HR executives, talent and mobility managers

While you probably won't be using the IAP directly, you likely carry the accountability for the success of your overall talent and mobility programs. The concern is "Are we addressing the right issues in a way that will give us a SUSTAINABLE competitive advantage, while doing so in an EFFECTIVE and EFFICIENT manner?"

The IAP is a tool designed to identify the key issues that contribute to assignment compromises and failures and deplete the talent pool. It is used by your team members (internal programs) who work directly with the expat families or by your external (vendor outsourced) partners who provide the direct services. There are tangible benefits to you in the form of increased efficiency and lower cost per family, but most importantly, increased "time on job" for the employee once on site, and decreased rates of failure and compromise.

The IAP is a tool. If you need a complete program or solution, click here.

Let our technology make your program efficient and effective

To obtain the comprehensive information included in every IAP family report, an experienced coach/counselor needs about 4 to 5 hours of interview time with the family. This alone makes the cost prohibitively expensive, which is why most programs don't gather the information necessary to plan for a successful assignment. Some may do a brief telephone interview with the employee, but what about the spouse/partner with "issues"? They will not be addressed, but will almost certainly emerge on the assignment. Using the IAP provides this "in depth" information with zero coach time. The coach/counselor spends the time with solving problems and crafting solutions, not obtaining data.

If your current vendor is not using the IAP, put us in touch, we can partner with them to radically improve the efficiency and effectiveness of a coaching or preparation program. The IAP works beautifully with cross cultural training (CCT), revealing the basic adjustment issues that CCT programs seldom address.

With the IAP, you don't need to know to help!

The undeniable trend in assignments is to include the family, and that means children, spouse/partners, and even pets! You and your management team probably don't know about issues such as spouse/partner attitudes, career impacts, behavioral health issues, children's needs and problems and a long list of other private matters that will be exacerbated with an international move. They are, however, the factors that impact assignments producing compromises, early returns, and even failures. The IAP, used in the context of a well designed program (if you don't have one, we can help you design and implement one) will identify those issues so they can be addressed in a positive, efficient, and supportive way. As we say frequently, "not knowing does not mean the issue goes away."

The talent pool is your key long term responsibility: Support in, don't Screen out.

While old fashioned profiling or assessment systems disqualify candidates for a variety of reasons, the IAP operates from a different perspective by identifying the systemic issues that with support and preparation will allow the assignment to be successful from the business as well as the personal/family perspective. With talent shortages, this can be critical in developing and maintaining a growing base of experienced performers.

Our model is simple: You choose the candidates who meet the business needs. The IAP will tell you what support is needed to make their assignment successful.

The IAP assists you in supporting the crucial (but implicit) psychological contract you have with your employees. They (and especially their families) are making considerable efforts and changes to support the company's business purpose, and you can honor that commitment by providing support for the inevitable stresses, strains, and compromises a family must make to complete most international assignments.

Interviews with returning expat families confirm: they do take notice that you care!

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Relocation coaches and counselors (internal and external)

If you are already directly involved in coaching/counseling or preparing employees for their assignments, the IAP offers you a way to vastly increase your efficiency and effectiveness. You probably have a limited time with potential expats and their families. If you spend that time gathering the needed information there is no time left to discover solutions, or do what you do best: providing coaching and assistance. With the IAP you BEGIN a session with the information that would take 4 to 5 hours of expert interviewing to gather. The information is analyzed, categorized, and a prioritized listing of potential assignment risks provided. The IAP's ARF Chart™ (Assignment Risk Factors) points out the areas where work is needed, and the details in the IAP delineate the exact issues and challenges.

You spend your time solving problems, not discovering them!

Contact us, and we'll walk you through a complete IAP sample report, and answer any related questions.

Click here for a package of materials

EAP coaches and counselors (internal and external)

From your EAP work you certainly know how family issues and behavioral health factors impact an employee's work output. Accepting an international assignment produces even more strains, most of which management and HR have no way of knowing about. For example, what about a spouse/partner whose career will be compromised or even ended if he/she supports the move? Or a spouse/partner with a bit of a drinking problem that has not yet been addressed? Children's issues can be even more intrusive if arrangements for key medical, social, and educational issues have not been identified until after arrival.

The IAP identifies these issues for you "up front", allowing you to assist the family and the company in making the assignment successful from a personal/family perspective as well as a business perspective.

Integrating coaching-preparation skills that are efficient and effective is a great way to make an internal EAP program more valuable to the company and an external EAP program more attractive and competitive to the client!

Relocation program vendors and mobility programs

Integrating the IAP and related services can substantially enhance existing relocation/mobility programs by allowing your coaches and consultants to deal directly with the known issues that critically impact the success of an assignment. The relationship between relocation/mobility and talent/general HR processes is getting quite close, and programs that cannot address the broader issues (i.e., that focus just on the physical aspects of relocation) may find themselves at a competitive disadvantage. Integrating the IAP can prevent that by aligning the relocation efforts with general management and talent support efforts.

We can supply a complete "package" that is branded and identified as YOUR product from YOUR company! Just click here to learn about ExpatGPS.

While the IAP is a powerful tool, International Assignment Profiles can bring potent organizational consulting skills and ideas to help you integrate with the larger management picture. Our spreadsheet model (we'll send it to you, free) can be adapted to marketing efforts to dramatically illustrate the ROI on investment in effective programs. And our relations with our coaching and consulting partners allows us to offer state of the art training based around the IAP technology. Programs are efficient (this is what the IAP brings) and effective (well trained coaches), the key criteria successful programs. Call us at 713 842-2087 or 713 894-9820 (mobile) and we'll work together to bring a new and attractive dimension to your offerings.

Click here for a package of materials