Job craft in practice
- Philip Brophy
- Mar 27
- 3 min read
Make your role your own • 2 min read
Studies from Science Daily show that about 40% of our daily activities are performed each day in almost the same situations.
Subconscious behaviours allow our conscious brain to be more mindful and feel more psychologically safe.
The trade-off for the comfort of routine can mean a less enjoyable experience when we engage in these tasks.
Introduction
As we’ve already learnt, by subtly redefining our roles to play to our strengths and interests, this can prevent the potential for burnout, increasing productivity, engagement, and retention.
Let’s explore some further ways to craft our roles to achieve higher levels of happiness at work.
It’s all in the craft
Craft your job purpose and perception
In contrast to “task crafting,” “cognitive crafting” helps us to modify the way we interpret the tasks we’re doing. We can change how we think about the purpose of our job roles.
Cognitive crafting in practice
Let’s take George, the office manager.
George feels that his role is admin heavy, having little opportunity to connect with others. He begins to psychologically reframe his work from “office management,” to "helping people enjoy a smooth-running and happier working environment.”
He starts to arrive early to meetings to get to know his colleagues more. His friendly personality and ability to connect with others has reframed his role, without making actual changes to his output. This cognitive reframing has empowered George to tweak elements of his existing work to reflect what he sees as making real impact in his work.
Being open about the process
Job crafting doesn’t mean that we can just drop the humdrum aspects of your role. It’s more that they will no longer define our roles. Likewise, when we job craft, although we need to take initiative and get crafting, we can still ask our manager’s opinion about how we’re doing it, reassuring them that we’ll still be fully meeting our objectives.
Changing the boundaries of your role
How about increasing the scope of your role?
For example, if you work in communications, you could offer to attend more events to boost your business development skills. Even if it’s slightly out of the scope of your role, it could still be a win-win meeting new people and learning more about the industry. This would not only boost your levels of self-esteem, but also increase your ability to perform across other areas.
Key takeaways
Be open with what you’re doing. You can always ask your manager’s opinion about your plan of action, while letting them know that you’ll still fully reach your output objectives.
Cognitive reframing allows you to reinterpret your tasks and reframe how you see your roles. It empowers you to change aspects of your existing work to reflect what you see as making a real impact in your roles.
Increasing the scope of your role can yield win-win outcomes — seeking out opportunities where you can participate, boosting your confidence and ability to perform in other areas.
Think big, act small
We’ve seen how crafting our role can increase job satisfaction and increase our ability to reenergise our roles.
Why not make some changes today and see how you can alter the scope of your role to enhance your sense of purpose?
Content sources
Harvard Business Review, 2010, Amy Wrzesniewski, Justin M. Berg, Jane E. Dutton, ‘Managing Yourself: Turn the Job You Have into the Job You Want’
Harvard Business Review, 2020, Jane E. Dutton and Amy Wrzesniewski, ‘What Job Crafting Looks Like’
Harvard Business Review, 2020, Jennifer Moss, ‘If You’re Burning Out, Carve a New Path’ Mindtools.com,
Mindtools content team, ‘Job Crafting: Shaping Your Job to Fit You Better’
Dutton, Wrzesniewksi, and Gelaye Debebe, associate professor of organizational sciences In a George Washington University“ study Being Valued and Devalued at Work: A Social Valuing Perspective”
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