Smooth Transitions simplifies relocations

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Understanding how an unhappy family can put a major strain on an employee trying to adjust to a job in a new community, two Johnston women have started a business to assist families with relocations.

Karen Coaldrake and Lisa Cooper, who have both experienced international relocations, launched Smooth Transitions earlier this year. They plan to work with local companies’ human resources departments to offer services to employees who have recently relocated to Greater Des Moines or are planning to move here.

They say their business is not a relocation service that endorses specific businesses, and they don’t plan to take the place of real estate agents. The services they offer are tailored to an individual family and might include school district comparisons or information about organizations, recreational opportunities, and cultural activities that seem to be suited to a family’s interests. Smooth Transitions compiles its materials based on a family’s personal interest inventory and interviews.

“We work with a family to find out what its needs are and what’s going to make them happy out of the gate, because that has a major influence on the individual employee’s success at work,” Coaldrake said. “If the family is struggling with getting integrated into the community, the employee is going to be distracted, or worse, it could end in a failed relocation, which is costly to a company.”

Coaldrake and Cooper met 20 years ago in Australia. Coaldrake had just moved there with her new husband, Peter, a plant breeder she met while working in international communications for Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc. Peter, a native of Australia, was friends with Cooper, who was dating a guy who was studying to be a plant breeder. The two couples spent a lot of time together in Australia, but lost touch after Pioneer relocated Peter Coaldrake to the United States.

In 2000, Pioneer asked Peter if he and Karen would host a prospective employee and his spouse during their visit to Johnston. To their surprise, it was the Coopers.

When Lisa Cooper’s husband, Mark, accepted the job at Pioneer, Karen Coaldrake, who was working as a consultant specializing in agri-business, started doing some legwork to help the Coopers with their move. Armed with the facts that the Coopers wanted diversity, but also wanted to be close to work, Coaldrake visited new housing developments and researched schools on their behalf.

“As a former consultant, I’m pretty fearless when it comes to tracking down information,” Coaldrake said.

Coaldrake and Cooper, whose background is in public relations and marketing, feel their services could be useful for people not only from another country, but also for people who move here from a different region of the United States.

“When you come here as a foreigner, you’ve made up your mind that things are going to be different, so you have to adjust,” Cooper said. “But people who come from other parts of the country, it seems like they almost have a harder time, because they’re expecting some sort of comparison.”

Coaldrake calls Cooper “the ultimate joiner” because of her long list of volunteer activities and community involvement since moving Johnston.

“Lisa demonstrates that you can land in a new place and find your feet,” Coaldrake said. “We want all new families to the area to know what Des Moines can offer them so they make a good adjustment, too.”