Looking Before You Leap

The opportunity to write and publish an article about leaping in a Leap Year, on Feb. 29th, well that is too delightful for words!

On this fun extra day in the year, take a moment to understand an important concept in your own career — to look before you leap.

Have you ever had someone say about a situation that you could go from the frying pan into the fryer?

I certainly have. I’ve also witnessed this in my career from multiple vantage points. 

To leap from the frying pan into the fryer means to make a change without carefully considering the circumstances and to find yourself in a worse situation than you are now.

If we’re not paying enough attention ahead of time, we’re going to be consumed by the fire instead of putting it out. So I want to address the various stages and see if any resonate for you.

Fire Spark

What’s going on: 

You sense some issues at work. You are seeing some dysfunction, but so far it appears that things might settle down.

What you need to do: 

Depending on how long you’ve been with your company, you’ll need to assess if this is just a blip on the radar, or if this is an inherent culture issue.  If you’re a new employee, I suggest sitting back to observe and to take note about the behavior of leadership; that will tell you quite a bit. If you’ve been with your company more than two years, you have data to measure against. The challenge will only be if you didn’t take note soon enough and are now conditioned to the fire; if true, read on.

Heating Up

What’s going on:

Dysfunction has seemed to become a pattern at the workplace. Communication is broken. Leadership appears to be going in opposite directions of each other. Stress has greatly increased.

What you need to do:

If you have a colleague or manager you can trust, I would suggest a private meeting to discuss some concerns you are seeing, but come with suggested solutions to be part of solving the problem. If the management is part of the problem, then I would seek counsel with a trusted colleague. It’s important to note this isn’t about gossiping because that is highly unproductive. What this is ALL about is figuring out if the issues are solvable or if you might need to go. Provided you can trust the HR department, and the issues at the company aren’t involving that department, I would set an appointment to discuss as one of your last resorts.

On Fire

What’s going on:

Chaos is the norm. Stress has led to health problems. You’re about to take the next job offer you get so you can get the heck out of there.

What you need to do:

Stop. Take a breath. And then develop an action plan for conscientious decision-making because the time to have begun this was three steps ago when the fire sparked. If for whatever reason it was unrecognizable or ignored, you must be kind to yourself to take a thoughtful approach to your next move.

I want to be clear that I’m not advocating to put up with behavior that could be categorized as bullying or mistreatment. That is reason to leave effective immediately. 

However, when you know it’s bad and you can take the time to get the next move right, that is absolutely what I’m saying is best to do.

I have witnessed this through interviews of candidates as an Executive Recruiter and I’ve coached many clients to confidently say:

If you don’t stop to take inventory of what you need in your next role and what parameters must be in place at the next company, you’re going to set yourself up for a repeat.

Career change is good.  And it’s the best when you’ve approached your decision carefully.