As you start out the new year, there’s no better time to reflect on your career and ensure your job is more rewarding and inspiring in 2025. After all, the grass isn’t always greener, so why not craft your job so you do more of what you love and less of what you don’t?
Job crafting is altering your job to make it more meaningful. The practice has been studied for 20 years amongst employees of all levels and industries and is proven to create more meaning, engagement, and job satisfaction. Research shows that employees who craft their jobs perform better and report greater personal resilience.
“There are many benefits to making thoughtful changes to your role,” said Michael Gullan, CEO of G&G Advocacy, an eLearning consultancy. “Though the term ‘job crafting’ is not new, the practice has become more relevant as many employees look for more meaning from their work.”
Job crafting involves assessing and altering one or more of the following core aspects of work.
- Tasks – Changing the boundaries of your job by taking on more or fewer tasks or changing how they’re performed. For example, a strategist might take on additional execution tasks because she enjoys seeing her strategies come to life.
- Relationships – Changing the nature or intensity of your interactions with colleagues, customers, and suppliers. For instance, an executive may create a mentorship program because she enjoys and believes in uplifting people.
- Perceptions – Changing your thoughts about your job or aspects of it. Example: A business founder may decide that his organisation can take two alternate routes to market, one for profit and the other for altruistic reasons.
“Every job is made up of a set of tasks that can be reconfigured to the employee’s strengths and preferences to make work more interesting and meaningful,” said Gullan. “Many employees unconsciously craft their jobs already, while others believe their jobs are static, don’t have the time to reflect, or fear office politics.”
Job crafting offers many benefits for the employee and the organisation, but requires reflection and a new mindset. Here’s a straightforward methodology to help you craft your job so you can not only survive but thrive in 2025.
- Diagram your role
| Job now
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Job crafted
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At a glance, you’ll see where your time and energy is going. For example: |
This will become your visual plan for the future. See how easy it is to connect the tasks with motives and strengths.
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Once you start crafting the job you want, work will become less of a daily slog, and you’ll feel like an empowered, proactive innovator. “Employees who take control of crafting their jobs to align with their purpose end up adding immense value to their organisation. They are often recognised by their colleagues and taken seriously by their managers,” said Gullan.
Organisations have much to gain by enabling job crafting, especially when employees take the initiative. Managers rarely have time to introspect on behalf of their teams, so when they turn the reins over to employees, they empower them to become “job entrepreneurs,” and it’s a win-win for everyone.
About G&G Advocacy
G&G Advocacy is a leading e-learning consultancy in the corporate space, founded on a simple insight: If we design a better experience, we’ll get better results. With its proprietary Content Capsule™ learning methodology and e-Learning platform, G&G Advocacy provides innovative solutions to corporate clients to assist them with their online learning and training needs. G&G Advocacy’s mission is to elevate e-learning into a solution that transforms the workforce into a force that gives businesses a competitive advantage.
About Michael Gullan
Michael Gullan is the founder and CEO of G&G Advocacy. Michael provides strategic consulting to G&G Advocacy’s clients at a senior level. Michael is passionate about the science of adult learning in the corporate workplace and has made it his mission to provide innovative and effective e-learning solutions designed to nurture an educated and high-performance workforce in South Africa so we can build a stronger, sustainable economy that creates more jobs and opportunities across all levels of our society. Michael is deeply committed to uplifting South Africa via education, learning, and creating a knowledge-empowered workforce.
“Job crafting ignites a growth mindset and a culture of continuous learning as employees take control of closing their skills gaps and achieving their goals. It allows companies to motivate and retain their most talented employees and transforms poor performers into stars,” said Gullan.