Expats
Should I stay or should I go now?
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-12-31 09:15
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Pay, progression, adventure, passion, people, pride help you decide
Whenever my husband and I interact with fellow expatriates, invariably somebody will ask: "So, how long are you guys staying in China?"
The question might be coming from a person I just met five minutes ago or from a best friend simply inquiring about the latest update.
Funnily enough, nobody actually expects a clear answer.
Instead, there are general thoughts and remarks of something along the lines of "I'm not sure. We have been in China for three years and my contract is ending in June, but somehow I feel that we are not quite finished with China yet."
Another favorite is "Well, my company wants me for another year and the job market does not look great in Europe, so let's just wait and see."
Then again, some people say "Working in China is tough. But my family likes it here. Not quite sure what we will decide."
From a company perspective, it is clear that expatriates are sent and kept on an international assignment to China because of their specific skills and experience.
But from an individual perspective, there is a lot of other "stuff" that motivates shortening or extending the length of an international assignment.
In her series of studies Measuring Expatriate Return on Investment in Global Firms published in 2009, Yvonne McNulty discovered that expats choose to accept an assignment abroad for career development and personal or family opportunities in 75 percent of cases.
I hope you agree, these are the same factors that most expatriates in China consider when making the decision about staying or moving back home.
So, let me clarify at this stage the purpose of this article. It is two-fold.
On one side, I hope to offer expats who are contemplating shortening or extending their assignment length an alternate decision-making framework beyond the over-used and stressful SWOT analysis and pros/cons listings.
On the other side, for those who have little control over the length of their time in China, this is a useful tool to tweak some "controllable" things in order to stay satisfied and effective.
It is my wish to offer expatriates who are contemplating shortening or extending their assignment length an alternate decision-making framework: the 6Ps model.
The first time I heard about the model was from a senior executive at Microsoft who had had it explained to him by his mentor in the US.
My original thoughts were that this was no rocket-science.
But, the more I use the model with executive clients, the more I realized the depth of thought and clarity one can gain from using it.
The 6Ps model simply encourages you to consider six important factors before evaluating your different options and making the "big" decision.
If you are familiar with De Bono's "6 Thinking Hats" concept, the below perspectives may ring a bell.
They are: pay, progression, personal adventure, passion, people and pride.
Let me take a practical example to illustrate the use of this model.
Jeff is a senior executive at an American multinational company in Beijing.
He was sent to China three years ago and has done pretty well.
His manager recently offered him a contract extension for one year.
If he refuses, he will have to explore what career opportunities are available within his company back home.
