Imagine reshaping your current job role to better align with your passions and strengths. Sound too good to be true? Not if you master the art of job crafting! It's an executive's secret weapon for finding fulfillment and overcoming overwhelm in their roles. If you've ever felt that your strengths and passions are under-utilized, this episode is your call to action.
Tune in as we unpack the concept of job crafting. We share insights from a discussion with a client—an executive who’s rethinking her relationships and future. We guide you through three key steps in the job crafting process that will help you identify opportunities within your organization and flex those strengths. From using crises as opportunities to the importance of visibility, you'll be well-equipped to start reshaping your role. Listen in, get inspired, and start crafting your job today!
This episode is sponsored by LucidPoint
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We help our customers do so with confidence. Turn your vision into reality, call LucidPoint today!
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CONNECT WITH SUSIE:
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CONNECT WITH JAMES:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/capps/
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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Quick Take Podcast, the show where you
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get targeted advice and coaching for executives by
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executives.
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I'm Suzy Tomlinchuck.
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Speaker 2: I'm James Capps.
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Give us 15 minutes and we'll give you three secrets to
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address the complex topic of issues that are challenging
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executives like you today.
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Speaker 1: Hey, welcome to Quick Take James, how are you hey?
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Speaker 2: I'm good.
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There's a lot of hay in that opening.
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Speaker 1: Someday we're going to have to go behind the scenes
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and tell the quicksters why we always, when we show up, we're
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laughing.
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Speaker 2: Yes, that could be a little too much inside baseball.
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Speaker 1: TMI Fair enough, we'll keep it under wraps for
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now, that's right.
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Well, let's just jump right into it.
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I was talking to a client today and, funny enough, I always say
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so applicable because we talk about.
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Yeah, but we always talk about the things that are on the minds
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of people everywhere.
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So why not?
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Why not?
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She's in a place, she's an executive and it's just a lot of
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things going on in the business right now and she's feeling a
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little bit anxious about just relationships around her.
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She really wants to think about what's next for her Down the
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road.
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She really would like to do some executive coaching.
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She knows she's really good at mentoring.
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She's like how can I lean into that a little bit?
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Maybe then when there's opportunities, this is a new
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skill set.
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What do you think?
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How would I do that?
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Hence why we had a discussion.
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But it brings up the whole idea of job crafting.
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Speaker 2: Absolutely.
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We've talked about that in the past and I think it's exciting
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when people take a moment and go look, let's take a look at my
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role and how can I maximize that .
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It helps me think about when I do a ton of consulting with
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folks trying to hire new executives and so often when a
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person leaves, that puzzle piece is incredibly difficult to
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backfill because that person who has left has crafted their job
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job crafted to fit them exactly.
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They're really strong here and really weak here.
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So good executives leave a very bizarre puzzle piece and it's
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really challenging to fill them.
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And it's really because good executives are good at job
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crafting.
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They're good at being very good at what they want to be good at
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and not in focusing on the things that they're not, and
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that's how that manifests itself .
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Speaker 1: I like what you said about like we get so busy in our
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day-to-day roles that you need to take time and space to
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consider some things like who you need to build your network
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with what do?
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You need to go next, and this is one of those add-ons, or that
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accelerants that you might need in your job and, in this
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woman's example, it gives her something to focus on that
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brings her a lot of joy that gives her it feels like she's
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investing in her future.
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So it serves a lot of purposes for her because it allows her to
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kind of get through this season , if you will.
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Speaker 2: Well and I think that's really my first tip on
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job crafting, which is so often our first tip is actually taking
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stock.
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You have to take that first step and be very conscious about
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the topic and in this case, if you really want to maybe adjust
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your role, maybe focus it a little more, the first step you
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want to do is to really take stock in the skills that you
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have.
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What are the skills that you want to focus on?
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What muscles do you want to increase the strength of, and
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what areas do you find are actually maybe perhaps you know
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sucking your energy, and what are those things that you hate
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most, that maybe you can do less of.
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So taking stock kind of helps you define what your puzzle
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piece looks like, and if you do that actively, I think you'll be
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much more successful.
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Speaker 1: I think that's great.
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I would like to offer some techniques.
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I would say giving yourself an hour of uninterrupted time and
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really brainstorm around and some of those things, like you
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said, what brings you passion with your strengths, what are
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the things that you normally go to?
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What are the things that you've gotten great feedback on this
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last year?
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What are some of the things that you go to right away and
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you kind of like check off your list the things that you really
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love, and maybe it's people, maybe it's process.
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Like really think about that and don't stifle, like don't
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look for one thing, just brainstorm and get everything
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out there and kind of think way outside the box, if you will.
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Speaker 2: It's a big list, right?
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Yeah, One of the things that give you energy and one of the
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things that take energy and make sure you're looking at it
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across the entire remit of your role, whether it's defined or
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not defined.
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That taking stock is a huge first step.
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Speaker 1: Okay, awesome.
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What's the second step or the second?
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Speaker 2: thing.
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The second thing I think we need to think about when you're
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doing job crafting is looking for opportunities in your
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organization that need you to be there.
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It's one thing that, within, if I'm the CTO of an organization
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and the thing that gives me energy is writing poetry,
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perhaps my firm doesn't need that, so it's difficult to
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really explore that opportunity because you know, let's be fair
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my poetry is not for everybody.
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I know it stinks High-coo.
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It is a high-coo, and I know about five of our listeners are
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going to be responding to that, because I did send a high-coo
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email the other day, so we had a high-coo teta-teta, which is
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the nerdiest thing that's ever come out of my mouth.
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That is but what the important thing is identifying areas that
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you can focus within your company, that there is
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opportunity.
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You know chaos somebody leaving somewhere that is not working
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well within the company take advantage of that.
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As one of our favorite leaders often said, never let a good
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crisis go to waste and that this is an opportunity for you to
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jobcraft around perhaps an opportunity.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, you know what I love about that is it also can
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increase your influence, because if you step into a place
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instead of going and complaining about, oh, that person's not
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doing this or that the company doesn't understand.
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We need that and that's a problem.
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Stepping in and being a part of the solution can give you
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visibility, it can increase your influence and if it falls under
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your boss's role, whoo that's a good way to build some trust.
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Everybody wins.
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Speaker 2: No, everybody wins, and I think that's super great.
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And I think the third thing that I want to point out when
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you do jobcafting is I think you really need to put it out there
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that you're doing it, and I'm not saying announce it, but make
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sure people are aware that you are taking this on, because it's
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just you just described.
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You know, if you're doing something that helps your
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leadership, helps your team, whether it helps your boss, the
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road, the brood, whoever it is identifying that you're
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undertaking, that goes a long way, I know.
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When it comes to coaching, you know I coach dozens of people at
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our firm, maybe one third of which are actually within my, my
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, uh, under my, underneath my organization.
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Do I have a chart that says, hey, I'm coaching these people?
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No, but I do occasionally mention, you know, I've been
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spending time with this individual I just thought you
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should know that and et cetera, et cetera, because not only do
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you get credit for it, but also helps people understand that you
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do have this skill set.
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So there is a.
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I know we've, we've, we've talked a lot about how you
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promote yourself with style and grace, but this is an area that
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that I think it's important for you to speak of and mention that
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you're stretching.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's good.
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I want to tell you a little story about um.
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I was listening.
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I was at a uh leadership conference the last fall and
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there was a CFO who was speaking on a panel and she said that it
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wasn't until she's in her role now that she realized
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opportunities only go to the people that speak up and be able
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to articulate where.
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Where are areas you're working on?
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She?
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Speaker 2: goes I don't.
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Speaker 1: I don't have time to think I get all this exposure to
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all these different projects and things that are like kind of
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one offs and that I fill those or I ask the people that
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articulate where they're going, and so that's kind of a thing of
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that.
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Speaker 2: No, I think that's exactly right.
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It's when you can explain the puzzle piece that you're
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crafting, create, communicate here's I'm crafting my job, and
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it looks like this when you can articulate that well, I think
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people will support you, people will coach you and you'll find
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that you'll have advocates, and I think that's huge.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, and also you may realize after doing it
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you're like this really is not something I like.
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I don't like it, I like it, I'm like okay, good.
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Speaker 2: That's a great idea for my bonus.
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We have a bonus tip today, which is go slow, baby steps on
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this job crafting.
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I think you want to be thoughtful on how you're doing
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it.
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The last thing you want to do, in the case of the executive
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you're speaking to who wanted to be an executive coach, it would
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be all advised to stand up and say I am now the executive coach
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for our organization and then be really bad at it.
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I think it's important that you take small steps, you try it on
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for size and you be flexible.
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Maybe you thought you wanted to be an executive coach and it
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turns out you're only good at coaching developers, or maybe
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you have a better ability to coach up and coming people
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versus people who are more seasoned.
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I think it's really key that, as you look to adjust your job
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and do some job crafting, is that you're flexible, because
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where you think you're going may not be where you end up.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's good.
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The goal of job crafting is to explore some additional areas
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where you might be good.
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It might be that then that's incorporated in your role and
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responsibility, which may be additive.
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It could give you some leverage to say in your next promotion I
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took this on too.
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Or it might lead you into a different role that is even more
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satisfying to you.
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Speaker 2: Absolutely.
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What a great summary.
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I think that's a great justification and validation and
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motivation for people to consider job crafting and look
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at what it can do for you.
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Speaker 1: All right.
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So what are the three things?
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Remind us one more time before we go.
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Speaker 2: We have three things.
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First and foremost, take stock, take a look at your skills and
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strengths and understand where you want to go and where you
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don't want to go, what gives you energy, what brings you joy and
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what does not.
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Second one is to look at opportunities within the
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organization.
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Where are there some holes that you could fill?
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Where are some areas that the firm needs some additional
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resources, energy or skill, and take advantage of those
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situations.
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And then third one obviously is to put it out there and
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communicate that you're going to take a step into that direction
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.
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Promote yourself in that role so people will give you credit
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for when you're successful.
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And then my fourth and bonus one today is go easy, take baby
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steps.
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You don't want to over commit and go too far and fail too
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quickly.
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Give yourself grace and an opportunity to be successful by
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trying those shoes on for size, if you will.
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Awesome.
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Speaker 1: I love it so much.
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It's such a good thing to think about and take the time to do
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it, so thank you for those that was awesome and thanks for
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joining us.
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If you have some ideas or you want to ask us a question about
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job crafting or anything else that is kind of on your mind,
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we'd love to hear from you.
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James and I are both on LinkedIn.
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We're pretty active there, so you can direct message us or
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reach out to us, and if you like this episode and you think
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somebody around you needs to maybe they need to, like explore
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some other options in their role Do a little job crafting.
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Do some help them get them proactively job crafting in
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their role.
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So thanks for joining us.
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We love to hear from you, give us your ideas and again, we
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appreciate you.
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Thanks for listening to this week's episode of Quick Take,
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where we talk about the questions that are on the minds
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of executives everywhere.
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Connect with us and share what's on your mind.
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Speaker 2: You can find us on LinkedIn, youtube or whatever
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nerdy people are.
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You can find your podcasts.
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Every place on the internet you find your podcasts.
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All the links you really need are in the show notes.