Job Crafting: The act of adding meaning to your work
More than 65% of employees are dissatisfied with their jobs. Why? They’re focused on a fixed list of duties. It’s time to encourage these people to expand the boundaries of their job description…
Coined by researchers at the University of Michigan and Yale, “job crafting” describes people who meet the expectations of their job and then find ways to add something that makes a difference and benefits the team/company/customers.
Examples of job crafting:
- People who volunteer to mentor others
- Salespeople who solve problems instead of sell products
- People who take on a project for an employee resource group or a Diversity Council
- My colleague who stayed late to help me prepare for a big presentation
- The hotel front desk clerk who walked across the street to get me a first-aid kit
- The Xerox employee who turned an error in adhesives into Post-it Notes
- The Zappos call center rep who sent flowers to a customer whose husband had just died and who was calling to return a pair of shoes she had purchased for him
- The utility workers from around the country who traveled to the East Coast to help neighborhoods get their power back after Hurricane Sandy in 2013
Where to start? Assess and alter any of the following areas in your job:
- Tasks – what tasks could you perform differently or more effectively? what new tasks could you take on?
- Relationships – what new relationships could you develop and contribute to?
- Perceptions – how does your work affect others? how does your work make a difference?
3 essentials for success in job crafting:
- Create value for others: find ways to benefit and serve your boss, team, colleagues, and customers
- Establish trust: help others see that your actions are in service of them, not in service of you
- Start with the yaysayers: focus first on those who support you
Why should leaders advocate for job crafting? It’s a potent way to empower people to increase their own satisfaction, elevate their own achievements, and improve their own resilience.
The result? Employees who are re-energized and re-committed because they found new ways to contribute and make a difference. And who wouldn’t want to work in that kind of culture?
What kind of job crafting have you been up to? Send me an email – I want to cheer you on!
