The one question I love to ask when working with teams, individuals or presenting in conferences is to ask, “What is the biggest challenge you have to finding greater joy and fulfillment in your work?”
Every time, the answer is the same: TIME, or lack of.
This is especially true for those working fee for service where every minute counts. You need to have the bladder of a camel and have an Ozempic appetite for food, because you’re aware that time is money and there’s no time for extras like trips to the bathroom or taking a lunch break.
The silly thing is, we don’t have too little time. We have all the time we need, IF we’re working to the true scope of our practice and not getting caught up in wasted time filling in paperwork or carrying out tasks that could easily be delegated elsewhere.
That’s why it’s time to get SMART about how we spend our time at work.
Smart Work Design.
You’re probably familiar with the SMART goal model.
So, put that thought aside for a minute and ask yourself the following questions.
How would you feel if:
- Your work is always stimulating?
- You are encouraged to upskill and gain greater mastery in your field of expertise?
- You have the agency to do your work in the way it suits you best, rather than being press-ganged into a one-size-fits-all process?
- You enjoy strong positive work relationships, making you feel part of the team?
- Your work imposes tolerable demands on you?
I consider myself extremely fortunate to love what I do, but there have been times when I’ve been swamped by intolerable demands, which have led to bouts of depression and a few years ago, significant burnout which led to the loss of my medical practice and the need to take 12 months off from work.
That’s why I’m so passionate about helping others to find greater meaning in their work. Because let’s face it, we spend over a third of our adult life in this place we call work, so enjoying that time matters.
Looking at the five elements of SMART job design, which resonates most strongly with you?
Where could you start to introduce some small changes to bring about a better outcome to how you feel at the end of a long and busy day?
Professor Sharon Parker from the Centre for Transformative Work Design created the SMART model based on many decades of research.
What I like about the model is that it applies to every job, occupation and workplace because it’s addressing the human needs for what makes work feel worthwhile.
If you’ve ever found yourself in a work situation where the facets of SMART work aren’t in evidence (for me, it was working in an area of data entry which made me want to rip out my toenails one by one) you’ll know that being unhappy at work because the work is dull, tedious, unrewarding or feels pointless is extremely demotivating and demoralising.
This is where not having a job is psychologically better for us than staying in a job we loathe, unless you’re in a position to be able to improve your situation.
The benefits of SMART work design include:
- Enhanced wellbeing.
- Reduced risk of burnout or mental distress.
- Increased desire to do your work, to the standard you know you’re capable of because you’re feeling more engaged and inspired to create more.
- Increased work efficiency leading to greater productivity.
The bottom line is that SMART job design is good for people and for business.
And you don’t need to completely overhaul your work either.
Sometimes it’s the smallest of tweaks that can produce the greatest improvements.
If you’ve been making changes to how you do your work, what has helped you the most?
Ref:
Parker, S. K. & Knight, C. (2024). The SMART model of work design: A higher order structure to help see the wood from the trees. Human Resource Management, 63, 265-291.
