Leadership

Make the Most of an Overseas Posting

By Jo Owen

Updated on: June 14, 2010 / 9:16 AM EDT / MoneyWatch

Last week's blog outlined five traps for middle managers. Bruce Lynn helpfully added a sixth: the homebody who stays in the comfort zone of home, ignoring the perils and opportunities of living and working overseas.

Bruce is right. As the world globalises, managers who want to reach the top in a large organisation need to know of life beyond Britain (it does exist for more than two weeks' holiday a year, really). The benefits of the overseas posting are huge. In your foreign posting you can:

Get more responsibility than you would at home
Learn, grow and adapt fast professionally
Build personal resilience and strength
Polish your CV
Have a lot of fun

Having lived in Japan and America, plus many assignments elsewhere, I know to my cost there are also many pitfalls:

It is hard work and personally disruptive
Returning to cubicle land after being a big cheese abroad is hard
There may be no job for you to return to: forget all the promises made to you before you left. The people who made them will have moved on.

So if you are offered the chance to go abroad, what should you do?

Do your homework. Understand as much as you can about the opportunity before you go. You will still be surprised by what you find, but homework should help you avoid the Death Star assignment.
Negotiate like crazy. Not just on personal terms but also on expectations and support: set yourself up for success as far as you can.
Get full relocation help. you need to hit the ground running when you arrive. Being distracted by immigration, tax, housing, plumbers or figuring out to buy a subway ticket will not help you.
Be bold. You can remake yourself as you wish far from home. Push yourself, experiment, make a difference.
Be adaptable. Don't hide in an expat bubble: jump in and make the most of it.
Learn the language. American is easier than Japanese.
Stay visible. back home no one will know what you are doing. So tell them: if you do not spin a story, someone else will for you. Yours is likely to be more positive.
Work the politics. keep in touch with power barons and sponsors; make yourself useful back home and keep an eye out for the next posting. I flew over 250,000 miles a year: bad for the planet, good for my career.

Finally, this is your chance to live life with the record button on. Grab the opportunity. Your life and career will be richer for it.

(Pic: fireman_smoky cc2.0)