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Rethinking Your Work (Book Review)

written by Kathryn Britton December 13, 2009

Kathryn Britton, MAPP '06, former software engineer, is a coach working with professionals to increase well-being, energy, and meaning in their work lives (Theano Coaching LLC). She is also a writing coach, facilitator of writing workshops, and teacher of positive workplace concepts at the University of Maryland. Her own books include Smarts and Stamina on using positive psychology principles to build strong health habits and Character Strengths Matter: How to Live a Full Life. Full bio. Kathryn's articles are here.



Rethinking Your Work“Can you imagine … looking forward to work every day? … Knowing that you make a difference and feeling good about the work you do?” So starts this book by Val Kinjerski about taking action to improve the quality of our work lives.

BOOK REVIEW: Kinjerski, V. (2009). Rethinking Your Work: Getting to the Heart of What Matters. Kaizen Publishing.

Dr. Val Kinjerski

Dr. Val Kinjerski

Val Kinjerski earned a Ph.D. from the University of Alberta in Canada studying what she calls spirit at work. Spirit at work involves having a sense of alignment between what is important to us and the work we do, as well as a sense of connection to others, a common purpose, and something larger than self. Spirit at work seems to give people energy that buoys them up in spite of inevitable challenges.

Over the course of her research, Dr. Kinjerski interviewed at least 34 people in a wide variety of full-time work, all of whom were self-identified as experiencing high levels of spirit at work. From the information gathered from the first set of interviews, she developed workshops and a spirit-at-work program. Then she conducted an evaluation of the impact of the workshops in a health care setting, using before and after questionnaires about work attitudes and well-being, focus groups, and examination of absenteeism and turnover in both the study group and a control group. She has continued to interview people after the completion of her dissertation.

In Rethinking Your Work and its accompanying guidebook, Dr. Kinjerski makes her findings accessible to a broad audience.

What Does Spirit at Work Mean?

The first half of the book explores this question using stories collected from her interviews with people in a wide range of job roles, including a nurse, a doctor, a car-park attendant, a policewoman, a teacher, a real estate agent, a landscape designer, a dentist, a social worker, a writer, and a hairdresser.

Policewoman

Policewoman

She describes and illustrates four dimensions of spirit at work: engaging work, a sense of community, spiritual connection (unity with humanity and the transcendent), and mystical experience (state of positive energy that sounds like flow). Here is an example from the policewoman, Sandra, that shows clarity of purpose:

I like people and I like helping them. … And no matter what I am doing in my work, I know that I am helping them. Even if it is a bad situation and I am fighting with them or I am forcing them into the police car. I am still helping someone who has been hurt or might be hurt by that person. … I don’t care if they are yelling and swearing and screaming at me; I still think I am helping ….

 

Fostering Spirit at Work

In the second part of the book, Kinjerski describes four approaches to increasing spirit at work. Some people are lucky enough to do what they love. Her approaches can help the rest of us learn to love what we do.

For each of the four approaches, she lists very specific actions that you can take. For example, to increase your connections to other people at work, become curious about them and ask questions such as “What are your interests?” or “What is it about this work that attracted you to your job?” The accompanying guidebook has specific exercises to work on these approaches. Each chapter ends with 5 to 11 reflection questions to help you put the main points to work in your own life.

  1. Appreciate self and others.
    Among other things, that means: Understand your unique contribution to work. Recognize the contributions of others. Show respect. Get interested in others at work. Show up and be responsible.

    Sample reflection question: “How can you show others how to treat you differently?” p. 90

  2. Live purposefully and consciously.
    Among other things that means: Be mindful. Figure out what you are supposed to be doing. Check the alignment of your life with your purpose.

    Sample reflection question: “What would you do if you were 10 times bolder?” p. 128

  3. Cultivate a spiritual, values-based life.
    Among other things, that means: Find the meaning in the meaningless. See the poetry in the everyday. Choose optimism and forgiveness.

    Sample reflection question: “What is one task you do at work that at first seems meaningless but on closer examination holds much meaning?” p. 156

  4. Refill your cup.
    Among other things that means: Evaluate how you are doing in mind, body, spirit, and heart. Be good to yourself. Disengage. One of my favorites: Drop a few plates. Let go of negative self-talk.

    Sample reflection question: “When you listen to your body, what is it telling you?” p. 183

In the introduction, Dr. Kinjerski comments that we can often improve our work lives by becoming clear about what is important to us and then by thinking about work differently. In that way, we put power into our own hands. We determine the quality of our work lives, instead of waiting for someone else to make our lives better. This is a great reminder accompanied by a lot of practical suggestions. I am happy to have this book on my shelf.

 


 
References

Kinjerski, V. (2009). Rethinking Your Work: Getting to the Heart of What Matters. Kaizen Publishing.

Kinjerski, V. (2009). Rethinking Your Work Guidebook: How to Get to the Heart of What Matters. Kaizen Publishing.

Kinjerski, V. & Skrypnek, B. (2008). Four paths to spirit at work: Journeys of personal meaning,
fulfiilment, well-being, and transcendence through work. The Career Development Quarterly, 56, 319-329.

Kinjerski, V. & Skrypnek, B. (2006). Creating organizational conditions that foster employee spirit at work. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 27(4), 280-295.

Kinjerski, V. (2005). Exploring spirit at work: The interconnectedness of personality, personal actions, organizational features, and the paths to spirit at work. Dissertation, University of Alberta, Canada. Dissertation Abstracts International AAINQ95954.

Kinjerski, V. & Skrypnek, B. (2004). Defining spirit at work: Finding common ground. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 17(1), 26-42.

Images
Policewoman courtesy of MikeSchinkel

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7 comments

Barry Elias December 13, 2009 - 10:29 pm

December 13, 2009

Dear Ms. Britton and Dr. Val Kinjerski:

Excellent piece: thank you.

Sincerely,
Barry Elias

Reply
Val Kinjerski December 14, 2009 - 1:19 pm

Thank you Barry for your kind comment.

One thing that struck me in doing this research is that people with spirit at work see it as a shared responsibility – shared between themselves and their employer. So while they hold their organization accountable, they take responsibility for their own spirit at work. Some people that I interviewed had spirit at work even though they were working in a toxic environment. Far too often, we give away our power as we wait for our employer to create the conditions for spirit at work to flourish.

A second thing that struck me is how our experience of work can change simply by rethinking our work. It is not so much what we do at work, but how we do it and how we view it. For example, when we see our work as an act of service, everything changes. We do our work differently by focusing on the client, customer, or patient. We realize that it is about them and not us. They receive better service and we feel better and the contribution we are making.

Reply
Maureen Purcell December 16, 2009 - 9:37 am

Music to my ears! What a wonderful review and topic for a book, Ms. Britton and Dr.Kinjerski.

I was once a dishearted worker and as you highlight in your posted comments, Val. What I didn’t know then but do know now is that we are responsible for our own lives. It is primarily OUR responsibility not the organization’s to carve out a work life in keeping with our needs and values. Having said that, often times it simply means reassessing how we look at our current work in our current organization to work in a different way that better engages our spirits at work.

Thank you for your great work.

Reply
Val Kinjerski December 16, 2009 - 6:30 pm

I am so glad to hear your story, Maureen.

Amazing things begin to happen when we take responsibility for our lives and work experience. What was so exciting for me was to find that we can get to spirit at work by either doing what we love or loving what we do. Most of us are not in a position to give up our jobs and follow our passion, but we can rethink the work we are doing and learn to love it.

Magic happens when we get to the deeper purpose of our work and when we appreciate the work we do and the contribution we make. Not only for us, but the people we serve and the company/organization we work for.

Through our research we found that we can not only increase spirit at work – that sense that our work is meaningful, engaging and that we make a difference -when we do, job satisfaction, commitment to the organization, teamwork and morale also go up. At the same time, absenteeism and turnover go down. Simply by rethinking work.

Reply
Barry Elias December 19, 2009 - 11:26 pm

December 19, 2009

Dear Dr. Kinjerski:

Thank you kindly for the online post of December 14, 2009 in response to my comment on, and appreciation of, your work.

It seems values-based, purpose driven endeavors empower individual and group synergies to create, innovate, and prosper in many spheres (e.g., emotional, psychological, social, intellectual/cognitive, economic).

Best wishes for a lovely holiday.

Sincerely,
Barry Elias

Reply
Calgary Psychology April 30, 2010 - 4:51 am

Dear Dr. Kinjerski:

Impressive content and very unique topic!

One of the most interesting factors that make us love work, is liking our job. This is the reason why there are actually individuals that values and give purpose to their jobs selflessly. Its not a matter of getting the highest paying jobs but being more effective and productive in your chosen career.

All the best,
Dr. Dan McKinnon

Reply
Val Kinjerski May 1, 2010 - 6:12 pm

Hello Dan,

Thank you for your comment. Yes, spirit at work is all about getting in touch with the deeper meaning of your work and feeling good about the contributions you make. It is also about seeing your work as an act of service. We have learned that you can get to spirit at work by doing what you love or learning to love what you do. In my work, I help employees learn to love their work. And when that happens, everything changes. (I see that we are neighbors – I am in Edmonton.)

Reply

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