Written by Mila Trezza, Executive Coach – Former Global 500 GC
Mila Trezza is a former General Counsel of a Fortune Global 500 energy company and an award-winning executive and leadership coach. Her company was named one of the Top 5 Executive Coaching Companies in the UK for 2023.
Moving on from a job is never easy. Even if you’re sure you are in the wrong job, deciding to leave can be as challenging as moving on from a role you’ve simply outgrown. Major career decisions require thoughtful consideration, as any move has potential downsides and can impact your career, income, and other aspects of your life.
Yet, staying in an unfulfilling situation can be even worse when it harms your well-being, prevents you from growing, and no longer aligns with your values. The cost of staying may be too high.
While I always encourage people to explore opportunities within their current organization or look for ways to redesign their roles to better fit their ambitions, sometimes the best way forward is to start anew.
But how do you know when it’s truly time to make a change?
Here are three compelling reasons why your dissatisfaction and lack of engagement at work might signal that it’s time to move on.
1. The culture is toxic
A toxic work culture is one of the leading reasons many people decide to leave their jobs.
Signs of a toxic work culture can be glaring, such as unsustainable workloads, non-inclusivity, disrespect, backtalk, unfairness, extreme competitiveness, and, ultimately, abusive behaviours.
However, toxicity isn’t always overt.
Positive toxicity, where an over-positive attitude suppresses genuine concerns, can be equally damaging to your mental well-being.
Say, for example, that you recurrently express feeling overwhelmed, and your manager dismissively replies, ‘I’m not worried at all. If there’s someone who can manage, it’s you.’ That merely shuts down your concerns.
Similarly, a manager announcing budget cuts and headcount reductions with a positive ‘I know we can do it. I believe in you!’ is spinning reality, not allowing the team to address their issues and realistically come up with options.
On the other hand, a healthy work culture acknowledges problems without resorting to ‘it could be worse; we are lucky to have a job’ clichés statements.
So, if any of these scenarios sounds all too familiar, it might be time to seriously consider how this work environment is affecting your confidence, your growth, and your overall well-being.
Can you intellectually and emotionally thrive and reach your full potential?
While saying goodbye to a toxic workplace is a brave decision, and it may take time to rebuild your confidence and gear up for future success, recognise that it can also be an empowering step towards a more fulfilling career.
2. You are given no opportunities for growth
At some point, everything we do may no longer allow us to grow.
If that seems the case, exploring internal opportunities is often the first way to go. After all, leaving a (good) job is a significant decision; quite often, there is more room for improvement than people first see.
Can you find a way to turn what you already have into the job you want?
Are your problems fixable?
Your possible alternatives and options can be intended broadly. They can include moving within your department, transitioning to another department or region, and redesigning your existing responsibilities.
Taking on new projects, supporting different teams, adding a new reporting line, or supervising junior team members can all provide growth opportunities even when your job title does not change.
Another way to look at ‘changing job’ is to change how you interact with your job.
Although this shift is internal, engaging with your responsibilities differently is also a form of ‘job crafting.’
This recrafting aims to make your job more fulfilling, for instance, by reframing what your true impact is or by engaging with your internal stakeholders in new ways.
When assessing whether you may overgrown your role, remember that research suggests that women tend to take on more non-promotable and low-visibility tasks than men.
Why does this matter? Because saying yes to low-visibility and low-impact work can keep you stuck in a role for longer and hinder your growth opportunities.
So, if you feel stagnant and there’s nothing new to explore, it might be time to think hard about whether it’s time to leave.
3. Your values no longer align with the job or the organisation
Realising that your values no longer align with the organisation can be a tough, eye-opening experience.
It often starts with dissatisfaction and eventually leads to the realisation that you and your organisation have evolved in different directions. This can be particularly challenging when you once felt deeply connected to your workplace and its purpose.
Organisations inevitably change sometimes in monumental ways.
New leadership, shifts in company culture, or strategic choices can transform the very essence of an organisation.
It’s up to you to assess whether these changes still align with your personal and professional goals.
The hardest part can also be accepting that these changes are likely irreversible. You may struggle with letting go of the past, especially when it was a time of great fulfilment and success.
In other cases, however, it’s not just the organisation that has changed. You may have changed too.
Your values and priorities might have shifted over time. For instance, you might have realised that spending more time with your family is more important now, and the demands of your current role are no longer compatible with your priorities.
Or your passion has shifted, and the job you once loved no longer excites you.
This can make the decision to leave particularly difficult, as it involves navigating feelings of loss, guilt, as well as gratitude.
After all, your job has likely played a significant role in shaping who you are today and what you want next.
Figuring out why it’s time to move on is the first step toward getting yourself unstuck.
Whether it’s a toxic work culture, limited growth opportunities, a shift in values, or a mix of these, this awareness will help bring meaning to your dissatisfaction and empower you to seek a more fulfilling future.
Mila Trezza, Executive Coach ‒ Former Global 500 GC
Mila Trezza is a former General Counsel of a Fortune Global 500 energy company and an award-winning executive and leadership coach. Her company was named one of the Top 5 Executive Coaching Companies in the UK for 2023.
After more than 20 years of international experience, having served as Director of over 30 companies and lived in six countries, Mila developed her approach to coaching with the sensibilities of a lawyer in mind.
Her mission is to cultivate a coaching culture for the legal industry that is bespoke to and has an inside-out understanding of the challenges that lawyers and legal teams face on a daily basis.
Legal professionals play a central role in the organisations they serve. Yet, little of their training prepares them for building the confidence, relational skills, and emotional agility needed to persevere and succeed. Through her coaching, Mila helps lawyers go from lacking confidence and feeling overwhelmed to having a clear path forward, feeling resourceful, and enjoying their roles.
In addition to running her own business, “Coaching Lawyers by Mila Trezza”, Mila acts as an expert advisor and consultant for leading global companies.
