Want to improve performance at work? Start by helping someone else

Most workplace advice focuses on how individuals can become more productive, efficient, or successful. Employees are encouraged to manage their time better, develop new skills, and focus on achieving their own goals. But what if one of the most effective ways to improve performance is to stop focusing solely on yourself?

Think about the people in your workplace who seem to make everything run more smoothly. They help colleagues solve problems, find ways to improve customers' experiences, and regularly step up when support is needed. They are often seen as valuable team players, but our research suggests they may be doing something else too: actively shaping their jobs to create more value for others.

This matters because modern organisations increasingly depend on collaboration, knowledge sharing, and strong relationships with stakeholders. Whether you work in the private, public or third sector, success rarely comes from individual effort alone. The ability to help others succeed is becoming an increasingly important workplace skill.

Our research explores a concept called Prosocial Job Crafting - the ways employees proactively “craft” aspects of their jobs to better support colleagues, customers, clients, students, patients, and other stakeholders. We found that these behaviours not only benefit others but, in some cases, are linked to better job performance.

How did we conduct the research?

To understand how employees shape their jobs to benefit others, we conducted two studies. First, we developed and tested a new measure of prosocial job crafting using data from 500 employees in the United States. We then examined the relationship between prosocial job crafting and performance using survey responses from 262 employees working in academic libraries, alongside performance ratings provided by their supervisors.

What does helping others at work actually look like?

Helping others at work is not always about grand gestures. Often, it involves small but deliberate changes to the way people approach their jobs.

Our research identified three ways employees craft their work to benefit others.

1. Changing tasks to create more value

Some employees adjust how they perform their daily tasks to better support colleagues, customers, or service users.

For example, they may:

• Prioritise activities that have the greatest benefit for others
• Take ownership of problems that affect colleagues or customers
• Adapt processes to make services easier, quicker, or more effective.

Rather than simply completing assigned tasks, these employees actively look for opportunities to create positive outcomes.

2. Building relationships that help others succeed

Employees can also reshape how they interact with people at work.

This might involve:

• Sharing expertise and advice
• Mentoring less experienced colleagues
• Providing support during busy or challenging periods
• Building stronger connections across teams.

These behaviours can strengthen collaboration and make it easier for knowledge and support to flow through the organisation.

3. Seeing work through a different lens

A third form of prosocial job crafting involves changing how people think about their work.

Employees may:

• Reflect on who benefits from their efforts
• Focus on the positive impact they have on others
• Connect everyday tasks to a broader purpose.

Even routine work can feel more meaningful when employees can see how it contributes to someone else's success.

When people see their impact, they do more of it

One of the clearest findings from our research was that employees were more likely to engage in prosocial job crafting when they could see the positive impact of their work.

Think about the last time a customer, colleague, student, or client told you that something you did made a difference. Those moments are powerful because they help people connect their effort to a meaningful outcome.

Our findings suggest that when employees understand who benefits from their work, they become more motivated to find additional ways to help. They start looking for opportunities to improve processes, support others, and create value beyond their formal job requirements.

For organisations, this highlights the importance of helping employees see the real-world consequences of their work, rather than treating tasks as isolated activities.

Good intentions matter too

Simply having the opportunity to help others is not always enough.

We found that employees who genuinely wanted to make a positive difference were particularly likely to engage in prosocial job crafting. People were most proactive when two things came together:

• They could see opportunities to benefit others
• They were motivated to make a positive contribution.

This suggests that organisations should think not only about how jobs are designed but also about how they cultivate a culture that values contribution, service, and helping others succeed.

Not all helping behaviours lead to the same outcomes

One of our most interesting findings was that different forms of prosocial job crafting produced different results.

Employees who proactively adjusted their tasks to benefit others tended to receive higher performance ratings from their supervisors. In other words, finding ways to make daily work more useful for colleagues, customers, and stakeholders appeared to translate into better performance.

Interestingly, performance wasn’t linked to being more relationship-focused or where employees changed their mindset to think more about how their work helps others.

That does not mean these behaviours are unimportant. Building relationships and finding meaning at work can still contribute to outcomes that organisations care about, including trust, collaboration, engagement, and wellbeing. However, these benefits may be less visible in traditional performance evaluations.

What can organisations do?

Many organisations invest heavily in performance improvement initiatives. Our findings suggest that encouraging employees to create value for others may be an overlooked opportunity.

Help employees see who they are helping

Employees are more likely to go the extra mile when they understand the impact of their work. Share customer feedback, stakeholder stories, and examples of positive outcomes wherever possible.

Give employees room to improve how they work

People are often best placed to identify opportunities to make processes more effective. Providing discretion and flexibility can help employees experiment with ways of delivering greater value.

Recognise contributions that benefit others

Performance systems often focus on individual achievements. Organisations may also want to acknowledge behaviours that support colleagues, improve customer experiences, or strengthen wider organisational outcomes.

Avoid turning helping into overload

Encouraging prosocial behaviour should not mean expecting employees to take on endless additional responsibilities. Sustainable workloads and appropriate support remain essential.

What can employees do?

You do not need a new job title, promotion, or formal authority to make a positive difference.

Start by asking yourself:

• How could I adjust one task to better support a customer, colleague, or stakeholder?
• Where can I remove friction for someone else?
• Who could benefit from my knowledge or experience?
• Do I regularly think about the impact of my work on others?

Often, small changes are enough to create meaningful benefits.

The bottom line

At a time when organisations are searching for ways to improve performance, engagement, and collaboration, our research points to a surprisingly simple insight: helping others and performing well are not competing goals.

In fact, employees who actively shape their work to create value for others may not only make life easier for colleagues, customers, and stakeholders; they may also become better performers themselves.

Sometimes, improving performance starts with a simple question: Who can I help today?

Read the journal article.