Expatriate and Cross-Cultural Coaching

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ARE YOU AN EXPATRIATE?

WELCOME! This site is made for you -- whether you are ...

...an Expatriate spouse – feeling at times disconnected, powerless, guilty, lonely and worried about doing the right thing for your career, your identity, your kids; or

...an Expat executive – eager to succeed yet struggling with cultural differences.

The two most common reasons why expat assignments fail are --

(1) adjustment difficulties on the part of the spouse; and

(2) cross-cultural misunderstandings and struggles on the part of the assignee.

I understand these issues first hand as a perpetual expat and as a specifically trained and certified Expatriate and Cross-Cultural Coach. My coachees are expatriate entrepreneurs, expatriate executives, expatriate spouses, immigrants, and people working across cultures.

My coaching programs help EXPAT SPOUSES to:

overcome the feelings of being powerless and disconnected;
manage culture shock and guilt;
snap out of feeling lonely and sorry for yourself;
stop blaming the working spouse for the unhappiness abroad;
develop a new business, a career or discover a calling.

My coaching programs for EXPATRIATE ASSIGNEES are based upon Culture Mastery 4 C's Process™ -- a culture-emotion intelligence development program that inlcudes an Individual Cultural Blueprint web-based assessment and a roadmap that helps clients learn to be most effective across cultures.

I know how unsettling it can feel to be the stranger in a strange land because I've been there myself. In fact when I first moved across cultures we moved from behind the Iron Curtain. I had two suitcases, $90 in my pocket, and a ticket to a country which at that point may well have been another planet. I was scared. Of course – who would not be? Little did I know that this move was to become the first of many and that eventually all my moves would contribute to an amazing life journey.

As a coach I’ve been told I have the ability to unleash the part of people that’s unique to them. If you are lost, confused, stuck, or simply not happy -- chances are you need to find your way back to who you are. If you came upon this page, you are already half-way there. The next half we can co-create together. A great place to start would be to sign up for our Expat VIP list (no spam ever!) and to get a FREE "A to Z of Successful Expatriation™" Guide and Workbook here.

It offers tools, ideas and exercises that are designed to help you make your expatriate experience the best it can be.

If you are ready to start coaching, choose the expat and/or cross-cultural coaching structure that will work for you:


	Margarita’s work as a coach is all about supporting the individual clients in identifying their strengths and values and realizing their ambitions in alignment. She thus insightfully guided me towards positive results and a better understanding of my goals. I was impressed with her warmness, supportiveness, intuitiveness, and the special ability to be in complete service of her clients' creating the work and life they truly want. She is both extremely personable and able to take you out of your own professional or personal paradigm. I ended up in a much better place, which happens to be on the road less travelled, with a new boost of clarity, courage, confidence and insight. A coach myself she’s sustainably helped me ‘expecting the unexpected’. My take away was renewed energy and vision for what was valued and necessary. (Christine BAUDOT, France and Canada)

Admiror Frames 1.5.x, author/s Vasiljevski & Kekeljevic.

8 mistakes expats make that can leave them feeling disconnected

by Margarita

One of the biggest challenges of an expat lifestyle is feeling disconnected – from the life you leave behind, from people and events in your current place of residence, from family and old friends back home, and even from those who surround you. If you are an expat right now, how strong is the feeling of being disconnected in you on a scale of 1 to 10? Are you somewhere between 4 and 10?

If you are, read on and let me know if these eight mistakes resonate with you!

Mistake 1. You have very high expectations that people back home will continue to want and initiate consistent interaction with you. We all miss our friends/family when we move, but face it – we left. They stayed behind and they moved on with their lives. They’ve substituted the vacuum you left in their lives with something/someone else and they are doing just fine. It’s harder for you, of course, because you are the new kid on the block. Sure they’ll be there for you when you need them, but for heaven’s sake – don’t expect them to get in touch with you as often as they did in the past – and don’t sulk if they don’t. Remember that it’s now up to you to initiate and maintain contact. You are the one who has left.