How life coaching can fill a gap that relocation companies can't, by counselling assignees to learn to enjoy the expatriate lifestyle.

High assignment failure rates continue to be suffered by even the 'enlightened' companies, who offer cross-cultural training and orientation programmes, employ reputable relocation companies and provide repatriation support.

So what's missing?

Lifestyle coaching, which has proliferated over recent years, may provide an answer. Julia Ferguson Andriessen is the founder of Jafa Life Coaching Services, and is one of hundreds of coaching services that are successfully thriving.

When Andriessen first set up Jafa after having gained first-hand experience of life as an expatriate, she placed an advertisement for coaching and almost immediately received 30 to 40 responses.

It was then that she was struck by the magnitude of the problem.

A vent for fears and concerns

"Expatriates need a trustworthy, independent ear, somewhere safe to vent their fear and concerns," she says.

"Daily struggles are magnified in a foreign country in a foreign system."

"Even if the expatriate is happy, their family is left to struggle on their own. Choices are limited: friends, religion, language."

"Life coaching enables them to discuss personal matters such as the manifestations of culture shock (in the form of, for example, a depressed spouse)."

"There's also job insecurity - 'I am not entirely sure I'm handling this well, and I cannot let my manager know how unconfident I am'."

Jafa's clients range from a variety of backgrounds and cultures and many represent expatriates from highly reputable multinationals.

Large companies don't always provide adequate support

In one instance, a client who had been expatriated to an investor relations post for a large telecommunications company was horrified to discover within days of her arrival that none of her predecessors had lasted longer than six months in the job.

In spite of receiving the expatriate support assumed of a large company, Andriessen says this kind of problem is not uncommon.

This is perhaps because many of the 'softer' issues of repatriation are not addressed with relocation companies.

While some relocation companies do excellent jobs, showing expatriates and their spouses how to open bank accounts and pay bills, there is a finite 'honeymoon period' after which their clients are left alone.

Life balance coaching helps the expatriate place the various aspects of his/her life in perspective, and allows them to rank career, partner and self-development in terms of satisfaction.

Andriessen states that all too often, expatriates who seek coaching due to being unhappy at work eventually discover that the root cause lies in a issue concerning their personal lives: either that they do not have one or their partner is dissatisfied.

Similarly, those who seek coaching on a personal issue invariably find the crux of the issue lies in being unfulfilled and undervalued at work.

Another of Andriessen's clients was working in a senior post in a multinational company and loved her work.

Unfortunately, due to her company's aggressive work ethic she had no support system in place to enable her to go dating or to have friends.

This eventually had consequences for her performance at work.

Andriessen challenged her views about the work ethic and encouraged her to find time for herself.

There are steps that companies can take to identify and contain risk factors within their HR processes.

Summing up life coaching's value, Andriessen says: "We often challenge CEOs to take their families to Zimbabwe and try running the company without a secretary."