Practice knowledge base
Job Crafting
Job crafting helps employees and managers tailor tasks, working relationships, and work methods to individual strengths and interests.
Documentation sections
What it is
Job crafting is a managed adjustment of a role without changing the position. The employee and manager together identify which tasks are energizing, where skills are best applied, and where more autonomy can be granted. This practice is useful when the problem is not the company’s mission, but that daily work has strayed too far from the individual’s strengths.
When it helps
- The employee performs their role formally but shows little interest in the content of current tasks.
- The employee’s strong skills are hardly ever used in projects and routine work.
- The manager observes a decline in initiative without apparent conflict or overload.
- There are tasks within the team that can be reallocated without altering the staffing structure.
- The employee lacks autonomy in choosing how to achieve a clear objective.
How to start
- 1 Ask the employee to list tasks that energize them, drain their energy, and best utilize their skills.
- 2 Select one regular task that can be enhanced, simplified, or delegated without compromising results.
- 3 Discuss with the manager which working relationships should be added or reduced to better support the role’s outcomes.
- 4 Document a small experiment for the upcoming work cycle: what changes in tasks, authority, or work methods.
- 5 During the next discussion, assess whether it has become clearer where the employee adds more value and where adjustments are needed.
Expected effect
The practice helps the manager leverage the employee’s strengths more precisely without overhauling the role. The team benefits from more intentional task distribution, and the employee gains a clearer picture of where their interest and expertise drive results.
Common pitfalls
- Substituting job crafting with a promise of any work based on interests, without regard for team goals.
- Modifying a role unilaterally without aligning boundaries with the manager and colleagues.
- Shifting unpleasant but important tasks to others without a clear justification.
- Using the practice as a substitute for addressing overload, conflict, or role misalignment.
- Leaving agreements verbal, so the team doesn’t understand the new boundaries of responsibility.
Further reading
- Research: Amy Wrzesniewski and Jane E. Dutton, Crafting a Job: Revisioning Employees as Active Crafters of Their Work
- Book: Jane E. Dutton and Gretchen M. Spreitzer, How to Be a Positive Leader
- Research: Maria Tims, Arnold B. Bakker and Daantje Derks, Development and validation of the job crafting scale
FAQ
Who should initiate job crafting?
Usually the manager or the employee themselves initiates it during a regular one-on-one. It’s important that the decision is not a personal improvisation: the manager helps connect the employee’s interests with the team’s goals.
Do you need to change the job title or grade?
Not necessarily. The practice starts with small changes in tasks, work methods, working relationships, or autonomy level. The formal role should only be changed when the new configuration has become stable.
Can it be started without a consultant?
Yes. A brief preparation by the employee, a conversation with the manager, and one safe experiment are enough. An external expert is only needed for complex role restructuring or conflicts of interest among participants.
How can you tell that the practice is working?
Look for specific signs: the employee takes more initiative in agreed-upon tasks, applies their strong skills more often, and the team maintains clarity on responsibilities and deadlines.