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Every Leader. Every Voice. Every Journey.

Known is a culture transformation company for Health & Human Services (HHS) agencies. We help leaders build human-centered, outcomes-driven, relationship-focused, and trauma-informed and hope-centered workplaces so the people who serve others can truly thrive.

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The Culture Problem No One Talks About

Organizations don't suffer because of bad values—they suffer because team leaders aren't equipped to live them out. Culture isn't just built in the C-suite; it's shaped by the hundreds of sub-cultures created by your team leaders. If they're burned out, disconnected, or flying blind, it shows up in the way people work—and ultimately, how customers are treated.

The idea for KNOWN began in February 2023, when then-Oklahoma Secretary of Human Services Justin Brown convened a group of about a dozen HHS Secretaries, Directors, and Commissioners from across the country. The group met for four hours on a Saturday morning with one purpose:

To define the cultural foundation that every state could agree upon as the national targeted culture for Health and Human Services.

Through this dialogue, four shared Cultural Elements emerged:

  • Human-Centered Culture

    Build systems around people—not process. Equip staff to use personas, journey maps, and co-design to reduce friction and improve outcomes.

  • Outcomes-Driven Culture

    Align work around what genuinely moves the needle for families and communities.

  • Relationship-Focused Culture

    Install a common language for trust, communication, and alignment across divisions and stakeholders. 5 Voices Leader Academy scales relational intelligence agency-wide.

  • Hope-Centered and Trauma-Informed Culture

    Shift from compliance to empowerment while reducing harm and increasing safety. Train Hope Navigators and Ambassadors, set hope-based metrics, and embed trauma-informed practices into leadership, hiring, onboarding, and performance.

The group recognized that while each state might express these elements differently, these four could serve as a national common language for culture in HHS. The KNOWN brand was later developed to carry that work forward—helping states build the infrastructure needed to live out these values system-wide.

What We Do

Known helps public-sector agencies and large organizations develop healthy, aligned team leaders. We equip them to know their people, build simple development plans, and run better rhythms—so culture actually happens. It's not theory or one-off training. It's a system leaders can use every day to lead with clarity, consistency, and care. We develop and help implement learning systems and concrete processes that ensure a transformed culture, including:

Leaders collaborating as a team

Modular LMS

A core learning system with focused modules that agencies can adopt one at a time or all together: Human-Centered, Relationship-Focused, Hope-Centered, Trauma-Informed, Outcomes-Driven.

Embedded leadership rhythms

Peer-led Sherpa circles, quarterly Culture Summits, role-based bootcamps, and practical diagnostics that keep growth alive across teams.

Communities of practice

We help agencies stand up the structures and workflows that materially change how people lead and work—without creating more busywork.

Why Known

Culture change doesn't stick when it's a one-off workshop. Known installs a living system that leaders own—and that continues long after outside consultants leave.

  • Human-first, not HR-first — practical tools to strengthen teams and culture health.
  • Globally-recognized training and methodologies — purpose-built educational modules and structures for government teams.
  • Continuous leadership rhythms — cadences that reinforce healthy culture and accountability.
  • Role-specific development — tools and training tailored for executives, managers, and front-line teams.
  • Clear culture health metrics — dashboards and diagnostics that guide decisions.
The result: retention goes up, burnout goes down, and teams execute with alignment and urgency.
Team alignment

How It Works — The 3-Year Journey

In its fullest form, Known offers a 3-year cultural transformation process, described below. However, clients are encouraged to engage at their own pace — Known's process is adaptable and can be scaled for shorter, sprint engagements or longer, deeper transformations as state agencies desire.

Year 1 — Install the language & rhythms

  • Launch Sherpa circles (8–12 peers, monthly)
  • Quarterly Culture Summits to align and equip
  • New-supervisor bootcamps
  • Core tools introduced (e.g., 5 Voices, Peace Index, Support-Challenge)
  • Begin tracking culture health and team well-being

Year 2 — Deepen ownership & capacity

  • Advanced training (e.g., 3D Leadership, Hope Science, team communication systems)
  • Certify internal culture coaches
  • Role-based leadership labs
  • Executive forum for senior leaders
  • Embed performance & development rhythms

Year 3 — Scale & sustain

  • Certify internal coaches to run the system
  • Institutionalize quarterly development conversations, monthly check-ins, and annual team calibrations
  • Expand onboarding bootcamps
  • Integrate learnings into performance management & retention

Why It Matters

When team leaders grow, teams thrive. When teams thrive, the customer experience improves. That's the multiplier effect of building culture from the inside out—leader by leader, team by team. Known exists to transform the employee journey so the customer journey improves. Healthy leaders create healthy culture. Healthy culture changes everything.

Target outcomes

  • Increased retention of frontline staff
  • Higher employee engagement & well-being
  • Stronger trust and communication—internally and with foster families, partners, and the public
  • Faster, clearer decisions; fewer silos
  • Client experiences that are easier, more empowering, and outcome-focused
Systems & metrics

Get Started

Let’s explore your current culture, priorities, and constraints—and map a phased plan that fits your budget and capacity.

Download the overview