Improve work design in your team

Use the SMART framework to improve how your team works 

SMART work design helps teams look at how work is organised, shared and supported. It can help your team improve clarity, manage demands, strengthen relationships and build better ways of working.

Work design works best when it is done with your team, not to your team. 

Get started with work design

Use the SMART work design team talk to start a practical conversation with your team. 

Choose one SMART area to discuss, agree one small change to test, and check what works. 

Use SMART to guide the conversation

You don't need to cover everything at once. Choose a SMART area that feels most relevant to your team right now. 

Stimulating

Do people have enough variety, challenge and opportunities to use their skills? 
Examples: 

• Look at how tasks are shared so people can use different strengths. 
• Bring challenges to the team for group problem solving.

Mastery 

Are roles, expectations and feedback clear? 
Examples:

• Discuss how each person’s work contributes to the team’s purpose and outputs.
• Reshape roles or workflows to allow team members to take pieces of work from start to finish.

Agency

Do people have enough say in how, when and where work is done? 
Examples: 

• Agree where team members can choose their own methods or timing
• Identify opportunities for members to be involved in decisions.

Relational

Do people feel supported and connected to each other and the purpose of the work?
Examples: 

• Create regular habits for checking in, sharing updates and recognising progress.
• Discuss the purpose of the team’s work and share success stories.

Tolerable demands 

Do workload, pressure and expectations feel manageable?
Examples: 

• Discuss pressure points early and adjust priorities or workflows where possible.
• Decide collaboratively how work is done to leverage individual strengths and help demands feel more tolerable for everyone.

Leader behaviours shape work design

Leaders shape work through everyday decisions, actions and conversations. Use the SMART lens to reflect on how your choices affect clarity, autonomy, relationships, workload and team performance.

Get your team talking about work design 

Use these team talks to help you and your team understand what good quality work is, and how it supports wellbeing.

• Knowing your team: team talk (973.87 KB)
• Building trust in your team: team talk (731.8 KB)
• Addressing work demands: team talk (918 KB)
• Effective communication: team talk (822.64 KB)
• Enhancing performance: team talk (683.66 KB)
• Providing flexible work: team talk (742.76 KB)
• Managing change: team talk (1012.38 KB)
• Managing absence: team talk (994.58 KB)
• Supporting your team: team talk (1010.78 KB)

Case studies

Every day, people are using SMART work design to improve their work. See how they’re doing it in these work design case studies.

Build your capability as a leader

Build your skills as a leader by exploring our better practice guides.[LINK]]

Whether you’re an established or developing leader, or want specialist capability, these learning opportunities can help strengthen your good work design practices:

• APS Management Edge is for Australian Public Service APS 6 and EL 1 team leaders who want to build their everyday management judgement, lead confidently through complexity, and strengthen their teams in APS contexts.
• APS Leadership Edge is for Australian Public Service EL 2 employees who want to develop their leadership and management skills.
• Curtin University's SMART Work Design Curtin Credential offers in depth, formal knowledge of work design and the SMART framework.