Global Mobility: September Survival and Growth Hacks

Photo by: Jeppe Wikström / Courtesy of http://mediabank.visitstockholm.com

The summer months are lovely and really tough at the same time for Global mobility professionals. While most have the possibility of taking a holiday, this coincides with the absolute peak season of the year for cross border moves and onboarding new hires.

Countries have different vacation patterns and the UK school terms don’t coincide exactly with mainland Europe, but most families move in August or early September and the most crucial time for planning and handling urgent requests happens when you are either on vacation or covering for colleagues on vacation.

So while there has been vacation it’s not unlikely that Global mobility professionals have also;

-covered for absent colleagues

-been on call during vacation

-worked every day on vacation

OR

-not been able to take a vacation at all to provide a seamless transfer of new employees

So while many have nice summer memories to share a lot of us say. ”Yes, the vacation was lovely but it seems like years ago already.”

September is a great time to reboot and reinspire your goals.

September is one of the best months of the year. The weather is warm, and it’s still light in Northern Europe. Now is a good time to get back in the groove in a good way. Here are some tips for you, that we use here at Nimmersion, do to prime yourself after a very busy summer filled with lots of fun and many relocations.

Reevaluate your goals as if it was New Year’s Eve.

Start fresh. Look over your 2019 goals. How are they coming along? Is there a goal you would like to push through by the end of the year? Are there some 2020 goals you are planting now as seeds? Take some time to reevaluate where you are, and where you would like to be in 2020.

Have commitments to yourself and figure out strategies to keep them.

a) Break your goals down into actionable steps so they are not so overwhelming

b) Track your goals so you can feel accomplishment as you move towards them.

c) Have a mantra to remind you why you are working so hard.

Be smart about how you work.

Think about what daily tasks may not be necessary for you to do each day to move forward in your job. See if you can you delegate some of your tasks to free up time for more important things. Learn to chunk certain tasks together more effectively as a way to be more efficient and save time. Consider using the Pomodoro Technique, where you use a timer and work in 20 minute time blocks without interruption. We find that this works wonders.

Get inspired by some great books on productivity.

Here are some of our favorites:

Vem bestämmer över din tid? By Petra Brask

There are blogs and a YouTube channel too www.petrabrask.se

The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy -By Chris Bailey

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business -By Charles Duhigg

Set goals and have a mantra

“Will this make the boat go faster?”  This quote comes from a inspiring story about the UK Rowing team. They were not doing well in competitions, so they asked themselves “Will this make the boat go faster?” , they asked this question at almost every decision point, for a couple of years and ended up winning! They related this question back to every action they undertook from training, to eating and drinking. Spoiler alert – french fries and beer don’t make the boat go faster. This question or mantra inspired them to change important keystone habits, and they ended up on top! What is your mantra? Mine is “Can this be used effectively many times, if so, I will focus on it”

Declutter Your Office, Your Home and your wardrobe.

September is moving us in to hibernation mode, and also holiday mode. These times will be enjoyed so much more, and be most productive, if your spaces are clean, clear, and organized. This goes for your office, your home, and your wardrobe. September is the perfect time to re-evaluate what items you wish to spend the colder months ahead surrounding yourself with.  Also, ponder your Fall/Winter wardrobe.  Think about how can you organize your closet, get rid of items you have not worn in awhile, and plan out some outfits that your feel great in when you wear them.

Get healthy, and inspire your coworkers as well.

Do you have a fall/winter exercise program? What you are doing to promote mental wellness at home and in the office? For example, an important part of good health is taking time for fun and happiness. Are you working to cultivate these qualities in your office culture? Consider making some delicious new and healthy meals for autumn with some leftovers to bring to work to save time and money. Pull out a few weeks of recipes to try over the autumn and winter seasons. We have 3 earlier blog posts that can inspire you on these subjects:

Keeping Employees Healthy During Cold and Flu Season

How to Promote a Healthy Relocation

What HR Can Do To Promote a Happy Office

September is back to school month. You can go back to school too!

What would you like to learn? Are there any continuing educational classes that would help you gain more skills for your job or a personal hobby? In this day and age it is always good to keep adding skills to your toolbox.

Restore a habit that once served you.

Have you let a good habit go over the summer? Now is the time to get it back. Perhaps this may be a good night’s sleep, or less social drinking, or reading novels. How about making a plan to reintroduce these back in your life by sharing your goals with an accountability partner?

Get back to planning your days

Be a planner – GMs have to help many others plan. During the summer, hard work will often have to replace sound planning and work methodology due to the unexpected emergencies that happen when you cover for several other people. Go back to planning your days and weeks. Get a productivity planner. Don’t check your email first thing in the morning, etc.

Be patient with yourself

Introduce your new habits in ways that are easy for you. Take baby steps. Do the things that feel good first, the ones that will give you the quickest gratification. Adding in as many feel good habits in the beginning will allow the bad habits to fall away naturally.

We hope some of these ideas will inspire you to have a productive and joyful fall. If you would like to go more in depth into these topics, sign up for our free online 4 week Motivational Mojo course where we send you one email each week with great productivity tips.

If you are planning on sending employees to Sweden, you can learn loads of useful information from our Guide to Bringing Foreign Talent to Sweden.

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