Charlotte’s job crafting model
“Four months into my role I’m pleasantly surprised at how much I have already personalised my job. ”
I began my journey at Tailored Thinking as a Lead People Scientist. Having realised I’d (unknowingly) crafted every job I’ve ever had, I was keen to understand how I could be more deliberate with it.
(Job crafting is making small and tangible changes to your job to make it a better fit for you).
Sharing my experiences
Four months into my role I’m pleasantly surprised at how much I have already personalised my job. Much of this is due to the freedom and autonomy Tailored Thinking encourages and enables (how could we not?)
Similar to Chloe (my fellow team member), I grouped my experience against the 5 main ways that we find people tend to job craft.
Five ways I’ve crafted my job:
1. Purpose crafting
Charlotte working on the flipchart
What is it? Purpose crafting is reframing how we think about our work in general, including the value and significance it brings to us personally and others.
How did I do it? Hearing stories from people who have made seemingly small and simple changes to their roles, but have seen huge impacts from it, reminds me of the power of job crafting and its potential to genuinely improve working lives. Speaking to people about their job crafting experiences is my go-to if I'm ever wondering how my role adds value to people’s working lives."
2. Task crafting
Notes
What is it? Task crafting is tangibly changing aspects of how we undertake our work including designing, adding or removing tasks.
How did I do it? People who know me well would describe me as super organised, and someone who makes plans happen. Naturally, I quickly adopted this role within the Tailored Thinking team. Those admin tasks that no-one ‘owns’ but someone needs to? That’s me! I’ve loved managing Trello boards, keeping projects on track, and writing proposals. We all have different strengths and interests and I look forward to taking on more responsibility for the finance and data sides of Tailored Thinking (you’re welcome Chloe!) as my role develops.
3. Skill crafting
Yes sign
What is it? Skill crafting is developing, refining and focusing on new skills.
How did I do it? I’m a believer in saying yes to the stuff that scares me - whether that be figuring out the technicalities of delivering large group facilitation online, or getting more comfortable speaking in public. I don’t always say yes immediately, but I know how much I have developed during my career through stretching myself, and trust that that will continue when I embrace opportunities to be vulnerable.
I’ve recently been delivering presentations on new topics and have just recorded a podcast, which I’m pretty proud of.
4. Wellbeing crafting
Charlotte’s Google calendar (not available)
What is it? Wellbeing crafting is boosting our physical and mental health through the work we do.
How did I do it? This is the area I’ve probably done most crafting. For example, most days I block out time for lunch to allow a proper break and eat proper food (not just the beige stuff). I always set an out of office for when I’m not working, which takes away any pressure to be working / responding, and also automatically declines invitations in my calendar - saving me the job of saying no to people. As a 4-day week employer, I also dedicate my non-working day to self-care (you can read more about that here).
5. Relationship crafting
Chloe and Charlotte chatting
What is it? Relationship crafting is shaping how we relate and engage with others, including building and adapting our relationship with co-workers.
How did I do it? I think it’s really important to allow time for getting to know colleagues, especially in a remote world (but more generally too). Since joining the team I’ve actively tried to make time to collaborate with colleagues, as well as allowing space at the beginning of meetings for chit chat. Some days, connecting with lots of people can be energy depleting, so I try to keep one day a week meeting free. This allows me to indulge my introvert side, and also serves as uninterrupted focus time for larger pieces of work.
If you want to start crafting your job my advice would be:
Select an area of job crafting to focus on (1 of the 5 described above).
Think about parts of your role that you would like to start doing, stop doing or change. It doesn’t have to be additional work but doing more of the stuff you like or reframing how you approach parts of your role.
Treat it as an experiment - it’s OK if it doesn’t go how you expected the first time (we often see unintended benefits too).
Start small - it doesn’t have to be massive, just something that will improve your job by just 1% and can take less than 1 hour per week.
Charlotte is the lead people scientist at Tailored Thinking and is passionate about making work better for everyone. Charlotte has a first class masters degree in Occupational Psychology and enjoys understanding what meaningful work looks like and feels like for different people.
