Chloe's Tailored Thinking Journey Part 2

As I approach the end of my apprenticeship with the Juice Academy I thought now would be the perfect time to reflect on my last year at Tailored Thinking.

After graduating from Newcastle University in the summer of 2019, I really didn’t picture myself starting a new job in the spare room of my house and meeting my new manager (Rob) over video call. The past 12 months have been a whirlwind for everyone and I feel super grateful to have been in the position I am in.

The blog I wrote 9 months ago Chloe’s Tailored Thinking Journey Part 1 feels like a lifetime ago. I feel I have progressed and grown so much since then.

So what I have been up to?

If you read my previous blog, you’ll know that I finally ventured into the office after 7 months and met Rob in person! You can find out how it went here.

I also created a TikTok highlighting my time during the last 10 months you can watch it here.

What is my schedule like?

Tailored Thinking are a 4-day-week employer. We believe that this is a good way to bring and give energy to things that matter to us outside of work. So, I get Friday, Saturday and Sunday to recharge. Playing football, spending time with friends and family, walking the dogs are all ways I do this.

We’re currently testing out new ways of working. Rob is really flexible with when and where I want to work. Hybrid working; sometimes in the office, sometimes at home, is working well for us at the moment.

So, what do I get up to on a daily basis?

Day in the life of a content creator?

So, my day-to-day role would include:

• Scheduling content

• Creating graphics

• Emails

• Writing copy for blogs, guides, online etc

• Editing videos

• Workshops

• Meeting with clients

• Creating the newsletter

And lots more!

I also recently got an upgrade to Content and Communications. Communication is a strength of mine, so I was really happy with this.

Highs?

• Being fortunate enough to get an awesome job whilst learning a new trade during the pandemic.

• Having an awesome manager (Rob didn’t tell me to write that).

• Enjoying the work that I do and having the freedom to be as creative as I want.

Lows?

I always find it really hard to choose a negative. But I think it takes strength of character to do so.

• I enjoy working in a team, so sometimes during the pandemic I missed that human connection and collaboration.

• Catching covid.

Favourite day working for Tailored Thinking?

My first in person workshop at Gateshead College!

I’m a confident person, but walking in to this I felt nervous. After 5 minutes we all got chatting and I started to settle down and enjoy the experience. I loved talking to the employees about their experiences at work and how they wanted to improve.

I’m really looking forward to attending my next workshop and to continue to make work better for people.

I hope you enjoyed reading this. Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn to follow my Tailored Thinking journey.

Chloe.

Chloe Mark is Tailored Thinking’s resident content developer and formally employee number 2 of the business.

The history of the job description.

In the world of work most of us will have had to read, review or develop a job description or specification. They are ubiquitous across modern workplaces. And whilst they may differ slightly in style, most job descriptions follow a similar format and content. But where did this document come from?

This article will explore the early history and blueprints for modern-day job descriptions and examine why they haven’t changed or developed significantly in the last century despite the significant evolution in how we do our work.

What is a job description?

A Job Description or ‘JD’ is a written narrative that describes the general tasks, or other related duties, and responsibilities of a role at work.  A Job Description may include relationships with other people in the organisation: supervisory level, managerial requirements, and relationships with other colleagues. It may also include information about the grade or level of the role, working conditions, physical demands, health and safety requirements and other competencies for the job role, which in this regard, it is sometimes known as the ‘Role Description’.

Where do Job Descriptions Come from?

The very first job descriptions can be traced back over a 100 years. Created to bring order and rigour to organisational structures, a job description is a written narrative that describes the general tasks and responsibilities of a role at work.

The story of the humble job description has its roots in ‘Scientific Management’ or more commonly known as Taylorism and the work of Frederick Winslow Taylor (1911). Although scientific management as a distinct theory or school of thought has arguably been in decline since the 1930s, many of its themes have been indelibly inked into our thinking and practice within workplaces today.

It all started with Job Analysis

Unlike today, the earliest job descriptions were seldom developed independently or in isolation. They were originally produced as the end result of a process called job analysis.

Job analysis was a formal endeavour to identify the content of a job in terms of the activities it involves in addition to the attributes or requirements necessary to perform those activities. It considered the areas of knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics (KSAO) needed to perform the job.

The formal document capturing these details could be thought of as the first formal job descriptions. When they were first developed job descriptions were sometimes accompanied by a separate document (the personnel specification) which detailed the skills, abilities and knowledge of the job.

Job analysis can be traced to two of the founders of industrial-organisational (I-O) Psychology, Frederick Winslow Taylor and Lillian Moller Gilbreth in the early 20th century.

Taylor established standard times for specific jobs and tasks through time studies.

Through motion studies the Gilbreth’s identified techniques and technical definitions for describing the mechanical and physical elements of a job and its individual elements.

Time and Motion Study in action

The two techniques of time and motion became integrated and refined into a widely accepted and popular method of time and motion studies, applicable to the improvement and upgrading of work systems.

Time and motion studies led to the creation of the role of the Time and Motion Officer (the predecessor of a modern-day Personnel Officer).

One of the first I-0 psychologists to introduce job analysis was Morris Viteles (1922) where he used job analysis to select employees for a trolley company car. Viteles’ techniques could then be applied to any other area of employment using the same process.

Industrial Psychology - a seminal text by Morris Viteles

Evolutions of job analysis

Since Viteles’ first efforts work designers and theorists have developed many different systems approaches to accomplish job analysis.  Many forms of systems are no longer in use, but those that still exist have become increasingly detailed over the decades with a greater concentration on tasks and less concentration on human attributes. 

Moving beyond traditional job analysis

Formal job analysis and time and motion studies have now fallen out of favour in many organisations.

Part of the reason for this is that job analysis techniques makes the implicit assumption that core elements of jobs are fixed, static and repetitive.

The reality of many modern jobs is that they are made up of many elements, each of which are subject to change and evolution. Capturing all these components in a time and motion study is complicated and time consuming. And ultimately the data collected is quickly out of date as the job evolves and changes.

Whilst the limitations of job analysis to meaningfully capture modern working practices has led to a reduction in its use, this has not stopped organisations continuing to rely on job descriptions to define and specify the work people do in their jobs.

Whilst the job description used to be the end-product of a formalised and rigorous process, it is now relied upon and used as a product itself.

Rather than rely on formal processes to evaluate and assess jobs, many organisations now rely on line managers - with occasional input from HR professionals - to use their discretion to create job descriptions with the help of existing (often very detailed and specific) templates and pro-forma.

Without a viable alternative to a job description, organisations rely on this document for core processes including; recruitment, performance management, performance conversations and internal promotion cases.

Current Trends in Job Description Design

There has been a growing trend in recent years to broaden the responsibilities that people have in organisations and to encourage employees to have more autonomy and to look - and work - beyond what is simply stated on their job descriptions.

In part, this a response to an increased need for organisations to be more responsive and flexible. And this is something that became particularly pertinent during the Covid-19 pandemic where employees were challenged with doing their work in different ways - and for homeworkers particularly - often from different locations.

As HR professionals, we understand the need to continue to capture the core elements of peoples jobs. This is important for both legal (such as ensuring fair and equal pay) and performance (such as giving employees and their colleagues clarity on the focus of their work) reasons. But the reality is that many - arguably most - jobs aren’t static but are constantly evolving and could change daily. 

In this regard, there is a growing need to be more responsive to what employees do at an ‘individual’ level. Also, for the process of designing and defining jobs, and what we do to become more people centred rather than being fully defined by outdated management and HR practices.

What’s next? A personal job analysis.

At Tailored Thinking we’re exploring new ways of analysing our jobs and doing job descriptions.

We’ve created a multi-dimensional, adaptable and personalised job canvas. This is something that enables team leaders to support people to undertake their own personal job analysis - and get to the essence and details of the why and what of their work.

Trialled and tested by multiple organisations across various sectors, the job canvas is changing the way we work for the better by enabling employees to quickly, easily and digitally capture and define their job. And have better - coaching based - conversations with their line managers about the work they do.

Explore it yourself on our job canvas home page.

Thank you to Dean Horsman who kindly helped write and shape this blog bringing his knowledge and expertise alongside Rob Baker.

Dean is a Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management at Leeds Business School, Leeds Beckett University.

Rob is the Founder and Chief Positive Deviant of Tailored Thinking.

How to stimulate job crafting - an exercise for individuals and teams.

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.

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.

3 ways to stop sleep working.

Ever find yourself mindlessly working your way through tasks and activities without engaging and thinking about them? If so you might be sleep working…

5 signs to spot sleep working:

• Not being excited by your work

• Feelings of dread

• No curiosity/creativity in your work

• Feeling you’re doing the same thing every day

• Unengaged

Without realising it, many of us spend much of our working day on auto pilot, not engaged in what we are doing, or why we are doing it.

Many of us will open our laptops or fire up our desktops and begin to scan through emails and before we know it’s lunch time and we have no record of half of the day.

We often give very little thought to how or what we want to achieve on a daily basis and just drift through our tasks.

Sleep working gives us less control over our day and makes us feel like someone else is in charge. Research uncovered that we spend over 84,000 hours at work during our lifetime [1]. That is a 1/3 of our waking hours during adulthood… unengaged and robotic almost.

Waking up your work

We wanted to share with you some tips to stop sleep working and start living! Work doesn’t have to be boring, it can be fun, energising and uplifting, we just need the right mindset and tips to do it.

1. Deliberately experiment

Experiment with elements of your job.

Try something different.

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that shaking up the way we work can have positive outcomes. Change and adapt the methods that aren’t working for you and that are draining your energy. For example, if you dread the idea of sorting through emails at the end of the day, can you switch this task to first thing in the morning?

Can you grow or promote the elements you love doing and try and reduce or improve the elements that you don’t enjoy doing as much? We have a mapping exercise which enables you to reflect on, and see the interplay between your tasks and your energy load. The exercise is called love and loathe.

Think back to a time you felt energised by your work?

What were you doing?

Who were you working with?

What time of day was it?

Take into consideration all of these factors and try to adjust your working style to align with your individual needs.

2. Think about the why of work

We spend a lot of time doing work, without actually thinking about why we do it. Arguably, the why of work is the most important element yet it’s the least talked about. But why is the why missing from our current discussions at work?

Research has found that 8/10 people were willing to earn less money to do more meaningful work [2]. Meaning in our work gives us value, fulfilment and purpose. So it’s important to connect and engage with this.

Some questions to consider to engage with the purpose and value of the work we do are:

• Why does my job exist?

• Who benefits from the work I do?

• How can I see and hear about the impact of the work I do?

You can read more about connecting to the meaning and purpose of your work here.

3. Use your strengths / find a way to tap into your passions at work.

A scientifically proven way to use your strengths at work is job crafting. People who used strengths at work are 6x more likely to be engaged at work [3]. Job crafting is an approach that enables individuals and teams to actively shape and tailor their work around their passions, strengths and interests.

It enables people to personalise their work in order to boost engagement and to make people feel happier in the work that they do.

In order to create a more personalised approach to our work, individuals need to be more deliberate in the way they approach and carry out their tasks and responsibilities. Hence the importance of the the 3 tips we have provided you with in this blog.

To explore more around personalisation at work watch this epic ted talk.

Also, you can find out more about using your strengths at work and job crafting here.

Thanks for reading, we hoped you enjoyed this blog as much as we liked writing it.

Any questions, queries or just fancy a chat then please get in touch.

References

[1] https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/british-people-work-days-lifetime-overtime-quit-job-survey-study-a8556146.html

[2] https://hbr.org/2018/11/9-out-of-10-people-are-willing-to-earn-less-money-to-do-more-meaningful-work

[3] Rigoni, B and Asplund, G (2016) Developing employees’ strengths boosts sales, profit and engagement, Harvard Business Review, 1 September, available at: https://hbr.org/2016/09/developing-employees-strengths-boosts-sales-profit-and-engagement (archived at https://perma.cc/P284-TEXB)

What can Netflix and IKEA teach us about personalisation at work?

We live in a personalised world.

We can choose individualised playlists and podcasts instead of generic radio stations. We can choose where and when to source our news and and how to watch our favourite TV shows.

Beyond media, we can personalise the trainers we wear and the cars we drive in. Take Nike ID for example, enabling us to personalise the colour and style of our trainers, adding to the value of the shoe. Almost anything and everything is tailored just for us.

And then we have the world of work.

In this article, learning from TV streaming and DIY giants, we’ll explain why personalisation matters, how it can spark joy and how this is relevant to the world of work.

The Netflix Effect.

The Netflix effect - the power of personalisation on Netflix.

Netflix is the largest streaming service in the world.

Netflix now has around 208 million subscribers worldwide with an extra 16 million joining throughout the summer of the pandemic 2020 [1].

But why is it so popular?

It could be argued that Netflix’s personalised experience is a key factor.

Netflix stated that “Personalisation is one of the pillars of Netflix because it allows each member to have a different view of our content that adapts to their interests and can help expand their interest over time” [2].

It enables users to have their own profile, profile photo and nickname, creating a feeling of luxury and individuality rather than sharing with other users.

Netflix has homepage personalisation too. “Each experience is personalized across many dimensions: the suggested videos and their ranking, the way videos are organised into rows and pages, and even the artwork displayed” [2].

Page personalisation takes Netflix to the next level as it creates an experience for users. Each tailored homepage offers individuals tv shows and movies that comply with users taste and will fit the members mood and context in hope to bring out unexpected joy.

Chloe’s personalised Netflix homepage (don’t judge).

So rather than just searching for shows Netflix has created a personalised experience for their users, where they can form attachments and resonance with their accounts. Who knew picking a movie could be so fun?

IKEA.

The IKEA effect - Why we value the things we build.

Researchers, Michael Norton, Daniel Mochon and Dan Ariely were curious about whether building an item influenced peoples’ perceptions of its value.

To test this they ran a number of different ingenious investigations.

In a key study they randomly assigned people as either ‘inspectors’ or ‘builders’. The builders were asked to create a plain cardboard stationary box from IKEA using standard instructions [3]. Inspectors were given a ready-made box and had the opportunity to examine it.

At the end of the study, participants would have been holding identical boxes. The only difference being that for half the group, they would have played a part in putting the box together.

Before the study finished participants were asked to place a bid on the box. They were also asked to rate how much they liked the box.

Who do you think valued it more? The builders or the inspectors?

The researchers found builders bid significantly more than inspectors and their ratings of how much they liked the box were higher too.

The research team coined the term the “Ikea effect” to refer to the phenomenon of people placing additional value on items that they have played a part in constructing compared with ready-built goods and services.

You may resonate with this based on attachments you have formed with items that you have built or created yourself.

Or perhaps someone else has this attachment that you can’t quite see - a partner or family member might not bear to part with an item of furniture or clothing that you’ve been trying to throw out for years.

KEY PRINCIPLES.

We suggest that leaders consider 3 things principles when it comes to personalisation in the workplace:

1. People (may) like what you give them.

2. If you want people to value something, let them build it.

3. If you want people to love something then let them create and shape it.

It’s as simple as that. 

Often, with the best of intentions, organisationally, we build and create solutions for other people without allowing them to create and craft them for themselves.

We present people with decisions that have been made on behalf of them, or we place people in fully formed jobs which provide little or no opportunity for people to shape and personalise them.

So before you “gift” a decision to someone in your team, perhaps take a leaf from Netflix or Ikea and consider whether there are ways that they can help build or personalise the solution for themselves.

If you’re want to find out more about personalisation then click here.

Personalisation at work is a great book if you’re curious about how you can personalise your own work.

References

[2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/21/netflix-adds-whopping-16-million-subscribers-worldwide-coronavirus-keeps-people-home/

[2] https://research.netflix.com/business-area/personalization-and-search

[3] Norton, M. I., Mochon, D., & Ariely, D. (2012). The IKEA effect: When labor leads to love. Journal of consumer psychology, 22(3), 453-460..

Talking to TED: Some thoughts on my experiences of speaking at TEDx

TEDx Newcastle University.

I’ve always been an avid consumer of TED talks, videos and podcasts. They share new ideas, change my perceptions and send me down rabbit holes of further research exploration and discovery. 

I’ve also found the idea of giving a TEDX talk seductive. Through the work I do, I want people to explore and experiment with ways to make their work better. And giving a TEDX talk would be a wonderful way to share ideas in a new way. 

And of course, I imagined myself doing this with similar clarity, confidence, wit and compulsion that you see in other speakers.

The reality is that - as I mention in my talk - I’m not a natural speaker or story teller. 

So whilst I was delighted to be told that I had been accepted as a speaker as part of TEDx Newcastle University I found the whole process much bigger and challenging than I had (probably very naively on my part) expected. 

This is a summary of 7 feelings that I experienced during my TEDX “journey.”

Imagine a world.

1) Busted (talking to Ted)

“Who are you talking to dad?”.  Evie, my two year old, pulled on my trouser leg and looked up at me. 

I realised that I had been rehearsing parts of my TEDx talk whilst navigating preparations for dinner.

“I’m practicing for my TED talk” I said. I went on to explain that I was going to be speaking to lots of people and wanted to practice what I was going to say. Evie seemed satisfied with the answer - for the moment at least - and went on playing.

From that point on, over the coming weeks when Evie caught me practicing elements of my talk - at home, when walking about or pushing her on the swings - she would just ask me “Are you talking to TED?” It made me laugh and smile every time. 

My learning: Work things sometimes spill into personal and family life and life things spill into work. This is (for me at least) a reality and rather than hide it, I want my daughter and son to be interested in, or at least aware of, the things I’m doing that are important to me (either personally or professionally).

Oh and your children are always more perceptive than you think...

2) (super) Excited

The build up to the recording reminded me of the growing excitement of the big running races and competitions I had trained for in the past. There was a gradual daily increase of adrenaline, excitement and nervousness in the days leading up to the talk. 

To help channel my nerves in the week before I used similar strategies to how I would prepare for a race. Some of things I did included: positively visualising aspects of the talk going well; imaging some of the different challenges or obstacles that might happen and then thinking through how I might deal with them (e.g. what happened if I forgot part of my script, or found myself rushing, or if there was a technical fault during the recording); and making a list of things I needed on the day of the talk (such as reacquainting myself with an iron and finding my “smart” clothes).

My learning: My experiences of performing as an athlete were portable to the challenge of presenting.

I wonder why I had not thought of this before?

3) (really) Challenged

I found it really challenging to craft my script in ways that balanced being: authentic; in service of the audience; and in line with TED ideals in terms of being inspirational, engaging and accessible.

I cringe at the thought of ever being “preachy”, strive to be evidence-led and loves to share and showcase the work and ideas of others. Yet, as Ziyu (the speaker co-ordinator) summarised in some spot on feedback: I needed to be more enthusiastic, accessible and less academic. 

Over time, with continued (wonderful) feedback from the TEDX curation team I found a way to present the ideas I wanted without feeling that I had overly diluted or simplified the concept of job crafting that was the focus of my talk.

My learning: Including my stories and studies made the talk more personal to me - at first I struggled with this, but over time came to embrace the fact that the talk was something that was unique and individual. It was a talk that no one else could deliver - for better or worse.

4) (ever so) Tired

I certainly didn’t have a “TEDX talk” shaped hole in my life. Consequently, I had to be scrappy and disciplined to carve out time to work on the script and to practice.

On a number of occasions, I remember cursing myself for committing to do the talk.

At times I felt frustrated about how much mental bandwidth and energy it was taking up. And I was scared about being “good enough” - whatever that meant.

To help with this, rather than resist or resent these feelings I reframed them. I reminded myself they were simply an indicator that I was doing something that was important to me, that I cared about, and that I had experienced similar emotions doing other personal and professional challenges which ultimately I have been incredibly proud of.

I also found it useful to be pragmatic about the talk. Rather than focusing on giving the best talk imaginable, I was committed to giving the best talk I could under the circumstances I was facing using the time and energy I had available.

My learning: I found it really helpful to recognise that the bigs up and downs I experienced weren’t to be embraced or ignored, but were just a reality of doing something that stretched me.

5) (In) Awe

The TEDX curation team were simply phenomenal in terms of the time, effort and commitment that they poured into the event. 

The team pretty much outclassed and outworked any and every professional events organisation I have worked with.

Whilst their work commitment has been inspiring, what I have truly admired, is their collaborative approach to navigating all the complexities, risks and challenges of producing the event during the pandemic.

I have been particularly impressed with Ashleigh King’s leadership. She has led with a blend of compassion and clarity that many senior leaders struggle. Ash navigated complex, ever-changing circumstances in a way that brought the TEDX curation and speaker team together, at a time when they could have been pulled apart.

My learning: I was really pleased that I had spent time talking to Ash about the team’s vision for their TEDx and their approach before submitting an application to speak.

6) (Incredibly) Grateful

Aside from the TEDx team, I have been incredibly fortunate to have a number of people give me feedback on various iterations of their script. In fact, there is no one I asked who wasn’t been kind enough to read a version of my script or watch me present.

Pretty much every piece of feedback I received helped me tweak what I was saying or how I was saying it. So thank you Gary Butterfield, Kieran James, Chloe Mark, Duncan Archer, Pippa Archer and Peter Pease for watching drafts of my talk.

And a special thanks to Jo Darby from Voice in the Room for your last minute coaching support and advice.

My learning: People generally want to help. You just need to ask them.

7) (really) Inspired

During the preparations I had had the opportunity to watch some of the other presenters shape and practised their talks. They offered wonderful peer-coaching and support.

It was fantastic to have backstage peaks at the phenomenal talks of the other presenters and see how they have shaped and improved them over time. Each and every speaker and talk has inspired, engaged and provoked me. 

My learning: It genuinely is a privilege to have the opportunity to hear from people share ideas and stories that they care deeply about.

The brilliant TEDx speakers.

Ideas worth spreading.

I’m sharing these reflections, not because I thought my final talk was wonderful - I’m certainly proud of it, but there are 1,000s of ways it could be improved - but because lots of people have asked me about my experiences and preparations. 

Writing this has also helped to identify the skills and knowledge I have developed during the process. 

It’s certainly been an adventure. And I’m pleased to report that Evie no longer catches me talking to TED.

Job Crafting - Making Work Personal 

You can view my talk here.

The Love and Loathe exercise: Mapping and boosting our energy at work.

An exercise to map and boost your energy at work.

People naturally have a sense of the activities and tasks at work that light them up and those that drain energy away from them.

Despite knowing what shapes our energy we often do very little about this. We just tend to get on with work; because well, we feel we have to.

We have normalised the idea that there are always going to be parts of our work that we don’t enjoy and that we will find draining and mundane.

But what if we changed the way we looked at these tasks and found ways to reduce, shape or reframe them?

And what if we found ways to do more of the things that light us up?

We want to help positively shape your energy at work for a happier and healthier you.

What is the exercise?

Love and loathe is an exercise we use at Tailored Thinking with individuals and teams.

The starting point is to identify 10-15 key activities that are core and important parts of your current roles and to reflect how much energy they give or take. 

Why should you use it?

This mapping exercise enables people to reflect on, and see the interplay between their tasks and their energy load.

You will become more aware of how you’re spending your time at work and what fills you with energy and what does not.

This self awareness may change the way you think about tasks and how you carry them out. It’s a great starting point for job crafting.

Who is it made for?

Everyone! For most people, regardless of which industry you work in there are always going to be tasks we find more enjoyable than others. Likewise, there will be tasks we find that are less enjoyable, that may drain our energy.

If you’re someone who wants to boost your energy at work then this is the exercise for you.

What are the benefits of doing this exercise?

This exercise:

1. Enables you to consider the current allocation of personal resources of time and energy.

2. Highlights opportunities to shape and change your activities to maximise your energy.

3. Allows you to meet your needs for control, positive self-identity and connection with others.

Love and Loathe Exercise Guide

If you’re interested in the love and loathe exercise and would like to find out more around the dynamics, we have produced a short guide on how to use it.

It will also give you the diagrams of the exercise that you could print out and use or simply copy.

You can download it here.

If you have any questions, queries or just fancied a chat about this then please do not hesitate to get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.