Using job crafting to shape my career

Michelle Reid, People and Operations Director at IOM (job crafting model).

Michelle Reid, People and Operation’s Director at IOM will be sharing her experiences of job crafting and how it has helped her shape her career. Michelle has a successful history in implementing, leading, and optimising multi-level business & HR practices.

Michelle was recently listed in the HR Most Influential List 2022.

I started my role as HR Manager at IOM 5 years ago. The purpose of our organisation is to improve the health of people in their workplace and in the wider environment. 

When I joined the company, what they thought they wanted wasn’t actually needed. As a result, my role now is completely different and I have used job crafting to shape it in a significant number of ways. FYI job crafting is making small, tangible changes to your job to make it more meaningful, engaging and a better fit for you as an individual. 

Job crafting for me is very much aligned to my purpose. My purpose is to unlock the value of people to unleash commercial success. If there are tasks on my to-do list that don’t align with my purpose then I’ll ditch them in favour of investing my time into tasks that do.

In this blog I wanted to share with you some job crafting examples, including the 5 different ways I have crafted my job.

The 5 types of job crafting

Task crafting

At IOM, I have full responsibility for the HR function end to end, so I have to think cleverly about the tasks that I do. The way I task craft is by thinking about the tasks I enjoy doing, those I don’t enjoy doing, and how I can delegate tasks to people who may have an interest in some of my tasks (this takes the pressure off me).

A great exercise to kick start task crafting is the love and loathe exercise.

Relationship crafting

Relationship crafting is about understanding people and the relationships we have with them

When I first joined IOM the first thing I did was walk around and talk to every single person. This wasn’t with the aim of understanding what people did in their roles, but to understand how they felt about working for IOM and what they liked and disliked about the organisation. I also asked them what they would change if it was their business and what they thought was standing in their way.

This enabled me to think about where I needed to apply my skills and knowledge to help drive improvements for them. So my relationships were at the heart of that. I have become a relationship chameleon, adapting my relationships and crafting my approaches to different people and circumstances.

Purpose crafting

Purpose crafting is the one I find harder than anything else.

Subconsciously, I knew my purpose deep down. But it is only in the last 2 years that I came to this realisation and I have written it down in front of me in my diary ever since. As soon as people are connected to their purpose, the physical tasks they do, the relationships they have the skills they hold and how they feel, everything becomes aligned. They move to a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset. They are not wedded by their job descriptions, titles or how they have always done things, they begin to think “why am I doing this, can this be done better, what more can I do or bring?”

Skill crafting 

I find skill crafting the easiest because I’m so nosey!

I know I don’t know everything so I’m always consciously trying to learn lots of new things. So if there is something I’m curious about I just go and find it out. Google is my best friend! I’m constantly building new skills all of the time with less of a reliance on going to a course, skills are things that are crafted and learned in lots of different new ways including great conversations with others who are in the know.  Skills sharing is brilliant and builds the feeling of reciprocation and value.

Wellbeing crafting

In regards to other people's wellbeing I’d say I’m great. In regards to my own… not so good.

A recent example involves an employee whose job is a combination of both physical and mental activities. Therefore they typically experience an energy dip mid-week. One of the ways they boost their energy is cycling, but they usually have to wait until the weekend to do this. I told him to take a few hours midweek to go cycling! He has now seen an increase in his energy, productivity and motivation, a no brainer for the business and for him.

Areas I want to improve in job crafting

Job crafting is something I do without thinking. However, one area I know I need to improve on is wellbeing crafting. When I’m feeling tired or drained, exercise is the first thing to go. It’s something that fills my tank, yet the thought of cardio puts me off all together. Even though I know it does wonders for my mental and physical health.

However, I have got into the routine of going to Zumba twice a week and I attend two external networking groups every Friday. Both of these activities boost my energy and productivity and make me feel good - win, win all round!

You can learn more about job crafting here, you can also connect with Michelle on LinkedIn if you would like to ask her any questions or have a chat.

Job Crafting on Purpose.

A sense of purpose is a defining human need for us all. Yet, despite this universal personal requirement, the ‘why’ of work and the power of purpose is often overlooked when it comes to our jobs.

As lockdown eases and the way we work is transitioning, there has never been a better, or arguably more important, time to focus attention and discussions about the value and purpose of what we do.

How can organisations and HR leaders revive or recalibrate a sense of purpose and amplify engagement and performance along the way?

One evidence-based and practical way to do this is by purpose crafting. Purpose, or cognitive, crafting is a type of job crafting that involves shaping and reframing how we think about the value and purpose of our work.

The 4 key types of purpose crafting.

There are four key types of purpose crafting; broadening, narrowing, finding; and personalising purpose. 

Broadening

We can connect to the wider purpose of our work by looking at the bigger picture in terms of who benefits from the work that we’re doing.

An example of broadening is a customer service operator in a bank reframing their daily tasks from dealing with individual issues, to providing a key service to customers to support their financial welfare.

Narrowing

We can create a sense of purpose by focusing in on and recognising specific elements of our work which we find particularly meaningful and enjoyable.

Rather than broadening their focus, other employees may find value in focusing in on a specific aspect of their work they find particularly meaningful and enjoyable (narrowing purpose) – such as an HR business partner creating opportunities to contribute to wider business strategy.

Finding

We can connect to the purpose of our work by intentionally searching and creating opportunities to understand the impact of the work that we’re doing.

A project manager’s job crafting experiment to check in with projects they had delivered a year ago is an example of someone finding the purpose of their work. These check-ins allow them to not only hear stories about the benefits (and possible failings) of their work, but also give them other insights that will shape how they lead future projects.

Personalising

People can purpose craft by personalising elements of the work they do with the passions and interests that are important to them, which may traditionally only be displayed and showcased outside of work.

People can also ignite a sense of purpose by finding ways to connect their work with values, activities or beliefs that are meaningful and important to them on a personal rather than strictly professional basis. For example, getting involved in, or leading, sustainability or mental health initiatives or starting a weekly running group may allow people to bring outside interests into the organisation.

Bringing purpose crafting to life

Rather than giving or telling people what purpose is, leaders and HR should be concerned with creating opportunities for people to find and shape it for themselves. Here are three ways we’ve seen organisations help people find and join their personal purpose dots:

• Encourage people to connect with, and directly hear from, the benefactors of their work – through focus groups, testimonials, or simple feedback.

• Be explicit about discussing and defining the purpose and value of work – by defining purpose and value in job descriptions and in one-to-one discussions.

• Actively invite people to bring their passions to work – by introducing employee-led skill share workshops or encouraging people to involve.

Other case studies and examples of how organisations have brought job crafting to life can be found here.

We hope that we have inspired you to make a small change to your job that will make your work more tailored to you.

By writing this blog we (Tailored Thinking) are bringing our purpose to life by inspiring and enabling people to make positive changes to their work.

To learn more on the ‘why’ of work and connecting with the meaning and purpose then you can read more here.

Also, you can click here to learn more about job crafting.