Posted on July 16, 2025

By Ann Dorsey, CQL Quality Enhancement Specialist

Every voice matters! This is a phrase we often hear in both our personal and professional lives. We live in a world where there are numerous ways to communicate with each other, many of which do not even involve speaking face-to-face. Text messaging, posting on social media, direct messages, and email are just a few avenues available to us to communicate with others. The options for communicating and sharing thoughts and feelings seem endless.

Yet, when conducting accreditation visits with organizations worldwide, we frequently see organizations facing challenges with communication. Challenges are most often related to providing robust, reciprocal communication with direct support staff, especially when supports and services are provided at various locations within people’s communities. How can we ensure direct support staff with varying schedules at numerous locations receive communication from their organization in a consistent and timely manner?

In this Capstone, we address these challenges by sharing insights from Trinity Services, Inc., a provider organization that was recently re-accredited with CQL’s Person-Centered Excellence Accreditation, With Distinction. Further, CQL shares how we address these challenges as an organization with fully virtual employees.

Staying Connected Across Illinois with Trinity Services, Inc.

By Sally Ritchey, Director of Information Technology, Trinity Services, Inc.

Sally Ritchey collaborated with her team to provide the following strategies for meaningful and consistent organizational communication.

Fostering open, honest, and meaningful communication is at the heart of how we build relationships – with the people we support, their families, our staff, donors, and the broader community. Providing multiple ways for people to share their ideas, concerns, and experiences is essential to ensuring our services remain responsive and person-centered. Through these efforts, we not only raise awareness of the vital services we provide but also build understanding and partnerships that strengthen and advance our mission.

People Receiving Services

Of utmost importance is listening to the people we support. Each year, a survey is distributed to every person supported by Trinity and their families, available both by mail and online. In addition, in-person listening sessions are held annually at all of Trinity’s program locations. These sessions are facilitated by pairs of staff members who are not directly connected to the specific program, alongside a person supported by Trinity, who helps facilitate the session.

This approach encourages open, honest conversation and empowers people to take an active role in shaping their services. Using a tool developed by the organization with 22 open-ended questions, facilitators invite people to share their thoughts on topics such as choice, respect, and quality of life. Some examples include: “What do you like about Trinity?,” “What could Trinity do better?,” and “Are you happy with the quality of your meals?” We also ask more challenging, yet necessary questions to ensure accountability and transparency. One such question is: “Do you ever have activities taken away if you or someone in your house behaves in a way others don’t like?”  While we hope to hear “no,” asking tough questions helps us identify issues and take swift corrective action if needed. 

Each session concludes by inviting any additional feedback with the question: “Is there anything we haven’t asked that you want us to know?”  This approach not only encourages honesty but also ensures we continually improve the listening process itself. All responses are shared with program directors, and urgent concerns are escalated immediately to the committee co-chairs and the CEO for prompt action. 

Employees

Trinity Services, Inc. has always held that strong relationships throughout the organization are critical in the delivery of services and supports in pursuit of our mission. In support of this belief, staff engagement is foundational. Traditional communications, such as email, have been used to communicate key information across and within departments. A long-standing private Facebook group for staff also encourages the sharing of activities that employees are involved in. Additionally, the organization makes a point of nominating staff, especially DSPs, for awards from statewide and national disability advocacy groups and trade associations. Many DSPs have been recognized in local media and at conferences for such awards. 

However, several years ago, it became obvious that most employees, particularly Direct Support Professionals, don’t value traditional communication in the form of emails and phone calls. Even Facebook, a relatively new communication platform, is not popular among younger employees. The organization’s email engagement rate for DSPs was low and didn’t effectively keep people informed. Paper flyers were challenging to distribute across a large organization with 100s of small locations operating on a 24-hour schedule.

The COVID-19 pandemic also made traditional gatherings for in-person communication, such as large trainings, more challenging, if not impossible. An employee suggested the use of Our People, a team communication platform, to help engage employees through the use of text, email, and an app. Texting ability was perhaps the key feature that attracted Trinity leadership to the app, since that is the preferred method of communication for younger employees. This app allows targeted communications to be delivered to small and large groups of employees and lets Trinity collect data from team members in return. Everything from event RSVPs to short video communications and training content, Our People is a colorful, quick, and engaging way to reach out. Employees choose their preferred contact method and participation is voluntary.

Listening sessions are in-person conversations that offer staff the opportunity to provide thoughts and ideas as well as present issues they feel need to be addressed in order to enhance the quality of what we do and to improve our relationships with one another. The sessions vary in the number of participants from one to as many as a dozen. Each meeting has a facilitator whose role is to prompt participation, maintain focus, and record what is shared. 

Following the sessions, the information gathered is summarized and shared with the CEO and executive team. Based on what is gathered, shared, and analyzed, the executive team may make changes to current practices, implement new initiatives, or seek additional information and clarification. 

Examples of things learned during these sessions include information such as:

• Some staff desire to learn more about the organization outside of their specific program area
• Most staff feel their Team Leader is very supportive, but would like to see them more often
• Sometimes people feel there’s a delay in recognizing good performance through formal awards systems
• Sometimes staff feel there is a delay in addressing the behavior of peers who might be negatively impacting performance
• People would like to have more listening sessions in the future

Families

Feedback from Trinity stakeholders has long been valued and intentionally sought to ensure quality and contemporary services and supports. For example, families and guardians of the people Trinity supports receive annual surveys as well as attend parent advisory meetings. In addition, there is also a leaflet with instructions for sharing any concerns that may arise regarding their loved ones or our services and supports. However, the leadership team felt the process and methods should be enhanced, addressing the continued decline of paper as a primary means of communication, and encouraging families to take opportunities to recognize staff whose performance stands out. 

The Director of Communications has recently created a Family Portal tab on the organization’s website that enables family members to electronically submit a concern or a compliment. These forms are monitored by the Director of Development, who routes the completed forms to the CEO, Chief Operating Officer, and other appropriate Executive Staff. The Portal is also used to let families know when there are significant issues facing the organization, such as funding initiatives where their advocacy may be needed. 

Members of the Public

In addition to these direct feedback opportunities, Trinity maintains several communication tools to keep stakeholders informed, engaged, and connected. Our quarterly newsletter, The Compass, provides donor recognition, updates on fundraisers, news about services, and information on funding challenges. It also invites readers to share their feedback.

For those seeking more in-depth information, the Trinity website offers detailed descriptions of our services and supports. It also features a volunteer application and a simple online form for sharing compliments or concerns. These submissions are routed directly to the Chief Operating Officer and Senior Director of Services and Supports to ensure timely responses.

While traditional mail remains part of our communication strategy, we can quickly update supporters through email blasts and various social media platforms. The development team also utilizes a video-sharing platform that integrates with our donor management system, ensuring that all new donors receive a personalized video message from our CEO. This tool is also used for other important communications, reinforcing the value we place on personal connection and gratitude.

Across all platforms and initiatives, Trinity Services strives to ensure every voice is heard and every contribution – whether feedback, time, or financial support – is valued.

Staying Informed, Engaged, And Connected At CQL

By Mary Kay Rizzolo, CQL President & CEO

For more than a decade, CQL has been a virtual organization, without a physical office. With that, we need to adapt and be responsive to the limitations of not being able to connect, at least as often, in-person.

While it’s challenging to replicate the experience of in-person interactions, involving impromptu lunches, celebratory events, in-person meetings, random stop-ins at someone’s desk, etc., we work hard to keep our team informed, engaged, and connected. Here are just some of the ways that we share information, build community, and facilitate camaraderie.

Microsoft Teams

From casual check-ins using Chat, to established groups with Teams and Channels, CQL uses the platform Microsoft Teams, including its bells and whistles for file-sharing, tracking tasks, and more!

• Our World: We have a dedicated Team called “Our World,” where we disseminate CQL news, post birthday/anniversary shout-outs for all staff, share positive testimonials from partners, and more!
• Chat Messaging: While we can’t catch up at someone’s desk or pop in at an office, we use the Chat feature in Teams for everything from discussing projects to messaging about our weekend plans.
• Video Calls: We use Video Calls in Teams to build more personal connections. These meetings also allow us to screen-share, collaborate with whiteboards, use annotation, and more.
• Project-Specific Teams: Whether it’s a services-specific Team about CQL Certification, or a project-based Team about a CQL webinar series, we have individual Teams using chat, file-sharing, tasks, etc.

CQL ‘Community of Practice’ Meetings

Each month, we host an all-staff ‘Community of Practice’ virtual meeting to share updates, have discussions, and at times, take part in virtual games and activities. There is also a portion of the meeting, where an individual staff member shares insight into one specific aspect of their work, going ‘behind-the-scenes’ into the work they are doing. The meetings are also recorded and posted to Microsoft Teams, for those who are unable to attend.

Department-Specific Meetings

Along with our monthly, all-staff ‘Community of Practice’ meetings, various departments hold meetings specific to certain CQL services. This helps keep people connected, while working to build consistency, address important topics, and answer any questions.

Microsoft SharePoint

CQL uses Microsoft SharePoint as a one-stop-shop for file sharing. This is where staff go to access templates, reports, guidance documents, manuals, resources, and more. There are SharePoint sites for different CQL departments, all accessible on a main landing page to make it easier for staff to navigate and find what they’re looking for.

Email Updates

Any time we distribute information externally about CQL news, resources, events, etc. through our email marketing platform, we also have a CQL staff distribution list that’s included on all communications. This ensures that staff are ‘in-the-know’ about everything we’re sharing with our partners. Prior to any email updates being sent out, we also post those to Microsoft Teams.

Staff Spotlight Series

In 2022, we launched our staff spotlight series, a monthly article that takes a deep dive into one CQL staff member’s background, interests, hobbies, and more. While these articles are posted publicly for anyone to read, they’re also valuable in helping our team get to know each other more personally, when we can’t connect in-person.

Snail-Mail Outreach

In addition to all the ways we connect virtually, we do mail out cards, with a treat, for team member birthdays, anniversaries, and other life milestones. We also send a little gift to our staff over the holiday season. This is just another way to help staff feel appreciated and recognized!

Improving Communication At Your Organization

By Ann Dorsey, CQL Quality Enhancement Specialist

In summary, the foundation for effective communication is built by including all stakeholders “at the table” and ensuring there are multiple venues and platforms for collaborative communication. Nikki Anderson, a Quality Enhancement Specialist at CQL, summarizes it in this way: “When people feel heard and see their input reflected in decision-making or communication practices, engagement and clarity tend to increase. Ultimately, an effective communication plan must not only focus on delivering messages but also on creating consistent and meaningful opportunities for listening.”