Job crafters and the network

Job crafting

Job crafting refers to the way that each individual shapes the job that he / she does in order to satisfy their own needs and desires.  This can be independently of the organization’s needs.  There are three main areas that job crafting affects:

·         Quantity of work (you can do more or less)

·         Relationships with others (these can be improved or can deteriorate)

·         Perception of work (an insurance agent sees his / her work as helping people after accidents, rather than just processing claims)

For more details, please refer to “What is job crafting and why does it matter” (Berg,Dutton & Wrzesniewski).

Jobs are crafted by different aspects of a person: ambitions, desires, skills, personality traits, personal interests, etc.

An interesting part of the job crafting approach is the finding that those who actively engage in it are more likely to be engaged and motivated workers.  If you are interested, you can find more informationby clicking here.

Job crafting is similar to job redesign, the difference being that job redesign is negotiated with the employer in a formal process while job crafting is done under the radar.

The job and the crafter

In a previous post (the company, the job, the person) we argued that the person and the post they fill should be kept separate within CRM systems because of the way that people move from one job to another in their careers.  Job crafting and its effects requires the person and the post they fill to be kept separate but for different reasons.

The job can be considered to be what the person should be doing.  It involves a list of requirements, expectations and reporting lines.  The crafted job is how the person currently holding that position fulfills the requirements, meets the expectations and respects the reporting lines.  The difference between the job and the crafted job will vary depending the person, but there will always be a difference.

Job crafting and the effect on the sales meeting

We can picture all the people in a network busily job crafting in their own manner (with a positive or negative outcome, knowingly or subconsciously).  The effects of this will filter down to many business situations, including the sales meeting.

·         The sales person who considers the job in terms of hitting his / her commission at the end of the month will have a different approach to one who thinks in terms of making the client happier.

·         The client who sees the purchase as part of a wider plan will use different criteria from a client who is looking for the cheapest, quickest to deploy solution.

       

As a manager of a sales team, I need to think about which aspects I want my individual team members to develop and which ones I think the whole team could embrace.  This kind of insight will help me to plan training and assessment programmes.

Job crafting and o2o

Within the o2o complex sales situation, job crafting will also play a role.  A new occupant, of whatever position, is going to bring his / her own way of crafting the job.  This could be in terms of

·         Priorities for business development (opening new markets in a given zone, etc)

·         Personal criteria for making decisions (carbon footprint, ethical business, etc)

·         Personal preferences for partners (size and profile of suppliers, etc)

As a sales manager, I need to think about which of my team, as job crafters, will be best suited to working on a particular account and with certain people within that account.  Using my knowledge of my team I am better able to not only cover the network (see our post onnetwork coverage in o2o) but also to cover it with people intelligence.

In addition, understanding how key people in my client’s ecosystem have crafted their jobs will help me to get a better understanding of the way that they fit into the network.  I can look for people who are making similar changes and possibly use this to my advantage.  The use of Key Opinion Leaders by pharmaceutical companies is an application of this idea.

Next generation CRM

Job crafting affects the way we as individuals work and the way we affect the organizations we work for.  And recognition of this is growing on both sides of the Atlantic.  It is clearly going to play a role in the way we think about people and the jobs they do. 

The question is: how will future systems manage this aspect of the person / post combination?



Cate Farrall

The company, the job, the person: making sense of identity

Three key elements

Any CRM worth its salt will let you stock and consult three key pieces of information: your contact’s name, the job title he/she holds and which company he/she currently works for.  Having access to these three sets of information help you target, shape your strategy and tailor messages.

Inseparable?

The vast majority of CRMs have organized their data fields so that the person and their post are inseparable within the date record containing contact information, and the company or organization is a separate data record.  This is why (for anyone who uses a CRM without needing to know the software architecture behind it) I can have people that come and go from a company in my CRM but I can’t have a person that changes post or a post that changes occupant (without deleting one of these key elements and starting to rebuild any relationship information from scratch).

The organization

The company is then usually treated by CRMs as a separate entity.  This makes sense as there are certain aspects of companies that shape the relationships of its stakeholders.  For example:

·         Business objectives

·         Size

·         Corporate identity and reputation

·         Company ethics

·         Its own relationship network: suppliers, partners, clients, customers, competitors, shareholders, etc

I’m quite sure I have forgotten some things, please add comments below.

The post

The job in itself can alter relationships too:

·         There are hierarchical links and reporting lines which force me into contact with some people.

·         Geographical zones of intervention and action exist which limit or extend who I work with.

·         I am held to follow certain procedures, which may detail who I work with.

Again, I welcome comments on anything you think is missing.

The person

People change and alter the relationships they have much more than any other factor.  In the list below I have detailed only the aspects that come into play for professional relationships.

·         I have a memory unlike a post, which existed before me and will continue to exist if and when I move on.  If I get on with a person I will carry this with me for a long time, maybe forever.  I can also bear a grudge for a very long time.

·         I have a life outside of my work, so I can interact with and meet people who are not in my existing professional network.  This extends who I know beyond the limitations of my job’s network.

·         I like other people, or I dislike them.  As an example, in my role as, let’s say, Sales Director Southern Europe I should work closely with my Sales President EMEA.  However, for one reason or another we just don’t click, and although we are both professional enough to do the job well, there’s no warmth or mutual support.

·         I have a set of ethics and opinions that may or may not be close to the company’s position.  For example, I may put greater emphasize on ecological issues, or health and safety, or equal opportunities, or X, Y, Z.  This could well lead to changes in the way I consider other people and the work they do.

Additions welcome in the comments box below.

Divide and conquer

At some point in the future I will leave my post (either to retire, following a promotion, or moving to another company).  Likewise, I existed as a person long before I came into the post that I currently hold.

These professional movements are key moments in the life of a company because new people bring new networks.  Traditional suppliers can often see themselves ousted shortly after the arrival of a senior person, as he/she decides to use their own trusted suppliers or decides to go for a new approach.  There are companies out there that track nominations of C level people (www.nomination.fr does this in France) to help you identify these key moments.

What this means for information storage

Key things to look for in a CRM (get their techie team to answer the questions)

·         Company, post and person are three separate elements.

·         I can move a person from company to company without losing any information about that person.

·         I can move a person from post to post without losing any information.

·         Personal relationships with any given person can be transferred easily as the person’s career develops.

Cate Farrall