An exercise to stimulate job crafting.
Numerous people want to improve their work. A challenge for many is knowing where to start. This blog shares a simple exercise starting point. It is focused on encouraging you to identify the elements of your job that you want to change and improve.
We created this small, practical exercise to demonstrate how you can make small changes that can have a big impact.
Stage 1 - Identifying what you want to change.
We encourage people to consider 5 questions around 5 themes to identify opportunities and areas for change, personalisation and improvement (displayed on the image above).
What do you want to grow / promote?
What do you want to takeaway / reduce?
What can you change / improve?
What do you want to maintain / persist and keep doing?
What do you want to pause / stop?
Stage 2 - Identifying the how.
Having identified the areas you want to change, the next step in the activity is to identify how you might do this.
To make the change sustainable and manageable we recommend you make one small change at a time. Approach any changes with curiosity and a mindset of experimentation.
The activity can be found here.
Why personalising work matters
Personalising your work around your personal strengths and preferences is called job crafting.
You can job craft by making small changes to your job to adapt and align your role with you as an individual.
Job crafting is a science backed concept. It helps you to thrive in your work, boosting engagement, wellbeing and overall happiness.
The idea is around boosting, growing and promoting the areas of your work that you enjoy and that give you energy.
For example, in Rob’s TED talk (5.45 - 6.48) he shared the example of a marketing director called Joanne. Having done this exercise, she identified that she wanted to grow and find more opportunities to informally connect with her colleagues. She did this (the How) by informally finding opportunities to connect with different members of her team each day.
Taking action
Three things you can do are:
click this link to access the exercise
identify what you want to change
set a specific goal which captures the change you are going to make
Stay in touch
We’d love to hear about your experiences with this exercise so please connect with us and let us know.
If you found this exercise of value then you may also enjoy our ‘Love and Loathe’ exercise.
