A Workforce in Crisis

Building a Meaningful Employment Environment^TM is unquestionably an aspirational pursuit.  It challenges organizations, leaders and team members to believe in the indelible link between the prosperity of an organization and the prosperity of its people.  But how do we pursue this?  We do it by using a framework to guide our everyday decisions, behaviors and participation.

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A framework is a structured way of connecting different ideas to show how they work together towards a shared purpose.  A good framework can tie together the conceptual nature of a principle with the practical nature of a process so that people can follow a specific line of thinking consistently.  The best frameworks are the product of rigorous research and have been carefully crafted.

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The Meaningful Employment Environment Framework^TM (MEE) follows suit. It was inspired by years of operational experience and formed through scientific investigation.  The purpose of the MEE Framework is to create a consistent, principle-based approach for understanding what people need to thrive in their employment environment.

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MEE Framework: Two Guiding Principles

There are two guiding principles to MEE that unify all of the different elements of the MEE Framework.  These are foundational requirements for everyone in the workplace and serve as a unifying language for the organization:

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1. Dignity: Everyone deserves to be valued as a human being, worthy of time, attention and respect.
2. Meaningful Work: Everyone desires to spend their time doing something that they know matters.

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As guiding principles, dignity and meaningful work become the last word in what is right for the workplace and its people.

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MEE Framework: Four Operating Principles

The MEE Framework uses four operating principles to help people grow and thrive through dignity and meaningful work:

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Dignity:

• Building Trust – Trust-building communicates dignity by encouraging people to share and understand each other’s stories, potential and development.
• Meeting Fundamental Needs – When people’s fundamental needs of physical safety, absence of fear and financial security are met, they have the essential conditions to begin to grow and thrive in the workplace.

Meaningful Work:

• Elevating the Work Environment – The work environment, including the core elements of autonomy& control, fairness & equity and social community, creates conditions that are critical for supporting people as they pursue meaningful work.  
• Uniting Around the Work – The meaningfulness of the work, itself, is largely determined by people’s perception of whether or not they participate in purposeful work, ownership of work and creating better work.  This is a critical aspect of whether or not people can thrive in their workplace.

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Framework in Action

For organization’s new to the journey of building a Meaningful Employment Environment, successfully deploying these principles can be challenging.  It takes time for decisions, behaviors and participation to be connected and consistent to this purpose, especially when scaling them at the organizational level. MEE needs to be learned and applied each and every day.

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To assist organizations on this mission, we have created the NxtPath^TM technology platform.  NxtPath uses an interconnected learning and participation approach that is built upon the language of MEE and prompts users and connects their feedback to facilitate a shared path forward.

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About the Author:

Clint McCrystal is a leader in product development for TrailPath Workplace Solutions, a people and organizational development company. TWS offers a disciplined learning and business management system focused on building Meaningful Employment Environments where both people and organizations thrive. Prior to joining the TWS team, Clint developed people and processes as an operator, instructor, and consultant for multiple supply chain companies.

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