30. Should I Stay Or Should I Go? (Before you quit, listen to this!)

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Hello, and welcome to this episode of Ways to Change the Workplace with myself Prino Char. I love what I do. I'm a global leadership coach, a consultant, a trainer, a keynote speaker, a podcaster. I help you to develop your leaders, your teams, and I help you to optimize your organizational cultures. I'm here to help you find ways to change your workplace. Why? Because we spend more time in our waking day at work than we do with our loved ones. It has to be a good place to be. So in this podcast, you can expect a mix of interviews with amazing thought leaders and then some solo episodes from myself as well. Get ready. Should I stay or should I go? That is a question that I get asked a lot by private coaching clients. Now, that's not a question for me to answer either. As a coach, I would never answer your questions. So, this episode is for you, people who are considering whether you should stay or whether you should go. And that is whether you should stay in your job or whether you should resign immediately. However, before you resign immediately, hold on, hold on, and listen to this episode. So today I want to share with you some concepts as to why you might be considering leaving, why you should not quit immediately. Listen to this episode first. I've got some important questions that you really need to ask yourself first, some big philosophical questions, and I'm gonna be sharing the pleasures and sorrows of my past corporate career with you as well. And then at the end, I'm gonna leave you with some pointers. So before you quit, I'd like you to consider dot dot dot. So let's get into it. So you're either listening to this episode because you're thinking about quitting, or there's something that's just just come up in your mind, and you're thinking about uh do I want to stay in this job, in this organization, or not? Now the kind of things that might be going through your head, and you might be considering quitting because of the fact that you are either bored in your role, there's just not enough for you, it's not doing it for you anymore. Or your work is making you feel unhappy and it's starting to creep into your personal life now. This happens far too often where when a job is really crappy because of many reasons, whether it be the organizational culture, a bad manager, or your needs are not being met. People tend to take this home if you hold on to a crappy job for far too long. So it might be creeping into your personal life now. Or it could be the fact that the job no longer fits your life needs anymore. Your life has evolved, but your job hasn't evolved with you. It could be the fact that there's little room for progress in your job, and by progress I mean learning as well as financial progress. Let's be honest, we've all got bills to pay, yeah? And if your job isn't paying you enough and the cost of living continually rises, you have to question your future with your organization. While we're talking about money, it could be the fact that you may have missed out on a promotion. So, yes, that promotion equals more money, more prestige, more uh role dependencies as well. But because of the fact that you missed out on a promotion, you might be considering whether you should stay in your job or whether you should go. It could be the fact that you don't get on with your manager, your team, or your organizational culture just purely sucks and you don't want anything to do with it anymore. It could be also due to the fact that you've been headhunted by a recruiter or a past colleague, you've been tapped on the shoulder, and now you're thinking, Ooh, should I stay or should I go? So all of these reasons are completely valid in making you get to the point as to where you are now in considering whether you should quit your job. But before you quit your job altogether, stop. Just stop and listen to this full episode. One of the things when I'm coaching people, I always highlight is don't do anything when you're hungry, even eating. So I use that as an analogy for you on your job, Han. Don't do anything when you're hungry, don't be desperate, don't quit immediately. Consider all of your options before you resign from your job. And what are those options? Let's discuss them now. Have you considered all of your options? Have you further understood what's causing you to feel this way? Have you gone beneath that iceberg to really understand yourself? So let's use the example of say, if it is the case that you didn't win that promotion, is it your ego that is temporarily bruised, or is it the case that there's no room to grow in your organization? There are no promotions available anymore, therefore you have no option but to quit your job. Is that the case? Let's be honest, when we're feeling crappy, the grass is often greener on the other side. So if you are feeling awful and the grass is looking greener on the other side, research it. Check out their company culture, look at their website, check out their annual reports. Yes, that's all of the superficial stuff. But then when you dig a little bit deeper, talk to people who work at the organisation that you might be interested in. Check out sites that review them. So in Australia, we have a website called Seek Reviews, Seek Company Reviews, that is, or Glassdoor, and I'll link to them in the show notes. The truth is, people speak now. We're all used to giving reviews, customer reviews, feedback, whatever you want to call it. Those sites are amazing. Go check them out if you haven't yet. Also, a side note go check out your own organizational culture. If that's mentioned on the Seek review site or Glassdoor or whatever other company review site, it's always really interesting to see how your organization or the one that you want to potentially move to is perceived by people who are reviewing it. But before you decide to quit, before you decide that grass is greener on the other side, actually check out the other side first. So let's dig a little bit deeper and ask yourself some more important questions. And I'm going to be really honest with you here and share the pleasures and sorrows that I've had in this experience when I have been job hunting in the past when I've worked in corporate roles. So these are the kind of questions I used to ask myself, and I've expanded them, and I asked this and so much more to my coaches now. So, question number one Do I have enough funds to make it through? Now, before I decided to quit my corporate job and go all in on this business, I worked out that I had around six months of funds to see me through. I knew that I wouldn't be earning a regular consistent salary like I did in my corporate days as a consultant, is really different. So I made sure that I had six months of finances available for myself. The other question I asked myself is how long have I been feeling this way? The truth was that I was feeling uneasy or just not challenged in my corporate roles at that time, and I had actually been feeling the need to break out, break free as a consultant for a good couple of years. And I'd sat on it, I held on to my job like it was a frigging security blanket, and truth is, it was a security blanket. Was I giving it my best? I feel I was, but was my heart completely and truly in it? No is the answer to that. So if you're still giving your best, I want you to ask yourself, is your heart still in your job? I also asked myself what the opportunity cost of quitting my corporate job was. I knew I would be going into a whole new world of question marks, things that I didn't know. But what was the opportunity cost? I knew as an opportunity that I would be helping far more organizations than just the one to become better, to find good ways to change their workplace, to develop their leaders, to optimize their organizational cultures. There's one of me, and I wanted to give back far more. So that was my internal driver for quitting my job. What is your internal driver for quitting your job? Have you considered what you will lose if you quit? For me, I knew and I'd asked myself that question as well. It was really tough. I would lose a regular salary, I would lose out on having a wonderful team with me every single day. I'd lose out on the wonderful facilities that an office has, you know, all of the good things. I'd lose out on the fact that I had a finance manager, I had an IT manager, I had a marketing manager, I had a whole team of wonderful people that I could rely on to do my job. Going forward, I knew it would be me and me only, and I was ready for that. So have you asked yourself what you'll be losing out on if you quit? Have you considered what other options you have if you do, let's say, stay in your job? Have you considered an internal career change? Have you considered going part-time or even the option of job sharing? Have you considered an external career change altogether? Like breaking free of your industry. What does that mean? What transferable skills do you have? What do you yet need to develop? What's your passion area? For me, I was driven. I knew that I wanted to give back far more than I was to just the one organization. I also knew there was only one me. Therefore, I knew to give back, I had to set up myself as my own boss so that I can help multiple clients. So if I was coaching you, I would ask you, before you quit, consider. Have you achieved all that you want to in your current role? What is left yet to achieve? What are you going to miss about this role? What do you need to do now to make the next step happen? You see, while you're in a job that you want to leave, you can start making your next steps now. What's your network like? Have you reached out to the right people? Have you updated your CV? Have you done all of the due diligence on yourself first before you start going externally and putting the word out there that you're looking for a job? Are you financially ready? Remember, I had a six-month financial buffer. And then, after asking yourself all of those questions, it's working out what your options are and how you can enable them. So, should you stay or should you go? Before you do, listen to this episode again and ask yourself all of the big questions. If you've got any questions, if you've got any comments, as always, reach out to me. My details are in the show notes. I wish you well in your journey of finding the right job for you because man, life is too short to be in a crappy job, in a crappy organization with a crappy manager and a crappy organizational culture. Here's to you being the best that you can be in the right job that suits you and that is right for you at this right time. I wish you well until the next time. Bye for now. All details about this episode are in the show notes. If you like this episode, I'd like you to take a moment and think about at least two people who might enjoy it. And please share the episode details with them too. Also, don't forget to connect with me on LinkedIn and on Instagram. I am fina. See that too.