what could be changed in the processes to avoid those mistakes being made in the future and improve performance. This method prompts team collaboration. If you are looking for more exercises and methods to promote courageous conversations or support psychological safety in other ways, have a look at this great article from Fearless Culture.

Exercise 8: Apply the method of “liberating structures.” 

This method was developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless to enable everyone’s participation in large groups. During a meeting, to ensure everyone’s input on a specific matter, first, ask everyone to reflect and take notes on the question/problem at hand for one minute. Then, everyone must regroup in pairs and discuss for two minutes, then for four minutes in groups of four (matching previously existing pairs), before finally discussing the matter with the whole group. The advantage here is that all have a chance to offer their ideas. It is less intimidating to do in small groups. Also, while still in smaller groups of 2 and 4, ideas can already be compared, and reflected upon, and the best can be chosen to be discussed at the next level before they are brought up in front of the whole group. There is admittedly a very limited time for feedback, but an idea can be discussed further if it isn’t bad enough to be eliminated at the end of a round. It nonetheless enables the improvement of the ideas before they are discussed at a higher level. This type of structure also helps avoid control or influence of the boss on the discussion, leading to a more restricted discussion and what is practical and effective, is that this structure drives the discussion to convergence.

Exercise 9:  Encourage impromptu conversations to build trust. 

Needless to say, in a virtual team, psychological safety is even more of a challenge to uphold.  Because trust is usually established through time and interactions, virtual teams do not have many interactions outside the scheduled meetings. Those team members don’t have the opportunity to have spontaneous, “non-business” conversations. This is why it is vital for those teams to create opportunities for such social contact. These casual conversations can foster better bonding and better relationships, which in turn facilitate communication and improve psychological safety.

For example, some might want to have different types of calls or communications, namely having a “good morning” call or (a message for the whole team on a Slack channel) to start the day with a more casual conversation. Bigger organizations might want to have a dedicated video call open for anyone to drop in and chat as if they were on their coffee break. 

Exercise 10: Read body language and facial expressions.

One might think that virtual teams are at a disadvantage because it is so much more challenging to establish trust with so little contact and through a screen, and it is not entirely false, but there can be some advantages too. Online social contact through video calls can be an opportunity to really try to understand the person talking on the screen and read their tone, body language, and facial expressions to feel what they might be feeling. It also might be easier for some people to intently look at their colleagues through a screen as they usually (hear in person) wouldn’t dare or be comfortable doing it so attentively. Indeed, as Altman underlined, “[i]n many cultures, it can be awkward to stare at someone for 30 seconds or certainly minutes at a time. But on Zoom, no one knows who you’re looking at, and your ability to apply your emotional intelligence can sometimes be enhanced.” Not only can it be helpful for employees who grew up in a culture where one can’t look directly in someone’s eyes for too long, but also for some neuroatypical people who are not comfortable doing it either. 

Take your time!

Psychological safety is not something that is built overnight. Actually, “build” is not quite the right idea here, as psychological safety is not something you can ever 100% achieve and be done with. There will always be new people joining the team, setbacks, and phases, so it will remain a work in progress. It has to be the object of constant attention and perpetual efforts. All of this seems like a lot of work, and it is. But shifting your mindset to a more understanding and caring attitude is half the job. And since psychological safety was proven to make employees happier and perform better, it’s probably one of the most profitable changes you can bring to your work. It’s a win-win!

About the Author

Anne-Kristelle Carrier has an MA in International Politics. She has lived in Switzerland since 2010 and works as a Content Editor for Global People Transitions Ltd. in Zurich. When she is not working, bringing her kids to all their activities, or trying to cook something that they will eat (that doesn’t start with “chicken” and ends with “nuggets”), she enjoys everything Switzerland has to offer to residents and tourists alike, like ski slopes, Wanderwege, and museums.

References and further reading

Bansal, Vinita, (no date), Hanlon’s Razor: ‘How To Be Less Judgmental And Build Better Relationships,’ TechTello. Available at: https://www.techtello.com/hanlons-razor/ (accessed on 3 February 2022).

Clark, Timothy. The Four Stages of Psychological Safety, Defining the Path to Inclusion and Innovation, 2020, Random House, New York.

Edmondson, Amy. Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 44, No. 2 (Jun., 1999), pp. 350-383. (Available online at https://web.mit.edu/curhan/www/docs/Articles/15341_Readings/Group_Performance/Edmondson%20Psychological%20safety.pdf)

Geraghty, Tom, The Difference Between Trust and Psychological Safety, 16 November 2020, https://www.psychsafety.co.uk/the-difference-between-trust-and-psychological-safety/

Hubbard, Douglas W., Failure of Risk Management, 2009, Hoboken (New Jersey).

Hirsch, Wendy. Five Questions About Psychological Safety, Answered. Science for Work, 9 October 2017, https://scienceforwork.com/blog/psychological-safety/.

Lipmanowicz, Henri and Keith McCandless, Liberating Structure 1: 1-2-4-All. https://www.liberatingstructures.com/1-1-2-4-all/, retrieved 15, January 2022.

Menzies, Felicity. How to Develop Psychological Safety and a Speak-Up Culture.   https://cultureplusconsulting.com/2018/03/10/how-to-develop-psychological-safety/, retrieved 4 January 2022.

Page, Scott E.Diversity creates bonuses. It’s not just a nice thing to do.LinkedIn News Youtube channel, retrieved 10 January 2022.

Page, Scott E. (2008) The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies

Razetti, Gustavo, 9 Exercises to Promote Psychological Safety in Your Organization, How to Encourage Courageous Conversations at the Workplace. https://www.fearlessculture.design/blog-posts/exercises-to-promote-psychological-safety-in-your-organization

Reynolds, A. and Lewis, D., The Two Traits of the Best Problem Solving Teams, Harvard Business Review, 2018, https://hbr.org/2018/04/the-two-traits-of-the-best-problem-solving-teams.

https://rework.withgoogle.com/blog/creating-a-high-trust-performance-culture/

Paul J. Zak is the author of Trust Factor: The Science of Creating High-Performance Companies.

Image (missing here)

Hirsch, Wendy: Five Questions About Psychological Safety, Answered. Science for Work, 9 October 2017, https://scienceforwork.com/blog/psychological-safety/.

Going on an international assignment is often a relationship challenge. Even if you have already been married for a long time moving abroad can bring out the best and worst in the relationship with your spouse and/or life partner.

Gone are the days of the “expat wife” sitting in the expat country club, playing tennis or painting her fingernails at the pool while an armada of the staff was taking care of the driving, children, household, and cooking. Today, life partners and spouses are of all backgrounds and all colors.

My observation is that more and more male spouses are joining female expats. We also see more same-sex couples going on assignments together. Some couples plan to have a family while on assignment, while others have children living in boarding schools in different countries. My advice here is mainly for dual-career couples. If you have children, you might face other challenges, but usually, there is more support around finding schooling by companies than helping with spouse adjustment.

Here are five principles you can use to help your spouse adjust to the host country faster.

1) Make sure you understand all legal obligations when applying for a residence and work permit.

Make sure you have understood the legal obligations in case you are not legally married. Is your life partner allowed to reside in the country? How hard or easy is it to receive a work permit? Did you consider adequate health, accident, and life insurance coverage? Work permit legislation can be tricky, even for married couples. Make sure you understand the implications of your work permit type for your spouse/life partner.

2) Help your spouse with the job search by building your network in the host country fast.

Try to find out how to build up a network in the host location fast. Speak to agencies and headhunters about job opportunities. Understand the role of agencies/headhunters in the process before you contact them. Build on- and offline networks to find a job. Help others too, so that you will be considered when it is your spouse’s turn to look for a job.

3) Get intercultural training to understand cultural differences.

Understand the cultural differences in how to write an application and how a resume typically looks for the host country. What are the usual ways of getting a job? How important are personal introductions? Who should sponsor your spouse? Getting a social life and making friends together will help in the transition into the new culture. Try to make time for events so that your spouse feels that you are on this adventure together.

4) Utilize support offered by your company.

Utilize the resources of the company you work for. Request for help. Some companies offer spouse career coaching or job coaching. f you have a chance get coaching for your spouse. The transition into a new country is stressful. Sitting at home without a real task can trigger depression or a feeling of loneliness.

5) Discuss a fallback option with your spouse.

In case your spouse cannot find a job in the host location, come up with a fallback option and value work even if it does not generate family income. Examples include volunteer work, social engagement, university degrees, freelance work, or building up a company. Sometimes I have observed that expatriates are so busy with starting a new job and a new life that they forget to listen to and support their partners. This might be more important than anything else. I have seen couples who agree that they take turns in advancing their career. After this assignment, your spouse should be able to pick the next role or location first.

I find it critical for a couple to live together (or close to each other) during an international assignment. Commuting creates separation and your life will diverge. Also consider that even though your career step might be important, it does not mean your life. So once in a while, you might be better off, turning down an international assignment to save the relationship.

If you would like to discuss your or your spouse’s situation with me, kindly reply or book an appointment via Calendly.

—

We are excited to announce our upcoming online workshop series, designed to prepare you for the HireMeExpress program.

Workshop 1:  Partnering Masters – Building Effective Relationships
Friday, 14 April 2023 from 12:00 PM CET till 1:00 PM CET

Workshop 2: Powerful Missions – Having a Voice in a Sea of Noise
Friday, 21 April 2023 from 12:00 PM CET till 1:00 PM CET

Workshop 3: Persisting Mindsets – Designing Work to Support a Global Lifestyle
Friday, 28 April 2023  from 12:00 PM CET till 1:00 PM CET 

If you’re interested in learning more, we invite you to sign up for further updates on the next free workshop series, which will be starting shortly.

During these three workshops, you’ll have the opportunity to get to know Angie Weinberger and learn more about her unique approach to working with participants in the HireMeExpress program. In addition, when you sign up, you’ll receive free tips such as our 21 FRESH RESUME CHECKPOINTS, which can help you make your resume stand out from the crowd.

We believe that these workshops will be an excellent opportunity for you to gain valuable insights and prepare for success in the HireMeExpress program.

Thank you for your interest, and we look forward to seeing you at the workshops!

http://eepurl.com/hitraT

Best regards,

Angie Weinberger

Did you go to a party last night and ask Karen, the other Expat Spouse across from you, how she managed her transition to Switzerland? And did Karen say: “Just reinvent yourself!”.

This is a dreadful sentence to tell any newbie in a new place. 

This sentence is advice you often hear when you lose your work or are still looking for a new job in Switzerland. 

You are a New York, London, Frankfurt, or Mumbai professional. You have a career stamped on yourself. Telling you to reinvent yourself is like saying, “Why don’t you just run a marathon after recovering from COVID-19.” People make it sound so simple; it makes you feel guilty and shameful because it seems to them it’s something that you can or should do.

Not only is reinventing yourself a considerable challenge (on top of the extra obstacles you will face in a new and less well-known environment), but doing so often means letting go of your dreams. And accepting that is a big challenge in itself when you are sacrificing your goals so that your partner can follow theirs.

At parties, you say, “I’m a Senior Consultant / Director / Lawyer / Doctor / Scientist.” Then, you talk about the pleasure of long-distance travel in times of terrorism, or you mention that your partner is away too often and that the kids know the nanny better than their parents, or you explain that you never go to the city because you feel that childcare is too expensive. You rather stay at home than trust your kids to another person.

Your professional reputation has fueled your ego, and you did everything to improve it. You attended courses, webinars, conferences, and networking events and read everything you could about the topic while commuting to work. Not to mention that you routinely ensured that your social media profiles reflected your success only, and you confirmed your name was published at least once a year.

Then out of the blue (or even because you were following a long-term idea), your spouse gets a job offer in Basel, Switzerland, or your job is outsourced to Pune, India. After the initial excitement or shock, you start to consider what a career change means for you right now. You can consult blogs and books on the matter. From one day to the next, you worry about your branding as a professional. And you might even notice that you don’t know what you want.

Finding out what you want is difficult, so I recommend you work with a career coach to develop a vision of your next role and a long-term career vision. What I found even more challenging, though, is to let go of my old career. 

I had acquired a status in HR, and in my new role, I felt like a beginner again. In our cultural context here in Switzerland, we say, “Schuster bleib bei Deinen Leisten!” (Cobbler, stick to your last!). We are encouraged to change our chosen career paths.

Let’s hang with the cobbler analogy for a while. I might not have told you yet that my grandpa was a shoe repairer in post-war Germany, and my grandma ran a shoe shop for the longest time, so I have a particular fondness for shoes, and the smell of leather and glue always brings me back to their workshop.

We know well that a shoe we have worn for a while is comfortable. New shoes often feel too tight or too big for us to fill. Imagine getting out of your patent leather shoes and into hiking boots. That would be comparable to the change you are going through.

It would help if you broke your new career boot in. You might know already consciously that the hiking boot is more practical, fits better to your personality, and has more value on icy mountain grounds, but you still feel the burden of a heavier shoe.

It would be best to throw your old patent leather shoe into the mental “Altkleidercontainer” (the recycling bank for old clothes and shoes). Here are seven ideas on how you can do that.

• Advantaging: Write down all the advantages of the hiking boot. Think of every aspect of your new career and how it looks and feels. Run meticulous research. Interview industry experts and speak to friends who work in this area.

• Wearing: Work in your hiking boot at least one or two days a week by volunteering or finding a cause in this profession worth supporting. Get a consulting project before you commit full-time.

• Pretending: Pretend you are already experienced in walking with the hiking boot, attend seminars and networking events wearing a badge with your new role, and have business cards printed.

• Updating: Update all your biographies, social media profiles, and websites and show that you are wearing the boot already. Mention your new role and functional title. Be the career you want to be.

• Noting: Leave post-its in your office, bathroom, and home with a visual anchor. For example, if you want to become a scientist working in the pharma industry, you could jot down a company logo that you find attractive or a picture of you with security glasses.

• Spacing: Develop a space that signifies “productive work” in your new career. It could be an office or an area on your kitchen table. This area is reserved for work in your new job only.

• Storytelling: Write down your ideal client’s story, someone who will depend on the results or fruits of your new labor. Who is that person, what is essential to that person, and how does this person live?

These are seven ideas for letting go of your old career and reinventing yourself. There you have it. Do let us know how you are handling it, and if you need help progressing, you can always email me.

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Traditional Vs. Virtual Teams

Unlike traditional teams, virtual teams don’t meet at the same location daily, which is becoming more feasible in this century. This phenomenon, ensuing from globalization, is becoming increasingly commonplace in small and large organizations alike. Indeed, one recent survey by HBR states that compared to a decade ago, the number of remote workers has increased by 115% (HBR, 2018). The surveyors defined virtual teams as “work groups which (1) have some core members who interact primarily through electronic means, and (2) are engaged in interdependent tasks — i.e., are truly teams and not just groups of independent workers).” These virtual teams require proper leadership and management, like any other team, for optimum results (Watkins, 2013). 

Here’s why opting for virtual teams is worth considering

Advantages of Virtual Teams

• Companies can bring global talent together when projects start, while employees can enjoy the flexibility of working from where they live according to their schedule.
• Organisations can cut the cost of relocation, traveling, real estate, and other business expenditures. Businesses that use virtual teams to build a global presence outsource their operations and need less common expertise or skills from people reluctant to relocate from their home location.
• Virtual teams add diversity to a project. It is always better to brainstorm ideas to add creativity to the work process; these virtual teams are ideal. They also enable organizations to network globally with a fresh perspective from different countries.

Challenges of Virtual Teams

• As compared to traditional teams, virtual teams might be hard to manage correctly. It might not always be easy to bring people from different cultures to one platform and get them to collaborate on a project.
• They can fall short of goals and motivation because of how they communicate. They rely on modern technology, emails, video conferences, virtual meetings, etc., taking away an in-person exchange’s full spectrum and dynamics. Thus to excel, each member needs to be self-motivated.
• Collaboration within a project might cause delays in working on the project.

Tips To Manage Virtual Teams

• Build Trust

The first and foremost requirement is to build and maintain trust between team members. This helps unblock their communication and sustains the motivation of each person involved. If they can’t trust each other, they will have issues working together which is the essence of virtual teams.

• Clear Goals, Standards & Rules

Managers need to pay attention to setting clear goals for each member separately, and the team combined. Performance standards and communication rules must also be clearly defined to avoid misunderstandings and harmful assumptions. In addition, they should also be clear on tasks and processes.

• Constant Communication

Team members should be able to communicate clearly, constructively, and positively, even in the absence of nonverbal cues of face-to-face communication. Optimum use of technology for this purpose is a requirement.

• Build a Team Rhythm

It is crucial for the global team to have regular meetings to stay on track, ideally on the same day and time each week. Create meeting agendas in advance with explicit agreement on communication protocols and timings. You will probably have time zone conflicts, so don’t put the time zone burden on the same members every time. Instead, follow a strict rotation to practice fairness and avoid biases.

• Global Leader for Global Teams

Develop into a leader who appreciates the experience of managing global teams. Set up regular one-to-one performance management meetings with your team members. Let your team know how they contribute to the success of your project so that they get a feeling of ownership.

How do you manage your global virtual team? What is your experience?