The Business Case for Coaching Expatriates HR Magazine reports that an average of 45% of expatriates terminate their assignments early. Some of the causes that expatriates listed as relevant to the failure of their assignment: Employee's inability to adjust Spouse's inability to adjust or other family-related problems Lack of skill to conduct business in the host country Inability to merge talents with international scope Personality or emotional immaturity Inability to adapt to changing business priorities or organizational alignment Expatriates are also dissatisfied with their corporate roles after returning from assignments -- 25% leave their companies within a year of their return. The fully loaded cost to a company of sending a high-potential person on a 2- or 3-year international assignment can be in excess of US $1 million. This does not include the cost of replacing an executive who leaves the company after a bad assignment experience, or the opportunity cost of failed business initiatives. Given this kind of investment, can your company afford to take a significant risk of losing its rising stars? The business case for coaching expatriates (2) - Increased Likelihood of Success The Corporate Leadership Council identifies coaching as "the single most powerful accelerator of leadership development" available. Coaching your expatriates will produce benefits for your firm through: Faster ramp-up time in-country Improved ability to understand and communicate with peers and teams Increased attractiveness of the assignment as a developmental opportunity Increased retention during and after the assignment Increased ability of your firm to benefit from the expatriate's experience and learning Enhanced reputation of your company as a front-runner in international leadership International assignments provide strong leadership to a new or growing operation, and develop general management capabilities in high-potential leaders. Coaching your expatriates benefits the new country operations, strengthens your management bench, and retains and develops your key employees.

The bottom line Studies conducted by the International Coach Federation show return on investment from executive coaching to be at least 5-to-1 in home country settings. Factoring in the increased need for support and higher costs associated with international assignments, the expected payoff from coaching an expatriate is even greater. By reducing the causes of assignment failure and improving the expatriate's ability to perform, coaching an expatriate can easily provide a return on investment of 10-to-1 or more.