If your job could be represented by an item of clothing what would it be? I wonder if it fits you perfectly? Does it reflect your sense of style? Does it have stretch to allow you to grow, or is it a bit tight and restricting?
When starting a new job, we often receive a metaphorical "work suit." It can be exciting and daunting to try it on for the first time. You hope it will be a good fit, but you only really know when you put it on and look at yourself in the mirror or wear it out for the first time.
Seeing something in the shop window, or an online photo, looks and feels different when we put it on. And we all know that what fits us today, might not suit our shape or sense of style tomorrow.
Rather than simply hoping our work and our jobs are a good fit, thinking of our jobs as semi-tailored suits - things to be subtly shaped rather than stuck and static - might help us find ways to craft and customise our work to tap into our strengths, passions and interests.
Sharing inspiration from a badge I spotted in a clothes shop, I wonder what you would change if you could tailor your job to make it more you?
When I am introducing the concept of job crafting to people for the first time, I often show them a picture I took from a popular men’s clothing chain, which specialises in suits, shirts, shoes and jackets (it rhymes with Goss Floss).
I was browsing one day when I noticed a badge on the cuff of a suit jacket. Just before I was accosted by a diligent security guard, I was able to take a picture of the badge, which I often share in presentations.
The badge said ‘Tailor me, To make me more you’.
The badge was advertising the fact that the suit jacket could be semi-tailored. The customer would be buying a standard suit and therefore would not be able to change the suit’s core elements such as the colour or fabric but they could personalise the final fit.
Job crafting can be thought of as a semi-tailored approach to working. The basic design and structure of a job has been established but the final fit and how the job is undertaken is subtlety shaped to reflect the strengths, passions and needs of the individual worker.
The benefit of job crafting is that it enables people to create a closer fit between their work and their individual needs, motivations and circumstances. Crafting is not about custom construction but about making small changes to the job you already have.
Similar to people who feel more comfortable and confident wearing clothing which reflects their personal style and physical shape, workers who job craft feel more energised and engaged in their work. And they perform better too.
More than ever we need to embrace a semi-tailored approach to work and to working. Rather than being fixed and fixated about roles, we need to give people space to grow and develop. The challenges we find stimulating and the support we need today are seldom the same in 3, 6 or 12 months time.
It's time to leave behind the ill-fitting suits and straightjackets of traditional work and embrace a future where work truly fits each individual.
If you could apply a “Tailor me, to make me more you” to your job, what you would change?
