Internal Alignment and Employee Engagement

Building Internal Alignment for a 15,000-Staff Healthcare Network

The Challenge

The VA Midwest Healthcare Network is a complex, 10-state enterprise serving 15,000 staff. The organization suffered from fragmented communication across facilities, hindering cross-facility collaboration and causing confusion during organizational change and public response moments.

The Strategy

My strategy was to create a unified, reliable internal communications system to connect staff directly to leadership, mission, and each other. The focus was shifting from reactive email blasts to a proactive, human-centered publishing cadence.

The Execution

  • System Development: Built a regional internal communications system, defining channel mix (SharePoint, Teams, broadcast email) and editorial standards.

  • Content Leadership: Launched a monthly internal publication designed to boost visibility of employee stories and leadership updates.

  • Change Communications: Served as a trusted advisor, drafting all internal and external messaging for executives during complex organizational change moments to ensure clarity and consistency.

  • Compliance: Ensured all content adhered to the VA’s national brand values and accessibility policies (Section 508).

The Impact

  • Unified Voice: Established a consistent messaging cadence, ensuring 15,000 staff received reliable information aligned with the VA’s national brand.

  • Visibility & Morale: The new publication successfully boosted cross-facility visibility of mission-critical work and employee contributions, fostering a greater sense of network cohesion.

  • Strategic Counsel: Provided executives with the clear, consistent messaging needed to navigate high-stakes public response moments.