Ripple Effect

🎉 We’re thrilled to announce that for the SIXTH year in a row, Ripple Effect has been named one of the 2024 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For in the Nation®! 🎉 This recognition, awarded by the National Association for Business Resources/The Best and Brightest Programs (NABR), celebrates organizations that prioritize exceptional employment practices, cultivate a positive work environment, and invest in their team members’ success. We’re honored to be acknowledged alongside companies who share our commitment to making the workplace a dynamic, empowering, and inclusive space. A huge thank you to our incredible #Ripplers for their valuable input during this process. The feedback and information we've gained helps us to shape our unique culture and improve as a company as we move forward. Here’s to another year of doing things #TheRippleWay! 💙🧡 #BestAndBrightest #AwardWinner #CreatingRipples

💡 Work Smarter Tip: Using AI in Evaluation for Better Insights 💡 Leveraging AI tools can help us incorporate broader perspectives and enhance our evaluation process. Here are some ways AI can boost efficiency across the evaluation lifecycle: 📄 Document Review: Use AI to scan through extensive background documents, quickly pulling relevant information. 📊 Data Abstraction & Analysis: AI-powered data abstraction and visualization tools help us see insights faster and more clearly. 🔍 Confidence-Based Validation: Integrate confidence-based validation for more reliable outcomes, ensuring that data interpretations align with our research goals. 👀 Human Oversight: Keep human reviewers involved for quality assurance and full-text review—ensuring the findings stay accurate and grounded. By combining AI with human expertise, we’re finding innovative ways to expand evaluations and incorporate unheard voices. Check out more about our talented Research & Evaluation team and how they're incorporating innovative solutions for our clients 👉: https://lnkd.in/eRktevzS #WorkSmarter #PerformBetter #WorkSmarterTip #AI #EvaluationLifecycle

This week, our own Jessica Escobedo (she/her) and Jennifer Reineke Pohlhaus had the opportunity to attend the two-day 2024 Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Annual Meeting! The event featured innovative PCORI-funded research findings on a wide range of health topics, from engaging diverse communities to intersectionalities in women’s health and maternal health data in research, with a focus on health equity and patient voices throughout. Jessica and Jennifer enjoyed connecting with former #Ripplers, partners from other organizations, patient advocates, and some of our PCORI clients. It was an excellent opportunity to learn, network, and share insights with the broader health and healthcare community! #PCORI24 #HealthResearch #CreatingRipples

🎉 Happy Birthday to the Defense Health Agency! 🎉 Today, we celebrate the DHA and its vital role in providing a high standard of healthcare to our armed forces and their families. At Ripple Effect, we are proud to partner with the DHA in our commitment to improving health outcomes for service members and their communities. Here’s to many more years of partnership and progress in advancing defense health! 🥳 #HappyBirthday #DHA #DefenseHealthAgency #DefenseHealth

At Ripple Effect, we’re committed to creating a culture where everyone feels seen, heard, and valued. 💙🧡 Last week, our Wellness & Empowerment Committee hosted an important virtual event for our team, focused on fostering an inclusive workplace through the use of conscious language. Topics ranged from understanding inclusion terminology to avoiding language microaggressions, and even offering alternative language to build a more welcoming environment for all. Jessica Escobedo (she/her), our Senior Director of Program Management & Policy and advocate for inclusive language, emphasizes Ripple Effect's commitment to going above and beyond to ensure that every person feels included and respected: “It all comes down to the difference between intent and impact—when we choose our language thoughtfully, we make sure the impact of our words aligns with our intent to make everyone feel included and that they belong. It was wonderful to see so many Ripplers come together to learn about conscious language and share their experiences. Ripple truly is a place where everyone belongs!” Learn more about our DEIA efforts and how we’re making waves in inclusivity ➡️: https://bit.ly/DEIA24 #Inclusiveness #ConsciousLanguage #DEIA #TheRippleWay

Last week, our co-owner and COO, Jennifer Reineke Pohlhaus, had the honor of speaking at the latest NIH CELI event, where she was recognized by her peers as a distinguished faculty member and presenter. The CELI program is designed to help NIH extramural staff enhance their decision-making and leadership skills, and Jennifer shared invaluable insights on building trust within teams, onboarding staff efficiently, and ensuring that science policy initiatives make lasting, impactful change. Throughout her presentation, Jennifer fielded thoughtful questions on what makes Ripple Effect—and its people—so successful, providing key takeaways from her own experience and leadership journey. We’re proud to have leaders like Jennifer, who are committed to helping others grow, not just within Ripple Effect, but across the broader scientific community. #Leadership #NIH #CELI #CareerGrowth #CreatingRipples

Hey, we know them! 😉 Thanks for representing us yet again and showing everyone #TheRippleWay! 👏 👏 👏

Earlier this week, we hosted a Movie Trivia event for our #Ripplers! 🎬 Our team put their film knowledge to the test, competing to see who knew the most about some of our favorite movies. We had an awesome turnout and had a blast watching clips and answering fun trivia questions! 🍿📽️ Here at Ripple Effect, our culture is just as much about connecting and having fun as it is about doing meaningful work. Check out what Life at Ripple is all about: bit.ly/LifeAtRipple #MovieTrivia #CompanyCulture #TheRippleWay

Today, I was thinking about the power of setting achievable but challenging goals while I hiked. My family went to Natural Bridge State Park to celebrate my parents (Thomas Edwards) completing the Virginia State Park Trail Quest challenge. Over the last year, they have hiked all 40 state parks in Virginia, including one that was only accessible by kayak! My parents (who are avid hikers in their 70s) decided to set this goal that was achievable but would take planning and effort and focus. They committed to the plan, pivoted when needed, and today they completed something remarkable just because they decided to put their minds to it. There is real power in that commitment to something achievable but not easy. Would my parents have hiked last year without this goal? Almost certainly. Would they have explored the whole state? Spent more than 30 days seeing new trails and learning new things along the way? Probably not. This lesson is critical at work, too. We all know (however much we'd like to pretend otherwise) that our focus at work is a finite resource. We have to choose what we want to get done. We are often encouraged to set audacious goals so that even if we don't get all the way there, we made it somewhere. But setting an achievable goal means we get to work toward a success of our own making. We get to see the rewards of our hard work and commitment. What do you think? Have you explored the benefits of setting achievable goals in unleashing your potential? Share your thoughts!

🎉 Happy Bosses Day! 🎉 At Ripple Effect, being a "boss" really means being a servant leader. We pride ourselves on attracting and recruiting leaders who put their employees first, value them as individuals, and are committed to their growth and well-being. We’re lucky to have executives, directors, and managers who genuinely care about their employees and foster a positive, inclusive place to work. 💼✨ “I love leading at Ripple Effect, a company full of amazingly smart, technical people. It makes it easy to be humble and continue to grow as I always have something to learn from the people I work with, at all levels within the company. This week alone I learned so much about diverse topics from new AI tools and programs to how to better use inclusive language within the workplace! And fortunately, that's a pretty typical week around here.” -Amy Hein, PhD, PMP, Senior Vice President A special thank you to all the bosses out there who lead by example for your incredible guidance, care, and dedication! #BossesDay #ServantLeadership #TheRippleWay