Coaching for Global Advantage^SM ("CGA") is our name for this fresh, “WorldWise,” performance-oriented approach, which combines (a) the wisdom and practicality of the intercultural field with (b) the focus on the needs of the individual and his or her company that is typical of the executive coaching field.  For a more thorough description, please click here.
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The Inadequacy of Intercultural Training
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We developed this new approach because we recognized that the professional field in which we had our roots, intercultural communications (often called "cross-cultural training"), usually gives participants sets of facts about the unfamiliar culture and about the adjustment process.  All this content itself is research-based and sound.  But it poorly met the needs of our client individuals, many of whom were on expatriate assignments, and all of whom were facing a bewildering array of business and interpersonal challenges.
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As senior executives, directors, managers, and high-potential young  professionals, our clients were, and are, determined to attain peak performance in a wide variety of unfamiliar environments, some at home, some as expatriates abroad.  For these able and highly motivated people, the pre-determined, fact-based curriculum and the step-by-step training methods typical of intercultural communications are far too narrowly conceived.
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The Strengths of Coaching for Individuals and Couples
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We recognized as well that one-on-one coaching is the best way to attain performance-oriented objectives.  Coaching is a relationship in which mutual trust is gradually deepened and self-disclosure is gradually broadened, thus allowing the coachee's unique performance-improvement goals to become the focus and the commitment of both coach and coachee.
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In the case of expatriates, GROVEWELL's Coaching for Global Advantage^SM (“CGA”) assumes that the CGA coach is working with someone very accomplished in his or her home environment who must now regain the capacity for high performance within a newly encountered (or soon expected) range of business situations unlike those to which he or she is accustomed.  Thus, the challenge to our CGA coach is, How can this individual best be assisted to regain peak performance in these specific unfamiliar environments?  This inquiry generates a wide range of performance-enhancing and developmental possibilities, only some of which have anything to do with a curriculum about culture and adjustment.

Coaching requires a highly skilled and experienced coach who can establish a relationship of mutual respect and trust with the person (or couple) being coached.  The agenda of the session is determined “just in time” by the individual needs, concerns, and issues that the coachee is facing, or soon will be facing, during the assignment abroad.  Many of these are unforeseeable prior to the session. 
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Consequently, the coach must be flexible and finely attuned to the individual, and must deal with that person's strengths and weaknesses within the contexts of culture, community, assignment, family, and personality.  The coach must be resourceful, have a broad repertoire of skills (especially interpersonal communication skills), and possess exceptional empathy gained through maturity and her own long global experience.
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This is why GROVEWELL insists on employing coaches (and, when needed, country resource people) who have outstanding experience and maturity (average age 45-50).  We believe that no other provider of expatriate services routinely assigns coaches who are the equal of ours.
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Additional Information
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To find out about the sequence and process of our expatriate coaching, including coaching for spouses/partners and for children, as well as for information about the options available from GROVEWELL, click here.
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For a list of more than 25 publications about expatriate best practices by GROVEWELL's partners and associates (most with links so they can be read instantly), click here.

Research in Australia has recently reaffirmed the value of cross-cultural training (which GROVEWELL strongly believes is less valuable than coaching).  Click here for a few key findings of this research.

To obtain specific information, or to inquire about engaging GROVEWELL's services, contact info@grovewell.com.
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To discover our signature COACHING FOR GLOBAL ADVANTAGE^SM, click here.
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To discover our strategic GLOBAL LEADERSHIP PROGRAMS, click here.
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To discover our informative PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE CENTER, click here.

• 82% rated the importance of cultural competence to their jobs as above average or high;
• 61% would like more cross-cultural training;
• 73% said that CCT should be compulsory for everyone in their organization;
• 88% said that CCT should be compulsory for all staff in customer contact positions.