Almost everyone I have coached through a job transition wants to find a job with a company whose culture enables them to do their best work.

The big question here is: How do you figure that out?

How can you tell whether the culture of any given company will support you in the way that you need it to so that you can show up as your best self and deliver your best work?

To help my coaching clients work this out, I always start with this question: “What did you not experience in your last role that you are looking for in your next company?”

I love this as a starter question because it tunes us in to the one thing that they know for sure: What didn’t work for them last time and why. For my clients, it’s one of the most powerful pieces of knowledge they own because, if nothing else, they know what they don’t want!

But that is just the beginning.

We then take a deeper dive, reflecting back on their previous two or three roles to give them a broader perspective of their whole career so far, rather than just their last job.

The thing that I think makes these coaching conversations so powerful is that by the time we’re done talking, my client has a clear view of two very important things: (1) what they want in the next company they work for, and (2) their own values.

Knowing their own values is imperative because the next time they interview for a job, they’ll be able to evaluate that company through this new knowledge. And that will enable them to make a much more informed decision.

If this kind of a coaching conversation sounds like just the thing you need to get clear on what you want in the next company you work for, I invite you to download my free guide, What is the Right Corporate Culture for you? It walks you through a series of key questions to help you identify the values you bring to the table that need to be matched by the company you work for.