Assigning executives overseas, or moving overseas as an executive within a global business, is a complicated decision. The main reason for assigning a talent  to another location is to transfer the skillset for positive business outcomes which is highly related to the expat's adaptation to the host country. In other words, cross-cultural skills and knowledge are crucial to the success of international assignments.

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Studies have shown that the faster an employee can adapt to the new country and culture, the more productive that employee is likely to be. Unfortunately, not every international assignment results in success. Two of the leading causes of relocation failure are inability to adapt to the host location and partner dissatisfaction.

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Living and working in a foreign country poses many challenges, many of which may be lessened by undergoing a formalized intercultural training program before the employee and family have started the international assignment.

Intercultural training programs are designed to develop cultural awareness and speed the transition process, by providing employees and their families with the knowledge, skills and tools necessary to effectively interact across cultures.