The world of work is definitely moving too fast. Here's another new concept you need to know about: Job Crafting. Generation Z is definitely on board. Yes, but the new generations have more than one string to their bow, and this new idea could well boost your commitment! How does it work?
Imagine if you could draw up your ideal job description, with only your dream missions, totally define your work habits, and manage 100% the way you carry out your tasks. Sounds pretty appealing, doesn't it? Well, that's what "Job Crafting" is all about, this not-so-new trend that's been getting a lot of attention lately.
The principle: the employee shapes his or her own job to suit him or her perfectly. And, of course, it's a huge motivation booster when you're doing work you love, the way you love doing it!
Job Crafting enables employees to take action on all aspects of their work:
In short, it's a complete break with the past, but it's sure to bring a lot of benefits!
Even if, at first glance, the benefits for the employee are obvious, this concept is totally win-win. And the company is far from being the least advantaged.
Employees take charge of their work, and find their own solutions to make the most of their working day. Almost nothing to do on the HR or manager side, yet a guaranteed increase in commitment.
When you're working on personal projects that you've initiated and shaped yourself, you're surely highly motivated? Well, it's the same: employees know better than anyone else which working methods suit them best, and they'll be much more motivated if the practices are adapted. This is always more effective than imposing a universal way of doing things.
Employees are increasingly looking for meaning in their work. Salary no longer comes first. What counts now is loving what you do. And the rise in brown-out (professional disengagement due to a lack of meaning at work) makes this abundantly clear. So when you're feeling unmotivated by your work, Job Crafting is the solution before you consider changing jobs! This benefits both the company, which retains its talent, and the employee, who finds meaning in his or her work.
Job Crafting consists in reshaping your missions according to your skills and abilities. If one of your employees points out that he or she has skills in a particular area, and would like to put them to greater use, what more could you ask for? Skills that might never have been put into practice without Job Crafting, and which may enable you to develop new projects.
We agree, this practice will surely make more than one employee dream. But perhaps a little less so for managers... "So, if we don't like one of our assignments, we can just cross it off our job description and leave it alone?"
A rather complicated idea to contemplate, for obvious reasons. But of course, it doesn't really work like that. You just have to get it right, and respect a few optimal conditions.
In a company where the rules are still very rigid, Job Crafting is likely to be rather complicated to implement. So leave micro-management aside, and give your teams a little freedom and autonomy (you'll see, it's liberating for both sides). The aim is to put as much trust as you can in your staff, so that they can truly transform their work in their own image.
But we know it's not that simple, so we suggest you train your managers to "Become an inspiring leader thanks to benevolent management" and to "Master good managerial practices and constructive feedback".
The aim of Job Crafting is above all to enable employees to reappropriate their work, to find practices that really suit them, and to find out why they do what they do. Obviously, we can't love all our daily missions. But when we understand what they mean, when we share the same values, and when we know how it will be useful, our perception of things changes a lot.
Since it wouldn't make much sense (and we'd soon find ourselves in a mess) to simply cut out the jobs we don't enjoy, we're going to have to be a little more creative! But with a few simple tricks, we can make sure we enjoy our work more.
For example, adapting your working hours to suit your chronotype can make a real difference. To sum up, some people are much more efficient in the early morning, while others won't be very productive until late morning, and will be at their best at 5pm.
You can also include gamification in your task management. At Moha, we've used software that combines gaming and task tracking. A validated task = points earned, to develop our fictional character, and a whole universe. And with that, all tasks were motivating!
Before you see employees arriving in their pyjamas, installing office slides, or leaving only coffee breaks in their job description, we'll explain how it works.
The first step in job crafting is to make a diagnosis before you start. If you want to get started, or suggest it to your employees, we advise you to analyze your job description, and classify the missions that motivate you, and those that motivate you less. You can also start with a "test" week, during which you note how you feel about each task you carry out. This will help you identify which tasks you should perhaps push harder, and which ones you need to adapt.
During this phase, in addition to the missions, you should also list the skills you have, and those you'd like to develop. Even if they haven't yet been integrated into your missions, this could be just the thing for a new job crafting initiative!
You've decided that keeping watch doesn't motivate you. Yet you know how much it helps you with the rest of your tasks. Have you thought about other ways of keeping watch? You could, for example, set up a morning routine, listening to a podcast from your professional sector every morning.
For all those tasks where you find it hard to find motivation or meaning, try to adapt them to your own skills and working methods. You can also discuss them with your manager or colleagues to understand the meaning and interest behind each one. Perhaps together you'll realize that certain missions no longer make as much sense as they used to, and that they need to be reviewed.
Once you've defined your dream working conditions, and have an action plan in mind, it's time to discuss them with your manager. This way, you can check that your proposals are appropriate, and make them known to the whole team working with you.
It will also be an opportunity to define together potential new projects to be developed using the skills you wish to put into practice.
Finally, if you've found applications or tools that could improve your working conditions, discuss them with your manager to see if it's possible for the company to obtain them.
In any case, Job Crafting will only be effective if it is aligned with the company's values and needs. But it will always be possible to adapt and improve the work of each individual employee.
Would you like to implement Job Crafting in your company? To help you, we're offering a "Wellness Objective" workshop based on the Rose-Epine-Bourgeon methodology. With your employees, identify strengths, areas for improvement, and ideas for improving QHCT. Let' s plan it together?
