Redesigning the work puzzle
As we have adapted to the pandemic as a global community, work has shifted with us and ultimately led to less of a work-life balance. As leaders, it is up to us to make sure that work not only adapts to the changing environment, but we must also identify organizational pain points and transform work to be more enjoyable for employees.
A recent SmartBrief article by digital marketing agency Weaving Influence outlines a mental puzzle of work: breaking seven elements down to help reassemble work in ways that benefit everyone. The author discusses the idea of four core elements (work, workforce, workplace and worth) and three enabling elements (worker journey, work experience design, and worktech), that represent starting points for leaders to reframe work in meaningful ways. These include:
- Reframing Work
Rather than focusing on the set-in-stone job description, turn the attention towards the essence of work to be done and its characteristics: including time dimension, collaboration level, and more.
- Reframing Workforce
Rather than identifying your employees as your workforce and putting them into boxes, start to widen the playing ground and make more room for flexibility and talent pools that may work well together if looked at from a different framework.
- Reframing Workplace
It’s not labeled a “workplace” anymore, but rather a workspace where work gets done and productivity increases.
- Reframing Worth
It’s important to identify what drives employees in your organization and their internal sense of worth. Motivators may include social bonds, personal/professional growth, and more. These drivers may constantly change.
- Worker Employment Journey
Look at the relationship between individual employees and your organization. By monitoring the overall timeline from the employees’ perspective, leaders learn to empathize with workers and look at situations with a different light.
- Work Experience Design
This element helps maximize success for the organization by utilizing human-centered design principles. These include how work is structured, how workflow is sequenced, how a team functions, and how and individual employee is able to do the work and grow.
- Worktech
“Worktech” is essentially all the devices, systems, and tech that helps with organizational interactions in the workplace. By identifying how employees communicate and which platforms are most effective, you may be able to find value in the technologies and rid of those that do not work as well.
With the constantly changing global environment we find ourselves in, this “reframing” technique is designed to help leaders, like you and me, think outside the box for our organizations and open space for new opportunities. So, play around a bit and see if you can come up with new methods to redefine work for your employees in a positive way.