When Metrics Meet Mission: The Real Power of Alignment

It’s Not Just About Visibility—It’s About Vision

Strategic communications helps connect numbers to purpose—and people to action.

Leaders, particularly in the nonprofit sphere, are doing important, mission-driven work—but too often, they’re met with this question: “How do we know it’s working?” …and the answer is complicated.

Maybe your goals feel too broad. Maybe your data feels incomplete. Maybe your team isn’t sure what counts as impact—or how to tell that story clearly and confidently.

Translating Data Into Meaningful Narratives

This is where strategic communications—not just marketing—can make all the difference. And where my experience as a communicator, coach, and culture strategist comes in.

Strategic communications isn’t just about visibility. It’s about making meaning. Building trust. Shaping culture. Achieving goals. Driving change.

With a background that blends storytelling, organizational development, and coaching, I help organizations:

• Identify and amplify the impact data they already have—but might not be using
• Align messaging with values and mission
• Build internal clarity and buy-in around communications goals
• Turn data into emotionally resonant stories that show why the work matters
• Design communication strategies that strengthen culture and deepen impact

Culture Is Measured in More Than Surveys

Organizations often have data—small wins, lived experiences, anecdotal outcomes, volunteer feedback, community testimonials—but they don’t always recognize it as part of their impact narrative.

Helping teams see that story—and learn how to tell it—is what I love to do.

Case in Point: Culture & Operational Transformation at RWJBarnabas Health

When I served as Assistant Vice President of Social Justice & Change Management at RWJBarnabas Health, my team and I were tasked with helping lead a culture transformation across a statewide healthcare system—more than 40,000 employees, 13 hospitals, and 400+ physician offices.

We had a big goal: ➞ Make the system a safer, more equitable place to work and receive care. And we did it with a lean budget, existing tools—and plenty of real-world resistance to change.

We partnered across departments and leveraged data that already existed—HR analytics, aggregated patient outcomes, and publicly available community insights—and used it to tell a powerful, values-aligned story of what was possible.

Overcoming Resistance Requires More Than Messaging

Strategic communications helped us navigate one of the biggest barriers to change: resistance. By rooting our messaging in purpose, using data to build trust, and tailoring learning opportunities for different audiences, we were able to move people from awareness to action—at every level of the organization.

In just one year, we achieved:

• 86% of staff engaged in ongoing learning tied to equity and safety
• Increased breast cancer screenings among BIPOC women
• Doubled underrepresented in medicine (URIM) resident physicians, improving patient-provider trust and appointment attendance
• Increased leaders of color by 13% and employees of color by 16%, better reflecting the communities we served and embedding equity into decision-making

Communications Is a Core Change Strategy

Strategic communications helped promote these achievements—but more importantly, it helped shape and sustain the transformation. From developing inclusive learning experiences to navigating pushback and creating alignment across a large, distributed workforce, communications was the connective tissue between vision and action.

From Awareness to Action: Building Sustainable Momentum

Strategic communications isn’t an afterthought. It’s a critical part of the core team helping your organization realize its goals, mission, and vision—especially when the work gets hard.

If You’re Working Toward Impact, Bring These Three Forces Together

Data gives you clarity. Organizational development gives you structure. Strategic communications gives you voice. Together, they drive real, sustainable change.

The story of your impact is already there. Make sure people hear it.

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