INTRODUCING CAREER CRAFTING: Start Getting What You Want Right Now

Are you not totally satisfied with the work you’re doing, or perhaps you’re yearning for something different for the future?

You don’t have to wait for someday to arrive in order to do something about it.  You can engage in career crafting.

Career crafting is taking a proactive approach to shape and customize your career so that it incorporates your interests, strengths and values.  You take charge of your career development rather than react to external circumstances.

Career crafting encompasses:  1) Job crafting which is what you can do to make your current job more enjoyable, and 2) Career self-management which are the actions you take over the longer term to shape your career to be more fulfilling.

1)  JOB CRAFTING 

Job crafting is what you do to customize your current job to better match your skills, strengths, interests, and work preferences. 

There are three main ways to job craft:  task crafting, relational crafting and cognitive crafting.

•  Task crafting:  You redesign your tasks by changing the number, scope and/or kind of tasks you do to fulfill your job responsibilities.  
•  First, you can add tasks you enjoy by taking on special projects or volunteering for assignments.  You could also drop those that seem nonessential because they don’t support your job responsibilities, swap them with a coworker who might enjoy what you don’t like, or delegate them to a subordinate who needs to learn or get better at that kind of task.

•  You could spend more time on interesting tasks that are aligned with your interests, strengths, and preferences.

•  You could change how you perform tasks by making them more interesting or introducing new practices to improve upon them.

•  Relational crafting:  You redesign your work for better interactions with people by changing the quality and/or quantity of interactions with people you encounter by considering how, how often and with whom you interact with. 

• Specifically, you can build new relationships, increase time with existing ones that are beneficial or decrease time spent with ones that are draining and/or of little value.

• You could also change how you think about existing work relationships to consider better ways of working with people, and to reframe difficult ones by understanding why they act like they do.

• You could also alter existing relationships by finding new ways to connect with your coworkers as individuals, by inquiring into their interests and hobbies, socializing, or supporting them in achieving their personal ambitions.
•  Cognitive crafting:  Change the meaning of your tasks so they connect with a broader and more inspiring purpose.
•  For instance, you can connect what you do, no matter how small, to the larger purpose of the organization so your work seems more significant.

•  You can narrow your focus to the most appealing and meaningful aspects of your work   so you’re focusing on the good and disregarding the less enjoyable aspects.

•  You can also examine particular aspects of your work and how they connect to your  strengths, values, and interests.

Additionally, you can consider how you might support your intrinsic motivation, which arises from engaging in pleasurable activities.  The following experiences support intrinsic motivation:

•  Competence  - having freedom over how you do your work, finding aspects of tasks interesting, experiencing variety, and perceiving opportunities for development all support feelings of competence
•  Relatedness - connecting with others for camaraderie, encouragement or information to get social support, and getting feedback, mentoring, coaching, etc. support feelings of relatedness
•  Mastery - taking on challenging (but not too challenging) tasks, engaging in new projects, and pursuing new learning and achievements support feelings of mastery

 Unfortunately while intrinsic motivation is powerful, it can also be diminished with workplace conditions that could make you feel controlled, pressured, rejected, overly tasked, under-resourced, etc. These stressors interfere with job satisfaction so you’ll have to address those challenges to attain better work conditions.

You need certain things to succeed at job crafting, such as:

• Self-awareness:   You need to know your values, skills, interests, and work preferences so you can incorporate them into your work.  There are different kinds of career assessments but one of the best ways is to reflect on your past and present experiences to identify themes of what you like and don’t like.
• Proactive Behavior:  You need to be wisely proactive to identify and act on opportunities to job craft for yourself while also considering any impact on coworkers or your organization.  For example, if you take on new tasks, consider if that will increase others’ workload.  If you want to initiate something new in your workplace, consider how that will impact your organization. 
• Job Flexibility:  Some degree of job flexibility in how you do your job to make sure you can make changes while still fulfilling your job responsibilities 
• Communication:  Ability to gain support from others, if needed, such as a supervisor, mentor, coworkers, etc.
• Time Management:  Ability to set limits on how much extra work you take on because only adding tasks can lead to burnout and family conflict

Some advantages include:

•  Greater job satisfaction and motivation to work
•  More awareness about your work preferences to use in future situations
•  Greater job performance as you experience greater choice and control over what you do 
•  Improved skills to use to be even more proactive in the future

2) CAREER SELF-MANAGEMENT

Career self-management for career crafting is more strategic.  You’re looking outward to consider what work roles and activities will move you closer and closer in your desired direction.  It’s taking a seamless approach to career transitions by building a bridge to the future you want.

Beyond following a predetermined organizational career pathway, you can look for opportunities to custom tailor your pathway to create the career situations you want.

 You can embrace the choices you have.  You can establish yourself as an expert in an area you’re interested in by using your knowledge and skills to add value in your job roles, volunteer for interesting assignments, embrace special projects, apply for education and training that supports your particular goals, find mentors, attend conferences, network with people who are doing what you want to do, etc.  

 By doing those kinds of things, you create a desired career identity as you see yourself doing the kinds of things you want to do, become known as a go-to person for your particular expertise and develop a network of contacts that can help you get what you want.

 People who know what they want, who they can approach for advice, and how they can search for developmental opportunities will be better positioned to get what they want.

Things that are helpful for career crafting include:

• Self-Awareness - revisit your motivated skills, interests, values, work preferences, and strengths periodically to keep them updated and reflect on how well they are aligned with your current  situation.
• Proactive contributions - determine how you can apply your strengths to add value to your organization such as improving processes or challenging existing routines.  What ideas do you have about creating something to meet a need?  How can you apply your zone of genius to your work community to provide an impact?  Such contributions give you a record of accomplishments to build upon and make you standout among less proactive peers.
• Goal setting - look at both the long term to plan backward to set nearer term goals, while you also consider the short term and what you want to accomplish.  The SMART (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, and Time-bound) framework is a popular way to set goals but you may need to revise them periodically as you receive new information.
• Strategic Career Planning - analyze your situation to conceive  the “how” you will accomplish your goals.  You can do a career SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) to determine what you have and what you need to get.  You can then set process goals which is what you’re going to do to accomplish your desired outcome goals.
• Resourcefulness - you need to be able to get what you need, such as information about how you can proceed, education and training to get the expertise you need, financial resources, and support from mentors, supervisors, colleagues, etc.
• Continuous learning and development - expanding your knowledge about your field, staying abreast of new developments, stretching yourself with new experiences, and getting feedback from your actions are all important.

Some advantages of career crafting include:

• You’ll shape your career in a direction you want rather than passively responding to circumstances.  Autonomy and choice supports intrinsic motivation.
• You’ll be more likely to experience job satisfaction because you’re aligning your work with things you’re passionate about and choosing work conditions that support your best work. 
• You’re more likely to be in the right place at the right time to benefit from new opportunities when you actively network and engage with others doing interesting work.
• You’re more likely to be known for what you do when you proactively contribute in your job and your career field so you’ll be positioned for career advancement and new employment opportunities.
• Continual learning and development will help you grow personally as well as professionally.
•  You’ll be a stronger person because you’ll be heading in a direction that feels right for you and you’ve shown yourself that you’re more than capable in getting what you want.
•  You won’t need to take a radical leap to a new career because you will have built your bridge to seamlessly walk toward what you want.

 You don’t have to do everything at once - consider one thing you’d like to change and start there.  

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” – Peter Drucker

Happy Career Crafting!