Defining International Relocation

One of the challenges of discussing the roles of mentoring and coaching for senior level executives in the context of international relocations relates to the sheer variety of circumstances that apply to candidates. Whilst tailoring to the individual is important, it is not always feasible and therefore creating groupings or clusters can be of benefit as a starting point.  

Diagrammatically pulling apart the types of relocation can help identify clusters and therefore create a more tailored approach for different circumstances that is useful and practical when it comes to implementation for organisations. 

For the purpose of this analysis, the focus is purely on external factors relating to the relocation, rather than on the individual itself. This diagram already makes some assumptions about the circumstance of the  relocating candidate: for example that the candidate is considered to be of high talent and there is no desired exit from the company for either the candidate or for the organisation at the time of relocation. 

This diagram also assumes that both the candidate and the business intend for the assignment to be a success. The reason for these assumptions is based on the risk profile of international relocations: they are expensive for businesses and life changing for individuals.

The vertical axis relates to the type of culture the individual would be moving into, on one end a multinational team with multiple cultures present, and at the other end, a dominant culture of the local country where the employee is relocating to. 

The horizontal axis relates to the associated time frame of the project, ranging from short term (under 1year) to a permanent relocation with no designated next step.

For more information and to view my visualisation of international relcoation , please email me at becky@glasscorner.org