Vetting Culture: Avoiding the Leap from the Frying Pan into the Fire in Your Next Career Move

By Lisa Morgan

Feeling uninspired, undervalued, and disrespected at work? You’re not alone. According to a recent McKinsey survey, 40 percent of global employees say they are “somewhat likely to very likely” to leave their current job in the next three to six months. What’s driving this Great Reshuffling? A toxic workplace culture, according to an MIT Sloan survey. In fact, MIT Sloan’s research indicates that a toxic culture is 10.4 times more powerful than compensation in predicting a company’s attrition.

If this describes your workplace, you may be fed up and ready to resign. It’s a good job market, right? Be aware that multiple employment gaps can mortally wound a career. Instead of quitting outright, consider taking a mental health leave of absence and use the time to reflect and gain clarity on your next move. Your employment date will continue until you eventually resign or are separated.

Most importantly, how can you ensure you’re not jumping from the frying pan into the fire in your next company? As a career coach who has worked with thousands of people in transition over the past 15+ years, the one thing I can guarantee … is that there are no guarantees. No matter how great the values are that a company espouses, no matter how earnestly a company selects and trains its leaders, all it takes is one bad manager above you, and your life can quickly become a living hell. When it comes to leadership and culture, a chain truly is only as strong as its weakest link.

So, what do you do? Throw up your hands and join the next company that makes you an offer? No. You lower your odds of ending up in another bad situation by doing as much due diligence as you can ahead of time. And while you’re at it, allow yourself the luxury of doing some serious self-reflection before you make your next move.

To begin with, consider what you want and don’t want in your next role and organization. Divide a piece of paper in half longwise, and label one column “More of” and the other “Less of”. Brainstorm a list in each column. In the book Designing Your Life, authors Bill Burton and Dave Evans suggest doing an energy audit for three weeks. What energizes you and what de-energizes you? How can you maximize the energizers in your next job? Doing exercises like this gives you a clear set of criteria to objectively evaluate opportunities down the line.

Once you’re clear on your ideal next role and company profile, brainstorm a list of targets. Can you identify as many as 40 potential organizations? Next, prioritize your list according to the ones that meet most of your criteria. Put on your sleuth glasses and begin researching your top companies. Go to their website. What values do they espouse? Do they talk about teamwork, caring about people, and collaboration? Or is it all about results, maximizing shareholder value, and competition? Work your way down your company list.

Read Glassdoor reviews of each organization. Naturally you should take these with a grain of salt – the uber-happy and the disgruntled tend to complete these surveys – but you can usually get a sense of themes when they come up repeatedly. And the overall Glassdoor rating is a good indicator. Is it in the high 3’s to 4+? Is the CEO highly endorsed? These are positive signs.

Read articles on the company. Are there reports of financial difficulty or scandal? What are the odds that this company might be preparing to sell or be subject to an industry shakeout? Decide if you have the appetite for this kind of volatility in your next move. It might be worth the trade-off if you are gaining something valuable in return – or not. Where is the company in its lifecycle? Is it in the start-up, scale-up, maintenance, or contraction phase? Each of these comes with its own opportunities and challenges.

Next, try to get the unvarnished truth by networking with warm connections who are insiders, former employees, or who know insiders or former employees. Discern when someone is just bellyaching or when they are a legitimate source of information.

When you make it to the interview stage and have the opportunity, ask open-ended questions, such as “How does the team collaborate to accomplish goals?”, “What’s one thing you love about the culture, and one thing you would change?”, “Can you give me an example that illustrates that?”

Ask to meet your future peers and pose these questions: “How would you describe the leader’s style? How about the leader’s leader?”, “How often do you meet with the manager one-on-one, and what’s typically on the agenda?”, or “How are the team’s meetings structured?” Pay attention to verbal and non-verbal cues during these conversations.

Finally, be mindful of how this potential move adds to your overall career narrative and brand. This way, if your new company isn’t your “forever home”, you have added to your narrative in a way that will make sense to your next potential employer and builds versus damages your career.