DHS CISA Emergency Communications Division (ECD)
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) leads the national effort to understand, manage, and reduce risk to the nation's cyber and physical infrastructure. Its Emergency Communications Division works to improve interoperable emergency communications capabilities across all levels of government, so responders can communicate when it matters most.
“LinkVisum provided high quality professionals with the knowledge and skills needed to make this effort a success.”
Toya Reynolds, Contracting Officer, DHS Office of Procurement Operations
OBJECTIVE
As a newly formed division of more than 290 employees, ECD needed to move from a start-up posture to an agile, adaptive, high-performing organization. ECD sought a contractor to benchmark its workforce, understand how employees viewed the culture and leadership, streamline key processes, and build the engagement, training, and communication structures needed to unite staff around the CISA mission.
Benchmarked Culture and Engagement Across 290+ Employees
Redesigned Key Processes Through a Four-Step Improvement Cycle
Launched Onboarding, Training, and Internal Communication Programs
LINKVISUM'S SOLUTIONS
In the first effort of its kind at CISA, LinkVisum embedded a nine-person multidisciplinary team, led by a Project Director and Project Manager, within the ECD Front Office. Our approach was grounded in the Work, Worker, and Workplace model, which holds that optimal performance comes from aligning mission and roles (the work), people's skills, motivators, and styles (the worker), and culture, policies, and tools (the workplace). To build a clear baseline, we designed and administered baseline and quarterly pulse surveys, conducted interviews, and facilitated listening sessions with employees at every level, then analyzed the quantitative and qualitative results to surface themes and bottlenecks.
We moved each opportunity area through an Identify, Validate, Optimize, Evaluate improvement cycle: pinpointing gaps, confirming findings with process owners, developing recommendations and change governance, and measuring the resulting shift. Along the way, we mapped key workflows, delivered Change Style Indicator assessments for leaders at every level, coached leaders and the Human Resources Committee on change management, and partnered with the Training Working Group on training needs. A seven-step deliverable review process, with subject matter expert validation and Project Manager sign-off, kept every product accurate and on schedule.
OUTCOME
LinkVisum gave ECD the insight, structures, and programs to build a connected, high-performing workforce.
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Actionable insight: Turned survey, interview, and listening session data into findings and recommendations for leadership, including one series of six sessions with 123 participants that produced seven recommended actions.
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Streamlined processes: Mapped and redesigned key workflows such as job posting and identified improvements to career frameworks, individual development plans, and performance evaluation standards.
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Programs and tools deployed: Launched the Start Strong Stay Strong onboarding initiative, virtual workshops, an employee newsletter, a podcast, and a user-focused SharePoint site.
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Recognized performance: Earned Exceptional ratings for Quality, Schedule, and Management and a letter of commendation from ECD's Executive Assistant Director.
ADDITIONAL PROJECT DETAILS
From 2021 to 2025, LinkVisum supported six task areas for ECD: organizational benchmarking, baselining, and re-baselining; individualized employee engagement strategies and needs-based assessments; process improvement, obstacle mitigation, and phased implementation planning; training support; workspace optimization; and remote work structure. Assessments and tools included baseline and quarterly pulse surveys, listening sessions, Change Style Indicator assessments for the executive leadership team, managers, supervisors, and emerging leaders, process maps, a Subdivision Optimization Report profiling communication, leadership, learning, and conflict styles, and dashboards and trackers for key performance indicators. Training support included a training needs analysis, individual training plans, virtual workshops on work/life balance, time management, conflict resolution, and diversity and inclusion, post-training evaluations, and training completion records. The team strengthened four functional areas, onboarding, blended learning, change governance, and engagement, and provided day-to-day operational support, including bi-weekly Executive Assistant Director updates, monthly COR meetings, support for All Hands meetings, the Training Working Group, and the Human Resources Committee, monthly and quarterly accomplishment reports, and contractor onboarding, equipment, and offboarding administration.