On Friday 15th June on a sunny afternoon, Katia Vlachos and the Santa Fe Relocation team came together for the book event. This celebrated Santa Fe’s sponsorship of Katia’s upcoming book, A Great Move, in the trendy members-only Hospital Club in Covent Garden, London.
Neil Bothams, Santa Fe’s Europe CEO, gave a remarkable speech on why he felt Santa Fe’s partnership with the book was so important. He believes the book is ‘tapping into the sense of home’ which is so vital in expatriate assignments. It was exciting to hear how the Santa Fe teams and company-wide DNA will be embedded with Katia’s lessons from the book.
The event was also covered in Relocate Global Magazine by Ruth Holmes who went into detail about the topics of discussion by Neil and Katia from their personal and professional experiences with expatriate assignments and advice.
An extract from Ruth’s article is below:
Seven tips for successful international relocations
At the launch, Katia offered guests her top seven takeaways for best practice international assignments:
Look before you leap
International relocations are a big decision and life-changing. Give it the consideration it deserves. Have a structure to the decision. Determine the ‘why?’ for making the move and if a partner is making the move with you, involve him or her in clarifying what this is. If your partner is onboard, invest and commit together to making it work. Reflecting on her personal experience here, Katia said that the difference between her and her friend Tina was that Tina wanted to be there, whereas Katia didn’t.
Know what to expect
Find out as much as you can about the destination before you move and from career, personal development and wellbeing aspects for everyone involved. There will be consequences for making the move. This stage is about checking your assumptions and finding out what the deal-breakers are.
Prioritise the family
As an assignee, your needs are often the focus. It is up to you to figure out what your partner and family members need. Follow that and line up the resources to make it happen.
Think about what your family needs to make the new location feel like home
“I didn’t do this [in Vienna] and I felt homeless,” says Katia. “It was different when I moved to Zurich. I knew I needed to be close to water, have a close circle of friends and was much more intentional in making that happen. It really helps to be conscious of what makes a home for you and your family.”
Don’t do it alone
Use the support networks that are around you and find your tribe. The expatriate community is huge and helps create that feeling of belonging.
Anticipate the adjustment process
If you move, you are most likely to go through a sequence of stages; honeymoon, crisis, recovery, adjustment. It helps to know what is coming so you can help yourself and your family members develop the skills and ability to cope with change.
Take care of yourself
Preparing and moving for an international assignment can be intense, overwhelming and stressful. Sleep and eat well and exercise. Indulge yourself from time to time.
If you would like to read Ruth Holme’s piece on the event, click here.
A Great Move is available to buy here from June 28th.
Posted by Francesca Stainer
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