FIVE
ENRICH
ENERGIZE THE JOB
Ponder this: Do your people have to leave to learn something new?
Our favorite “stay interview” question is “What do you want to learn this year?” It seems all great performers are interested in learning. And when promotions and pay raises are in short supply, you might turn to learning as a way to enrich their jobs, alleviate boredom, even re-recruit them to your team and to your purpose. Learning on the job is a powerful way to engage or reengage with the work.
It Can Happen to Anyone
Did your own “job EKG” ever go flat? Did the feeling of challenge change to a feeling of routine? Did you think something was missing? What happened to your energy? In any case, did you start to wonder what else there was? Did you start to look around?
Unfortunately, your most valued employees are the most likely to suffer this sense of job discontent. By definition, they are savvy, creative, self- propelled, and energetic. They need stimulating work, opportunities for personal challenge and growth, and a contributing stake in the organizational action.
If good workers find that your company no longer provides these necessities, they may decide they have outgrown the place and will consider leaving, or worse yet, disengage on the job. If they disengage, their departure is psychological rather than physical. It shows up in absenteeism and mediocre performance. These people simply withhold their energy and effort, figuring, “What’s the point, anyway?”
Either way, through departure or disengagement, you lose talented people who are vital to the success of your unit and your company—a preventable loss.
Alas
I had been doing the same work for seven years when my organization decided to expand the business in a new direction. I met with my boss to tell him that I would love to learn about the new side of the business and maybe expand my job to include at least some work in the new arena. I wasn’t sure how it could all fit, but I knew I wanted something new and exciting in my day-to-day work life. When I raised the topic, he responded curtly, “The team has already been chosen to do this new work. We need you to keep doing what you’re doing.” That was the end of our discussion. I left the organization six months later.
—Claims adjuster, insurance company
Get Enriched Quick
Job enrichment means a change in what your employees do (content) or how they do it (process) and it inevitably involves learning. Enrichment helps employees to find the growth, challenge, and renewal they seek without leaving their current jobs or employers.
An enriched job is composed of one or more of these features:
• Gives employees room to initiate, create, and implement new ideas
• Promotes setting and achieving personal and group goals
• Allows employees to see their contributions to an end product or goal
• Challenges employees to expand their knowledge and capabilities
• Allows employees to “job sculpt” and make the job they have a job they love
A job can be as neatly tailored to a worker’s peculiar goals and requirements as a pair of Levi’s [jeans] to an online customer’s imperfect physique.
—David Ulrich and David Sturm
If enrichment is so beneficial, why isn’t it a standard part of every job? One good reason is this: what enriches one employee is different from what enriches the next. Courtney, devastated by her job’s predictability, craves variety in each day’s tasks. Marcos, tired of being told how to do his audit reports, is ready to teach someone else how to do them. Sofia sees that her computer programs meet the needs of her superiors and now wants to spend more time creating useful applications for her colleagues. How do you tailor job enrichment to individuals and their needs? Ask them what would enrich their jobs! (Duh.)
GO TO
________________
Ask
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use these questions to help people probe for possibilities of enrichment:
In what ways is your job important to the company?
What skills do you use on the job? What talents and interests do you have that you don’t use?
What about your job do you find challenging or rewarding? What’s not challenging or rewarding about your job?
In what areas would you like increased responsibility for your current tasks?
What would you like to be doing in the next three to five years?
In what ways would you like your job changed?
Ask these questions to help people evaluate their jobs and discover ideas for enrichment. Their responses will, and should, vary greatly from person to person.
The Learning Assignment
We said that learning is core to enrichment. Now let’s look at how a learning assignment brought back the “juice” of the job for one employee.
When Sergey’s boss asked what he wanted to learn next year, he said, “I’d like to improve my negotiating skills.” The boss said, “Great, let’s do it,” and they began a three-step learning process. Here are the steps they followed and how it worked out for Sergey.
Step 1. Conscious Observation. Sergey’s boss selected an expert for Sergey to observe—someone who was exceptionally skilled at negotiating. After the observation, Sergey and his boss discussed what Sergey noticed, learned, would mirror or do differently.
Step 2. Selected Participation. Sergey’s boss gave him the chance to take a well-defined but limited role in a negotiation (preparing the opening remarks with a vendor). The goal was to give Sergey an opportunity to get his feet wet without feeling overwhelmed. Following the meeting, Sergey and his boss discussed what worked and where there might be room for improvement.
Step 3. Key Responsibility. Sergey’s boss gave him primary responsibility for a project that required excellent negotiation skills. Sergey completed the entire negotiation with the vendor and was both visible and accountable for the outcome. His boss was present, of course, but would have stepped in only if Sergey requested his support.
It worked. One year later, Sergey is thrilled with his job and continues to develop mastery as a negotiator for his organization.
Note: Any one of these steps can be the learning assignment, in and of itself.
Consider the Possibilities
The bedrock of most enrichment activities is learning. Yet, enrichment can take on many different forms. Remember to ask your talented employees what they’d like to do and how they’d like to do it. Here are some techniques that work if you are careful to match them to individual wants and needs:
• Form teams. Self-directed work groups can make a lot of their own decisions. They can redistribute work so that team members learn more, have more variety, and follow more projects through to completion.
• Touch the client. For example, a computer systems troubleshooter might be more effective knowing the needs of real people and units rather than responding only to problems as they occur. Assign one troubleshooter to one department (the client), and make her accountable for that client’s success in using the company’s computer system. It’s amazing how many employees never see their clients.
• Rotate assignments. New responsibilities can help an employee feel challenged and valued. Employees can acquire important new skills that add depth to the workforce. Do rotational assignments sound like chaos? Suggest the idea and let your employees propose the “who” and “how” part; you’ll be surprised at their expertise in making it happen smoothly.
• Increase feedback. Do more than annual reviews. Find ways to develop peer review and client review opportunities. Employees want to know about their performance, and continual feedback allows them to be their own quality control agents.
• Involve employees in decisions. Employees are empowered and motivated when they take part in decisions that have an impact on their work, such as budget and hiring decisions, or ways to organize work and schedules. Involvement allows employees to see the big picture and enables them to make a contribution they find meaningful.
• Nurture creativity. Untapped creativity dwindles. If employees rarely think for themselves, they lose the ability to contribute their best ideas. They simply go through the paces, undermotivated and disengaged. You can help by asking for and rewarding creative ideas, by giving employees the freedom and resources to create, and by challenging employees with new assignments, tasks, and learning.
• Teach someone. Teaching another person is motivational for many. If an employee has a particular niche or specialty and enjoys passing this knowledge on, you have a perfect win-win!
• Support enrollment in learning opportunities. German law provides for a Bildungsurlaub, five days off per year to participate in an approved training course. Training doesn’t have to be directly connected to a job as long as it is approved by the state. Although not many countries have a law like this, the idea of enriching a job via a learning experience is something any manager in any organization can explore.
Give these job enrichment ideas to your employees. Ask them to add to the list and to get specific about the enrichment goals they’re considering. Then have them choose two or three favorites. And before they lock on to their goals for the coming weeks or months, make sure they complete the Payoff Potential Quiz here. Better yet, discuss the questions with them. Their answers to the quiz will help them decide which goals to pursue next.
Payoff Potential Quiz
If you choose this enrichment goal . . .
• What’s in it for you?
How will it build your skills?
How will it increase your marketability in your organization? In your profession?
How will it increase your reputation as a specialist or generalist?
How will it help you gain more confidence and competence in your current position?
How will it extend your network?
How will it spice up your day-to-day work life?
• What’s in it for your work group?
How will it help you work more effectively with your current team?
How will it increase/enhance your contribution to your work group or department?
How will it make their lives better, easier, more fun?
• What’s in it for the organization?
How will it increase your value to the organization?
How does it contribute to current organizational mission, strategy, or goals?
How does it address a current relevant business need?
Note: The “What’s in It for You?” section is first and longest. That’s on purpose!
As you think about job enrichment, don’t feel as if you have to have all the answers, and don’t let yourself become the “fix-it” person. This is a collaborative process between you and every one of the talented people on your team. Ultimately, your employees need to move the needle on their own job satisfaction—with your support, of course! We wrote a book to help them do just that. It’s called Love It, Don’t Leave It: 26 Ways to Get What You Want at Work.
Bottom Line
If you help employees enrich their jobs, you can benefit them, their teams, and the entire organization. Stay alert to enrichment opportunities for all your employees. Encourage them to suggest ways to enrich their own jobs. Watch their “job EKGs” spike!
