Posted by Dmytro Dodenko
How do you turn routine into results?
Do you feel like your job is nothing more than a checklist from your job description? Every day is the same, with almost no room for initiative. This approach, where work is broken down into minute mechanical actions, is known as Frederick Taylor’s “Scientific Management.” Its essence was to analyze any activity, break it down into the smallest, simplest elements, and find the “one best way” to perform each of them for maximum efficiency. It is effective, but it often kills motivation, turning us into “cogs” in a vast machine.
However, there is another path: “Job Enrichment.” This is when you transform your position from a fixed list of duties into a dynamic process that can—and should—be managed.
The Core Idea (A Simple Algorithm)
Let’s Combine the Best of Both Worlds! Use Taylor’s approach for analysis, and “enrichment” principles for growth.
Step 1: Analysis (Think Like Taylor)
Analyze (Analyse – UK) your workflow as a process. Deconstruct your daily tasks into components. Where are you losing time? Which operations are redundant or inefficient? Which tasks can be automated or optimized?
- Goal: To find bottlenecks and areas for improving your personal efficiency.
Step 2: Enrichment (Act Like a Modern Leader)
Once you have optimized the routine, consciously add more responsibility, autonomy, and significance to your role. It’s not about doing more work, but about doing it with higher quality and greater awareness.
- Goal: To move beyond being a simple executor and become the architect of your job.
Examples of “Job Enrichment” for Various Roles:
1. Production Manager / Shop Floor Manager (Works Manager – UK)
- Standard Approach (“The Cog”): Monitoring the daily production schedule, submitting reports on downtime, and ensuring compliance with technology and discipline. The work is reactive—responding to problems that have already occurred.
- Process Analysis: You notice that 80% of downtime is caused by delayed raw material delivery from the same warehouse, and reports are only generated ex post facto, failing to solve the systemic issue.
- “Enriching” the Job:
- Autonomy: Propose and take responsibility for developing a new raw material delivery system (e.g., Kanban) that is proactive and synchronized with the production schedule.
- Significance: Independently analyze defect causes for the quarter, identify an issue with specific machinery, and present a modernization plan to management, justifying the economic impact (Economic Effect – UK). You don’t just record the problem; you solve it at a systemic level.
2. Chief Accountant (Controller)
- Standard Approach (“The Cog”): Closing accounting periods on time, preparing and submitting standard reports to regulatory authorities, and processing payroll. Work follows strict rules and deadlines.
- Process Analysis: You see that department heads receive standard financial reports but do not understand how these numbers relate to their operational activities, and therefore continue to exceed their budgets.
- “Enriching” the Job:
- Responsibility: Develop and implement customized management dashboards (e.g., in Excel or Power BI) that show managers their expenses relative to the budget in real-time, making data understandable and actionable.
- Significance: Initiate monthly 15-minute meetings with department heads where you explain key financial metrics of their units in plain language. You transform from a data recorder into a Financial Business Partner who influences the company’s profitability.
3. Procurement Manager
- Standard Approach (“The Cog”): Processing purchase requisitions, finding suppliers based on the “lowest price” principle, placing orders, and monitoring delivery deadlines.
- Process Analysis: You notice that the cheapest suppliers often miss deadlines or supply low-quality raw materials, leading to significantly higher production costs due to downtime and defects (scrap).
- “Enriching” the Job:
- Autonomy: Negotiate the authority to independently qualify and audit suppliers not only by price but also by criteria of reliability, quality, and payment terms. Create and maintain an internal “Supplier Scorecard.”
- Planning and Control: Take the initiative to find and contract 2-3 alternative suppliers for key materials. Conduct negotiations and present a comparative analysis to management, thereby mitigating business risks.
4. Sales Manager
- Standard Approach (“The Cog”): Processing inbound inquiries, issuing invoices according to the approved price list, and making “cold calls” via script to meet quantitative quotas.
- Process Analysis: You notice that some clients decline offers due to inflexible payment terms, and template commercial proposals have a low conversion rate because they don’t account for the client’s specific business needs.
- “Enriching” the Job:
- Autonomy: Agree with your supervisor on a “flexibility corridor”—the ability to independently offer customers a small discount or alternative payment terms within approved margins to close deals faster.
- Significance: Take responsibility for collecting customer feedback regarding the product. Prepare a short quarterly report for the Product Development team, transforming into the “Voice of the Customer” within the company and influencing its growth.
Conclusion
A job position is not a life sentence, but a field for continuous improvement. Stop waiting for someone else to “enrich” your work.
