#CareerConvos™️ with Nikki

Nikki Winston, CPA: Okay. So I wanna talk today to those of you who have ever left a job because you didn't like it. You maybe were bored with what you were doing. Maybe it was beneath you, or you just did not feel like you were adding any value. You didn't understand how the work that you do at your desk is part of something bigger or something grander that makes the department better or faster or provide some deeper insights that weren't there before.

The thing that we need to talk about today and the thing I want you to understand is that you cannot say that you don't like your job if you haven't challenged it. So again, you can't walk on a walk around and say, I don't like my job, or I'm quitting because I hate this job, but you've never challenged what it is that you're doing. So this is what I'm talking about. When you come into a new job, many cases, you're a backfill, and you're coming in to pick up where somebody else left off, who may have quit, or been fired, or laid off, or whatever. So, a lot of times, you're inheriting whatever that person had, whatever they were responsible for, and there's this expectation that because you're new, they need you to follow whatever that other person was doing first.

Right? And, you get to a point where you're onboarding in the job, and you're ramping up and starting to figure out how things work. But you never go back and question what you're doing, why you're doing it that way, if it can be done a better way, and how is this helping paint a better picture for the department, for the company, etcetera. And, until you go back and do that assessment, you're basically doing somebody else's job. The job of somebody who's no longer there, and you have to figure out if you're doing it the right way, if you're doing it the best way.

And then, that's where the added value comes in in your role, is that you have that eye to say, there's an opportunity here. Or you feel like, we can do this a lot better. Or, I don't know. I'm I'm I have accounting examples going through my mind of, why do we close the books in 11 days instead of 6 days? What's the bottleneck?

What's taking us so long? Are we waiting for invoices to roll in when we can accrue and move on? Or are we bottlenecked by some report from HR about contract labor that we still have not received, and it's day 5. Things like that. Asking those bigger questions instead of being a warm body in a seat is how you add the value in the role.

So, one thing that you will hear me talk about ad nauseam, if this is your first time, welcome. If it's your 50th time, welcome back. One thing you'll hear me talk about ad nauseam is having conversations with your manager and, occasionally, your skip level, your manager's manager. And the reason for that is a lot of the turnover, when we decide to leave a job, or we quit, or fired, laid off, whatever the circumstance is. It's just like being in a relationship.

A lot of your reason for leaving is probably something that could've been addressed with a conversation. And it really blows my mind, the number of people that I talk to, either we're at a networking event, they've booked a career assessment with me, they've reached out in some capacity. And one of the things I ask everybody is, how often are you talking to your manager about what you have going on, about what's keeping you up at night, how they can support you, days that you have off that are coming up soon on the calendar, in case somebody needs to cover your work. Because it might be on their calendar, but you might have put it on the calendar 3 months ago, but they forgot, because there's a lot more shit going on. And so, it it blows my mind because these are the the things that need to be talked about, And this is the purpose of you booking time with your manager.

At minimum, once a week. It can be 20 or 30 minute conversation. Doesn't have to be super formal. There are some managers, and I'm gonna talk about this in detail in another episode. I think I did already.

Yeah. So there's already an episode where I've gone into detail about the importance of managing your manager. And keeping in mind that your manager is also managing their career. They're managing people. So they're having things come down on them from their managers and their skip levels.

And then they have to disseminate things to you and still be there for you in terms of guidance and coaching. So, you have to make sure that you keep yourself on the radar, and don't expect your manager to approach you to have conversations or initiate these sorts of things. Because at the end of the day, and the beginning of the next, you are in the driver's seat of your career. And, this is an aspect of you taking charge and really owning your career and building the career that you want. And so, if you have not had these conversations because you feel like, that feels awkward, or I don't know how to initiate th...

Career Q&A: should I still give notice if I leave a job because of a toxic workplace?

My answer is YES.

Don’t let a toxic workplace dictate how you carry yourself. Handle professional situations with grace no matter what. For these reasons:

1. Somebody’s coming into that job after you. Don’t make it harder for them because of what you had going on. In fact, make it easier for them because they’re about to be dealing with the same problems you dealt with.
2. Once you allow the toxic workplace to rub off on you and impact your behavior, you’ll carry that, in some aspect, to a new role and worse...
3. Into your personal life. How many times have you complained to a friend or family member about the fuckery you’re dealing with at work? Now you’re spreading the negativity that you’re trying to get away from to people you love.
4. On that same note, I know you got some small words you wanna say to your manager. Are you willing to degrade your brand over it? It’s really not worth it and won’t make a difference because... point 5!
5. The leaders in a toxic workplace already know their workplace is toxic, yet they do nothing about it.

Toxic work environments permeate the ecosystem of a business. It shows in how the company treats employees, through interactions with customers, even how they pay their bills.

So the job didn’t turn out to be what you thought it was. You wound up working for a manager that shouldn’t have been a manager. It happens, it’s OK.

The takeaways:

1. Don’t let a bad work environment define you. Being in toxic work environments is a reminder to be more selective in the jobs you choose.
2. Don’t take a job because it’s convenient or pays more - everything is negotiable.
3. Preserve your brand, even if you don’t like your coworkers. All it takes is a hot second to destroy your reputation. Don’t buy in to the pettiness.

You have to develop the ability to work with people you don’t like. That’s a deeper conversation.

What if an interviewer asks you why you’re leaving your job? Would you say it’s because of a toxic workplace or something else? We'll talk about that on another episode.