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Bottom Up Change
Job Crafting involves a bottom up change made by an individual person to their own specified, and documented in the job description, work role. There are 3 key categories of job crafting; work tasks, work relations and cognition or reframing thinking.
The diagram included depicts the basic Job Crafting framework for lawyers. This framework applies equally to any employed professional such as an engineer, medical practitioner, accountant, teacher or IT professional. The lawyer example is used because the methodology was built in my PhD to conduct empirical research into how best, and why, lawyers learn to hone their interpersonal skills, particularly leadership skills, post admission.
Crafting Professionals
My research found that lawyers initiate leaderwork activity to improve the effectiveness of their work role. This can be either unrecognised by the formal leadership structure within the legal organisation or alternatively not considered to be a valuable work contribution. Leaderwork is job crafting as explained below.
In addition a person can reach a point where they are feeling frustrated or blocked from moving forward in their career, believing that the scope of their current role limits their personal and professional development.
And third a person can be motivated to job craft to contribute to their profession because of their belief that a constituent part of their professional role is to act based on their beliefs and commitment to their professional standards and cultural heritage.
Experiential EQ Workshops
In our Job Crafting and more detailed Role Sculpting Workshops Core EQ adopts the STAR [Situation, Task, Action, Review] framework to demonstrate how to curate or sculpt your role.
This is an iterative process involving the following 4 steps:
The Situation stage is the current baseline, or work role.
The Task stage involves the identification of small changes to a job - which can better align the role with a person's preferences, strengths and values. Notably the basic structure of the role with reporting lines for example, remains (as per the formal Job Description). Adjustments are simply made to ensure a better fit. It is like adjusting the size of a suit. Not replacing it.
The Action stage follows a decision to modify the work tasks, relationships or mindset and is employee driven not imposed by the organisation.
The Review stage involves analysing the success, in terms of the initiator's wellbeing, work enjoyment or professional development.
How Does Job Crafting Help a Professional Worker?
Job crafting can help an employed professional better align their work to meet their own interests, wellbeing and needs. This will sometimes be done quietly, even secretly, without the knowledge of their organisation. Alternatively the organisation may choose to not notice, i.e. disregard these positive work initiatives.
This later issue demonstrates that professional workers often undertake informal leadership work (Leaderwork) which is not recognised, rewarded or supported adequately by their workplace. This is job crafting.
A person's motivation to job craft is to achieve better work outcomes. For their own sense of achievement and satisfaction. A by-product can be a positive contribution to the overall performance of the organisation. But only if the organisation is tuned into their people and their job crafting initiatives.
What Are The Benefits to the Organisation?
Organisations that support the innovative act of job crafting by one or more of their employees can benefit in two key ways. First a re-energised, focussed person, who feels more in control of their work role, will be more settled and satisfied.
Second they will be more likely to be motivated to contribute to timely organisational interventions. And to build on the insights gleaned from their job crafting initiatives to make work better for themselves and their colleagues. Thus contributing to a healthier workplace, and sometimes also, professional culture.
Mutual Benefit and Future Challenges
In future blogs we will explore the potential of achieving a mutual benefit for the individual professional worker and their workplace. And how by curating, or sculpting, their professional role, a person can enhance the specific organisational and professional context in which they practice (work).
Dr Deborah Hann
15 April 2024
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