Assignment 2: Workplace Innovation - Job Crafting Proposal - Midpoint

Background

Please review your submission to the Job Crafting Brainstorm exercise from the previous assignment.

Pitching Your Idea to Your Manager

Workplace innovation is always a social process; you'll need to involve your manager in the discussion before making any changes in your assigned work. Although you may have a great idea for how to better support the company while meeting your professional development goals, your supervisor needs to agree and provide the necessary resources (e.g., your contract hours).

As we discussed in the Workplace Communication - Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication module, depending on the context of your workplace, it might be expected that you submit a formal proposal, or it may be more appropriate to bring your idea forward more casually in a check-in meeting with your supervisor (or somewhere in between!).

Regardless of how you bring up the idea, considering each element of a formal proposal and being able to speak to them, if necessary, will make the value of your idea clearer and more likely to be adopted.

How Will This Assignment Help My Career?

This assignment will help you focus your efforts and prepare for the conversation with your manager where you can pitch your idea. In addition, by going through the process of preparing this proposal, you will be better equipped to create and pitch future proposals throughout your career.

What Is the Assignment?

Now that you have a better understanding of your role, the scope of your influence, and the opportunities available to you, select one goal for job crafting (we encourage you to develop more goals, but for the purpose of this assignment, you will only be writing about one).

Remember, your idea does not need to be drastically innovative or represent a major change to your duties. Anything related to the items listed below can be slightly changed to have a positive impact on you and the organization:

• How you do your work (task),  
• How you think about your work and its meaning (cognitive),  
• How you connect with others (social) to complete your work, and/or  
• What additional capability you could be developing to support better work (skill).  

Assignment Instructions

Write a brief proposal for your idea (250-500 words).

Your proposal must include the following sections. Refer to our earlier lesson, Written Communication in the Workplace, for additional details on what should be included in each section.

• Background and rationale: provide context; describe how the proposal is similar to or different from other ideas 
• Market analysis: explain what operational/stakeholder need is being met through the proposal
• Description of idea: explain the idea and its required resources/time
• Benefits: explain how the proposal will meet the identified needs and/or benefit the organization
• Risks and considerations: outline 1-2 potential risks and a plan to mitigate them
• Timeline: provide 3-5 specific milestones, as relevant 

How Will This Assignment Be Evaluated?

This assignment will be marked as complete/incomplete. To review the evaluation criteria, click the View Rubric button on this page or click here to download the rubric PDF Download click here to download the rubric PDF.

Submission Instructions

• To be submitted via ePortfolio:
  • In the section you previously created for this course, add a new page titled "Job Crafting Proposal".
  • Please write your assignment directly on the new page of your ePortfolio. Please do not upload a file of your assignment.
  • Please submit your ePortfolio link in the submission field below. You can do this by copying the URL of the new assignment page and pasting it in the submission field here on Quercus. Remember to set your ePortfolio to Public. For a refresher on how to set up or share your ePortfolio, please view the Setting up your ePortfolio page. 
• Due date: XXXX