Job Crafting
Lesson 4 from: Courage, Creativity and the Power of ChangeBeth Comstock
Job Crafting
Lesson 4 from: Courage, Creativity and the Power of ChangeBeth Comstock
Lesson Info
4. Job Crafting
Lessons
Class Introduction
08:15 2Permission
13:44 3Learn Courage
05:41 4Job Crafting
08:12 5Mentor Coach Champion
05:23 6Discovery and Fringe Futures
05:18 7Field Trips
03:23 8Going on 3s
08:41Lesson Info
Job Crafting
I'm gonna move on. One of the things I like to take this and then apply it is the notion that I really like called Job crafting. And so this is a way, I think, to make your job better. Ah, and apply some of the the ability. So I feel like in my career one of the things that another mindset shift I had to adopt in my own was one take a job that no one else wanted. I started to realize that one. There is a lot of benefit in that because I saw opportunity where others didn't also, expectations were really low no one else wanted, so they didn't know what to expect. So you had a lot of room to be more creative to try things. And so I started to realize in a court over the course of a career that often the jobs that other people didn't want had my name on them, meaning if I if I saw some opportunity. I remember I worked for a very brief time in ah Trade Association Cable Trade Association, and I was in a very, you know, sort of basic job, and I wanted to doom or And I created a newsletter ju...
st on my own, didn't ask permission. And I created a newsletter talking about what's going on in the very state cable associations. I started sharing with a few of my colleagues. And before you know what, we had a newsletter that we shared with our constituents. No one had to give me permission, and it was something I wanted to do as a someone seeking to be a journalist. It was a way to express myself researchers, I'm gonna I'm going to read this for a second, cause I could never get the names right. Amy were I'm sorry If I'm, I'm gonna butcher Amy's name. Amy. Where's New Ski? And Jane Dutton? I think they're out of the University of Michigan. They've actually studied this notion of job crafting. They've done research around it, and they see it as a real opportunity for everyone to take some control back in your job. We all have a set of responsibilities we sign up for. If you work in a company. If you work for yourself, there's certain things you think your job that is you're only allowed to dio. But the idea toe actively kind of push the boundaries and shape the job to fit your interests, your needs in a way, in a way that you can. I worked with a woman who and when I worked in communications and she was a designer and she wanted to start doing more things with design. And so she started. Similarly, she started taking over press releases and putting visual graphics in them. Before you know it, we re got we got rid of all of our press releases that had words in them and just started using images before you know what? She created a whole design team and created a whole practice in her company. That was about visualization of using design and the visualization of information because she crafted her way forward and we could see it. So what you're doing is giving yourself a bit of that control. My message here is that you're the boss of you and so often in our careers again, back to that permission. There is always some amount of wiggle room. I guarantee there's always some amount of wiggle room that control that James ask about. So now, another exercise. I want to take a minute and ask you to think about. Is there a way, whether you work in a company or for yourself? Or maybe you're looking for a new job? Is there a way you could craft a different set of responsibilities for yourself? A different job description? Maybe. Give yourself a different title. Maybe it's a title that only you call yourself. You don't have to have it on your business card. Maybe it's you. You're you're the head of accounting. But maybe you were the person who is in charge of, ah, new imagined futures because you're the one that's going to start to run simulations of where were new new budget scenarios convey. So I think, really the way I like to encourage people. To do this to start is to just to ask what's probably trying to solve its a great place to start. I mean, I could tell you I'd like, you know, I like. I like painting and drawing and art. I'm not good at it. I would have liked away to incorporate it in my business job, but that wasn't really gonna work. So there's certain things like, Is there a problem that your company or your business or your colleagues need a problem you're trying to accomplish. That helps your company and helps you. This is what, the kind of context it's someone else doing it. So I'm not talking about the kind of crafting where you go and you say, Hey, Jules is doing that job. I think I can do it better. I'm gonna craft my way over there and take Jules job. That's probably not the best recommendation. There's a whole other discussion about that. Can you show business impact? Is there a way you can say, Hey, this is what I'm doing. What I what? I think we can weaken benefit from this. Are you willing to take time off the clock to do it? Are you so passionate about this? That you're gonna commit some weekend time to figuring out how to do it? And then what's your first step? So again, I'm challenging. You're going to go back to your desk, your office. You're thinking about what's next for you. What's the first thing you're going to dio? Maybe you're just gonna give yourself a different title. So I love this concept of job crafting. I think it's really powerful. It's you're the boss of you within reason. Obviously, there's some things we all have signed up for. So I think that answers James control issue. And I don't I don't know if this spurred anything at anyone. Anyone wants to make a declaration of the way you're going to craft your way forward or, if any thoughts, maybe it's a moment for observation. REFLECTION comment I'm curious how you can empower folks that report into you to take this type of approach and their positions. A great question. Um, so I think that's one of the I think that's why I'm so glad you asked that question. I think if you manage a team, um, it's a great to say, Here's what I need you to dio. But I also want you to bring some creativity to this. What else should we be doing? What problems do you see that I don't see that the team hasn't seen? Um, give them Ask them a lot of questions say I'm going to define 50% of your job. Maybe you can only maybe, maybe 50 percents too much. I'm going to define 80% of your job and you have 20% of your time, and I want you to come back and tell me how you're going to craft it. I think you can also encourage people who are doing projects and say, Hey, this is great. Can we make a part of your job? Look at what Kelsey just did. Kelsey, you know, Can you You know, Kelsey Jr. You know, is this an example than that other people can follow? I had a contract with the folks that I worked with, and we sort of committed that we were committed to do our best work together and, um, and admit we'll get back this later. Sort of. We created room for experimentation for trying things. And so I think there's also an openness that you're trying to say to your team that I'm open if you have ideas. But I'd start with maybe a couple of projects and then say, Hey, do you want to add this to your responsibility? But I think that'd be a great message as a as a team leader back to that trusts that permission granting. I'm giving you permission. In fact, I'm not giving you the person insurers to grab. Right? We're here together. Can you make this job better? I work for myself and I I'm wanting to stretch my thinking a little bit. I'm wondering if you can add it. An additional question in there just toe push me outside of my box is already feel like I'm working. The already do this. That makes sense. Well, do you are used to your clients See you the way you want to be seen? Yeah, I think so. No. Yes. So are there things you are the waste. I don't what kind of work you do. But other ways to reinvent the work. You do that you're you feel like, maybe is not you in particular. But you wish your clients could recognize this in the space urine? Um, you don't give you a good example. I see a lot of chief digital officers these days who were also about transformation. They've had to Recraft themselves as his transformation officers. So the offering their to the company is we're gonna transform, not just duo software tools we're gonna transform. So is there a problem in the industry that you, your clients, that you can bring them a new set of offers? Maybe goes your business that way? Maybe one way to think about it
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Julie Hankes
Wow, this class was such a privilege to be a part of! There are so many gems in here, but what I loved most, is that she opened my thinking even bigger and offered me tricks and tips to facilitate that for myself and others long into the future. This is a tremendous gift as I'm already pretty outside of the box (i.e. I just took a client kayaking and then out in a seaplane yesterday for a visioning session) and creative in my work, so yes, what a gift! She also profoundly underscores the vital role the creative/imaginary mindset plays in the role of innovation and greeting our world's most wild challenges and opportunities. What a joy, have shared her work with many since this class took place. Thank you Beth for your courageous offering of imagination and championing it's vital role in our everyday work place and in our world's next steps into a more thriving, creative and innovative future!
Arthur Yakumo
I really enjoy this class. If you want a mind shift, having difficult seeing opportunities in front of you, especially living and working in a corporate job, this class is for you. Working for a fortune 500 job, I see how work is constantly changing, I didn't see the opportunities and how we can influence the change or be part of the change. This class helps you see and be part of the changing job revolution.
Christine Denker
If you want a mind shift to create change for yourself or your organization, then this class is a no-brainer! As a middle school English Language Arts teacher, I thought about how I could apply the concepts Beth teaches to my students who I have the privilege of interacting with daily. As a writer, I thought about how much I'm holding myself back and how I need to give myself permission to try new things knowing I'm going to fail and it's okay to do so. I really appreciated this course and had several takeaways that I can't wait to implement.
Student Work
Related Classes
Creative Inspiration