Should You Leave a Toxic Team or Try to Improve It?

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A word that frequently comes up in career conversations is, unfortunately, “toxic.” The engineers I speak with will tell me that they’re dealing with a toxic manager, a toxic teammate, or a toxic work culture. When you find yourself in a toxic work environment, what should you do?

Is it worth trying to improve things over time, or should you just leave?

The difficult truth is that, in nearly every case, the answer is to leave a toxic team as soon as you can. Here’s why:

• If you’re earlier in your career, you frankly don’t have much political power in the organization. Any arguments to change team culture or address systemic problems will likely fall on deaf ears. You’ll end up frustrated, and your efforts will be wasted.
• If you’re more senior, you have some ability to improve processes and relationships on the team. However, if you’re an individual contributor (IC), your capabilities are still limited. There is likely some “low-hanging fruit” of quick improvements to suggest. A few thoughtful pieces of feedback could address many of the problems. If you’ve done that and things are still not getting better, it’s probably time to leave.
• If you’re part of upper management, you may have inherited the problem, or maybe you were even brought in to solve it. This is the rare case where you could consider the change scenario and address the broken culture: You have both the context and power to make a difference.

The world of technology is large, and constantly getting larger. Don’t waste your time on a bad team or with a bad manager. Find another team, company, or start something on your own.

Engineers often hesitate to leave a poor work environment because they’re afraid or unsure about the process of finding something new. That’s a valid concern. However, inertia should not be the reason you stick around in a job. The best careers stem from the excitement of actively choosing your work, not tolerating toxicity.

Finally, it’s worth noting that even in a toxic team, you’ll still come across smart and kind people. If you are stuck on a bad team, seek out the people who match your wavelength. These relationships will enable you to find new opportunities when you inevitably decide to leave!

—Rahul

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