Job Crafting for Educators: The Research-Backed Strategy to Boost Motivation and Meaning
- Dr. Nicole Forrest
- 12 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Table of Contents
It’s mid-October… and maybe you’re feeling it too: the initial energy and momentum from the beginning of the school year is starting to wane. The fresh optimism has faded a bit, and you’re beginning to sense that familiar drift … the air slowly seeping from your personal balloon.
But what if we could change that? What if we could refocus on what truly matters?
This is where job crafting comes into play.
Last week, I had the privilege to engage in a job-crafting exercise with fellow administrators, inspired by resources from the University of Michigan. Together, we took a dedicated two-hour pause to re-prioritize our day-to-day tasks, to reimagine them so they aligned more closely with our values, passions, and strengths.
In that short window, I received just the dose of energy I needed to recalibrate my expectations and rethink how I am doing my work.
In this week’s post, I’ll dive into the psychology behind job crafting (what it is, why it matters) and then highlight some of the major benefits I experienced. Finally, I’ll offer a practical invitation so that by the end, you’ll be equipped with the knowledge and power to engage in the process yourself.
Defining job crafting and exploring the psychology behind it
At its core, job crafting is a proactive process by which employees reshape their jobs in meaningful ways without necessarily changing the formal role or leaving the organization. They make changes to tasks, relationships, or belief systems to bring better alignment with their skills, motives, and values (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001).
In that short window, I received just the dose of energy I needed to recalibrate my expectations and rethink how I am doing my work.
One concise definition from Positive Psychology is: “an employee-initiated approach which enables employees to shape their own work environment such that it fits their individual needs by adjusting the prevailing job demands and resources.”
Key dimensions of job crafting
Research often breaks job crafting into three (or sometimes four) dimensions:
Task crafting: Changing the type, scope, sequence, or number of tasks you perform.
Relational crafting: Altering with whom and how you interact (ie, your workplace relationships and the social quality of your work).
Cognitive crafting: Changing how you think about your work (ie, your perceptions of its purpose, meaning, and significance).
Resource / demand-based crafting: In newer models, employees also adjust job resources (ie, autonomy, feedback) or job demands (reducing hindering demands, increasing challenging demands) as part of job crafting.
Why the psychology matters
From a psychological perspective, job crafting matters because it supports purpose and autonomy. For example:
When employees take initiative in shaping their tasks and roles, they feel more agency and ownership over their work. This enhances intrinsic motivation.
By aligning work with one’s strengths, values, and interests, the sense of meaning increases which is strongly linked to job satisfaction, engagement, and overall well-being (Berg et. al, 2013).
Job crafting is also recognized as an organic approach to traditional hierarchical structures. Instead of waiting for someone else to redesign the job, this approach empowers individuals to make the changes they need.
When we craft our jobs, we step out of passive mode and into proactive territory. We invite ourselves back into the driver’s seat of our professional lives.
What it looks like in practice
Proactive approach
One of the things I loved about the process is that it put the employee in the driver’s seat. It’s a proactive approach: you examine what’s working well and what’s not. Then you take those parts that aren’t working, and you find a way to re-align them with at least one of your values, passions, and/or strengths.
This process puts you back in control of your future. It empowers you to define what your role is and how best to utilize your individual talents to maximize your work experience.
When employees take initiative in shaping their tasks and roles, they feel more agency and ownership over their work. This enhances intrinsic motivation.
Energy booster
Job crafting is a sure way to put some pep back in your step and reconnect you to what truly matters. When you redefine your roles and responsibilities and link them to your passions, values, and strengths, you begin to see the impact and power you bring.
Your purpose becomes clearer, offering that motivational boost you may need when your energy is drifting.
Delegation highlighter
As I worked through the exercise, I realized something critical: some tasks and responsibilities did not require my full attention. I’m fully capable of doing them but they were consuming my time and energy without aligning strongly to my strengths or passions.
Rather than controlling these tasks myself, I asked: Who else could take them on? How could I provide structure and framework to empower them? Delegating is not a sign of weakness; it’s a smart recalibration. Especially as leaders, we often feel we have to sacrifice our time for the greater good. That’s a sure way to land in burnout.
Delegation allows us to relinquish control over less vital tasks so we can invest our greatest energy where inspiration and impact align.
Your purpose becomes clearer, offering that motivational boost you may need when your energy is drifting.
What job crafting is not
I want to be clear about what job crafting is not—and shouldn’t be. It’s not a way to psychologically trick yourself into liking aspects of your job that are fundamentally misaligned. That would be manipulative and short-term.
Job crafting is a proactive measure. It’s about empowering you, the employee, to intentionally redefine your roles and responsibilities. It’s about using your strengths and passions to do truly meaningful work - with sustainable energy and purpose.
You’re still operating within your role, not leaving it behind. You’re shaping it, not pretending it’s something else.
So why wait? Why not begin the process of understanding and engaging in it?
What you can do next
Here are a few steps you might take if you want to try it out yourself.
Reflect: What are my core values? What am I passionate about? What are my strengths?
Audit: What are the tasks I do daily/weekly that energize me? Which ones drain me?
Reimagine: For the draining tasks, ask: How could I change this? Could I drop it, delegate it, or combine it? Could I shift how I do it so it aligns with a strength?
Reframe: How can I think differently about certain tasks (cognitive crafting)? For example: rather than “just entering data,” I might view it as “ensuring our team has timely information to make impactful decisions.”
Collaborate: Discuss with your leader or team how you might adjust roles or responsibilities. Real crafting often happens in conversation—not just in your head.
Action & Iterate: Make a change, observe how it affects your energy and engagement, adjust the craft again. This is not a one-and-done; it’s an ongoing process.
One Last Thought
Educators across the country are feeling the pressure, the fatigue. The wind may feel like it’s escaping the balloon. But here’s the good news: you have more agency than you might think. Through job crafting, you can put the wind back in your sails, reconnect with what matters, and navigate your work with renewed intention and energy.
Let’s lean into it. Let’s re-focus. Let’s craft.
References
Berg, J. M., Dutton, J. E., & Wrzesniewski, A. (2013). Job crafting and meaningful work. In B. J. Dik, Z. S. Byrne & M. F. Steger (Eds.), Purpose and meaning in the workplace (pp. 81–104). American Psychological Association. Inspiring Space
Positive Psychology. (n.d.). What is Job Crafting? (Incl. 5 Examples and Exercises). Retrieved from https://positivepsychology.com/job-crafting/ PositivePsychology.com
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