Finding Inspiration ... in the Dental Chair

How job crafting can transform literally any job into a calling

Ah, dental visits. Who among us looks forward to the hour spent, mouth open, trying to chat with the dental hygienist we see twice a year around the spit-sucking straw that’s somehow gagging us and drowning us at the same time? Who among us looks forward to the taste of dental polish and fluoride rinse?

I’m only human, so … not me.

But a few weeks back I visited my dentist and found myself inspired.

Not by a new flossing technique, but by a workplace whose employees, and specifically Susan, the receptionist, find meaning in the smallest things: pleasing patients, nurturing positive moments, and enjoying a sense of autonomy and authority.

Susan greeted me by name, made me feel welcome, checked in on me. And she clearly loved her job. So much that, intrigued, I asked her why exactly she was so enthusiastic. She explained that of course there are people who very much need dental care. But unless your teeth hurt, most people view going to the dentist as “pretty optional.” “I’m the first person they meet and the last person they see. If I don’t make it a good experience, they won’t come here, and then for most people” she pointed back towards the dentist’s examination rooms, “nothing they do back there matters.”

As you might expect, I’ve spent a lot of time talking to people about their jobs. Initially, at Google, where I spent a decade creating and leading the People Operations team as we grew the company from roughly 6,000 to 72,000 employees (that’s a lot of on-boarding!). Later, when I was privileged to travel the country on the Work Rules! book tour. And now, at Humu, where I have the luxury of focusing entirely on how people experience work. All along, I’ve been inspired by the passion people shared with me about their careers.

What always struck me, and continues to touch me almost every day, is how some people are able to find meaning in what they do, no matter what they do. For these people, meaning is often realized through “job crafting,” a term coined by my good friend Dr. Amy Wrzesniewski, professor of Organizational Behavior at the Yale School of Management (and whom we’re lucky to count as an advisor of ours as we build Humu).

The research, unsurprisingly, says that meaning matters, and that job crafting techniques are one way to instill meaning in our jobs. Amy defines job crafting as ‘‘the physical and cognitive changes individuals make in the task or relational boundaries of their work.” In other words, choosing to alter the smallest elements of your work, or even simply how you think about your work, can create feelings of meaning and satisfaction.

Amy describes three kinds of job-crafting that can be applied at an individual level (i.e., help yourself) or encouraged in colleagues (i.e., help your team):

1. Cognitive crafting: As exemplified by Susan, this is a shift in the way she perceives her tasks, relationships, or job as a whole.
2. Task crafting: Adding or subtracting tasks from your workload, or adjusting the amount of time spent on specific tasks (e.g., would some of your time be better spent learning a new skill?)
3. Relational crafting: Creating, discarding or changing your relationships at work (e.g., avoiding toxic coworkers or spending more time with supportive ones).

People like Susan are deliberate in how they perform even the smallest parts of their jobs because they’ve found something meaningful in their work. It would be easy for Susan to be just a receptionist. But here, she’s more than just filing and scheduling: she’s creating a warm experience that keeps folks, including my family, coming back for regular cleanings.

She finds small, personal ways to do this. For example, she welcomes every single person by name. Does she remember everyone? No. But if I show up at 10:55, I’m probably the guy scheduled for an 11:00 cleaning and she’s got my name on the schedule in front of her. She also doesn’t just mail bills to clients. She handwrites "we'd appreciate if you would return payment swiftly" at the bottom of each bill. That little touch is another way, she explained, of making the experience better—and ensuring the practice collects quickly and stays profitable.

Susan’s actions haven’t gone unnoticed. The owner of the practice encourages her to consult with other dental practices to improve their own customer service processes, giving her new opportunities to learn and have impact, as well as a nice little side business.

And I make sure to come by every six months for a cleaning, whether I need it or not.

When was the last time you found inspiration where you least expected it?

And if you’d like to know more about Humu, or are interested in having your organization be a beta tester you can contact us at www.humu.com