A young professional who works in a federal agency shared how he has been proactively crafting his job to find more meaning in his work. He has run a number of experiments, and in the process came to a conclusion. He wrote about that conclusion through a recent conversation he had with a co-worker.
“I told her that lately I’ve stopped looking for meaning in the policy and emails and I’ve started to look more deliberately toward my relationships with my coworkers. I feel good when I’m asking the question, ‘How can I show love to this organization?’ She liked that, and she told me how yesterday was very stressful and at one point she wrote a kind note to a colleague, expressing appreciation. She told me it was probably the most important thing she did yesterday.”
The research on meaning supports the conclusion of this young professional. While people can find meaning in many aspects of their job, we find more meaning in relationships than in any other aspect of our work.
Reflection
- What does it mean to craft one’s job to have more meaningful relationships?
- What kinds of things could you do to craft your job so as to experience more joy at work?
- What would happen today if you wrote a note of appreciation to a co-worker?
- How could we use this passage to create a more positive organization?