When Companies Don’t Tell The Whole Truth…

A True Expat Recruitment Story

If organizational growth is important to you... Truth Matters

Last week, I visited a new friend that has been an expat for about 4 months in a country that is nothing like the one her family comes from.

When her husband accepted the position, they were promised life in a compound – a guarded and gated community with streets, and parks, and amenities that vary depending on your location.

The day before they left home to begin their expat lives, they were informed that there was a housing shortage in the area they were relocating to. (When it was conveniently too late to get their previous jobs back or easily jump back into the life they had.)

So they boarded the plane anyway. (Would you feel slightly trapped?)

And for the past four months the two of them and their young son have been sharing a two-room efficiency apartment.   They have a love seat in their little kitchen and all three of them share a bedroom with their son’s toys. While their shipment of household items sits in storage.

Since their arrival they’ve been advised that it will probably take a year before they can be moved onto a compound, and presented with one alternative that gives them some immediate choices for housing but removes other benefits that they had counted on.

My friend’s situation is mild in comparison to her neighbors:

4 Ways YOU Can Decrease Bullying and Division

And Create More Understanding and Unity...

I grew up in a little town in North Dakota, where we had four very distinct seasons. My favorite as a child was summer – because I absolutely love being in the water!

It was refreshing, peaceful, freeing, great exercise and fun!

Unless we were camping by the lake…  We would pedal our bicycles to the pool multiple times every single day.  In the morning for an hour of lessons, then for three hours of open swimming in the afternoon and occasionally in the evening for another two – three hours of playing in the water!

If gills or a mermaid tail had been an option I would have them!

A few years ago I met a young woman that loved being in the water even more than I do. As a child she was on swim teams and lived in the pool. But at a very young age she was diagnosed with a disease that has impacted her body a lot like ALS.

What if TRUTH is FIRST discerned in your GUT?

I live more than 7,000 miles from my home, in an expat compound on the other side of the world.

Shortly after we moved here, one of my neighbors was venting about a conflict he had with another neighbor. In the midst of his anger he said, “I don’t know how the compound can let people live here that don’t have any integrity.”

Hit the pause button.

Rewind.

Replay… “I don’t know how the compound can let people live here that don’t have any integrity.”

[Tweet “Don’t we all wish there were a litmus test for integrity?!”]

What are you speaking, hearing and believing?

What your mouth speaks, your ears hear and your brain believes!

I was recently helping my 9-year-old neighbor with her homework. She’d had a long day at school, and we’d been studying for an hour and her brain was tired!  As I pulled out the last book we needed to study she said, “I can’t do this!

Immediately I interrupted, “Oh honey, don’t say that! Because…

[Tweet “Whatever your mouth speaks, your ears hear and your brain believes!””]

"I can't do this!"She immediately plugged both of her ears and said, “I can’t do this!”

Band-Aids and EASY Buttons -Or- SOLUTIONS?

An owner of a couple of small businesses is frustrated with dwindling profits.

He blames his staff, treats them badly, moves them to different locations, stalls their vacations and refuses to listen to their feedback.

The truth is:

  • He has been an absentee owner that has happily collected profits from the businesses while choosing not to be involved in day-to-day operations.
  • He hasn’t trained his employees or empowered them to make decisions.
  • He has not been engaged with his customers and doesn’t know what they value.
  • He hasn’t been proactive about growing his businesses or even keeping up with his competitors.
  • His prices are higher than the competition and his facilities are cramped, cluttered, outdated, and equipped with poor quality equipment and tools.