Lucy Kairu, Founder and CEO of Lucie Consultancy Relocation Coaching during the photo session at Sandbox The Village Experts on January 4, 2022. PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | NMG
Moving to a new country is exciting yet highly stressful. Lucy Kairu turned her frustrations into a launching pad for her consultancy that is today helping ease relocations for expatriates and business people.
The founder and CEO of Lucie Consultancy found it difficult when looking for tools to cope in a new environment with a different culture.
But not being one to give up easily, she soldiered on and learned invaluable lessons she today uses in her coaching career.
“Relocation coaching focuses on the clients and their spouses to enable them to experience a stress-free transition from mental planning to emotional adjustment in new environments”, explains Ms Kairu.
In her sessions, clients learn how to manage the intricate details of a relocation and thrive in the new environment.
Ms Kairu notes that one needs to be aware of his or her current season in life and the impact of a new culture and her sessions teach skills such as cultural intelligence and soft diplomacy that are essential to thriving in a new work and home environment.
Assumptions about other people's cultures, she warns, can be very costly.
Coaching is certainly useful when taken as an individual, but Ms Kairu says it is most helpful when clients attend with their spouses and partners.
“As a foreigner in a new setting, navigating a new life as the supporting spouse requires informed discernment to avoid cultural minefields. The lack of these skills can make or break a duty posting as well as the family,” she adds.
In addition, it is paramount to have coaching upon arrival to support psychosocial adjustment in the physical and social environment of living.
Lack of preparation can cause disenfranchisement of an experience that was meant to reposition one's career, finances or overall life/family opportunities.
Planning for a move begins 3-6 months before posting to a new duty station and takes about the same time to settle down in the new duty station.
The relocation coaching sessions need to commence during the planning period. The psychosocial support in the change process goes in step with the rest of the work transition plans.
A minimum of an hour's session per week is a place to begin.
This support enables one to navigate a people’s culture and decode the unwritten and unspoken code of social interactions paves the road to a home environment by the supporting spouse for their family.
This is where social capital is built outside of the work environment that helps the working spouse on-board better in their workspaces.
For the wife who has to stop working or has always been a housewife: does the coaching differ for these two why?
“Coaching is a client-led process. Therefore it’s the client’s expected outcome that determines the coaching. The corporate spouse who has to stop working and the housewife have different motivations, needs and goals all of which need addressing in the coaching sessions,” she states.
When moving back home, coaching is useful yet often overlooked. The individual or family will need preparation for a possible change to their home country.
The person returning home has changed and may have a different worldview from the one once held back at home. Therefore, in order to thrive in this new season of change, there’s a need for mental and emotional health support.
