How Children’s Hospital Colorado tells the stories of its dedicated employees

In the wake of the biggest waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, Children’s Hospital Colorado sought a way to recognize their employees who saw them not just through the crisis comms lens of COVID, but in a more positive light.

Leaning into the organizational motto “Here, It’s Different”, the hospital’s comms team created the “DifferenceMakers” campaign to showcase how employees go above and beyond the call of duty every day. For its efforts, Children’s Hospital Colorado earned a 2024 Ragan Employee Communications Award in the Storytelling category.

The process of recognizing a DifferenceMaker

Bryan Bullock, director of internal communications at Children’s Hospital Colorado, said that the team took intentional steps to ensure employees from all backgrounds and job functions were represented through the campaign.

“We wanted to acknowledge the way every person in every role across our large organization makes a difference,” Bullock said. “A comprehensive internal communication audit also showed that team members wanted to see their work and stories elevated.”

The team looked to employees to nominate their fellow workers for the DifferenceMaker honor. The pool of employees includes staff at all hospital locations across the Centennial State.

“Nominees are selected based on a variety of factors, including job type, work location, tenure, and demographics, with one of the goals to spotlight the diversity of our team members,” Bullock said. “The nomination itself, the impact the team member has made and whether there’s a story that speaks to our organization’s mission and vision are also considered.”

Once a candidate is chosen, the internal comms team reaches out to the employee’s leader to confirm the nominee is worthy of the honor, and then the nominee hears directly from the comms team.

“The person is interviewed, sometimes for more than an hour, to get their story in their words,” Bullock said. “Finally, a profile is written, reviewed, and published, along with a portrait photograph taken by one of our photographers.”

He added that the campaign shines because of the diversity it showcases within the organization. Honorees include twin sisters who work in two very different fields in the hospital system, a doctor who started as a high school intern, and a data analyst who makes a positive difference through both his work and the friendly wave he gives pediatric patients on his daily walk.

Sharing the DifferenceMaker stories and gauging the reception

DifferenceMakers debuted in September 2022, concurrent with the hospital’s Team Member Appreciation Day. The first two profiles went live along with a nomination form that read “Here It’s Different — Because of You” at the top.

The comms team partnered with the creative team to help add some pop to the rollout. Bullock told Ragan that the creative services team designed a logo, monitor templates, and a t-shirt on Member Appreciation Day to build interest in the campaign.

“The t-shirts had a tag attached with a QR code that redirected to the internal microsite set up to share each profile,” he added.

Employee reception has been overwhelmingly positive, with staff chiming in and expressing their support of team members who earn the nominations. That enthusiasm is measurable, too.

DifferenceMaker profiles are consistently among the highest-performing content on the organization’s intranet and internal newsletters. Additionally, comments on the profiles get more engagement than any other internal content type for Children’s Hospital Colorado, with employees sharing adulation and praise for their coworkers.

“Teams often express a sense of pride when their team members are featured, and they promote the profiles themselves in a variety of different ways,” Bullock said. “For instance, it’s become an integral component of our broader recognition and appreciation programs at Children’s Colorado.”

Bullock admitted that it was a heavy effort, but an entirely rewarding result.

“It is a huge lift to launch and sustain an employee storytelling campaign, but it’s a powerful way to nurture organizational culture,” he said.

To learn more about Ragan award programs, click here.

Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications. In his spare time he enjoys Philly sports and hosting trivia.