Lumen Impact Group
Lumen Impact Group

If you Want Your Organization to Thrive, Spend Time with Your People

Published: September 9, 2024
picture of women meeting together

By Lisa Diaz, Founder

One of the things that I’ve learned over the years is the power of investing in the people on your team. While professional development opportunities and training for team members are certainly investments, that’s not the type of investment I mean. I mean a time investment.

As a leader, you’re busy. You’re managing people, budgets, projects, and the flow of your organization which means it is hard to carve out time for one-on-one time with the people on your team–especially when that time is not directly tied to one of the to-do’s on your long list.

But the time spent investing in your employees will have an immeasurable return.

When you bring a new staff member onto your team, elevate someone into a leadership role, or assign other new responsibilities or work, investing in their growth early on is key. It may look like weekly meetings with a staff member, scheduling extra time to help them work through a process, or just taking the time to talk about what they’re learning as they start their new position or work. What I’ve found is that taking the time to walk side by side with team members builds capacity and confidence in those individuals to be more efficient and effective as a result.

Spending time with team members is not just for new staff or someone elevated into a new role; it can and will benefit even your most seasoned and exceptional team members. The one-on-one time I spend with our team not only heightens my relational capacity with individual team members but also allows me to continue to invest in their growth and allows team members to invest in my leadership growth as well.

Making time for one-on-ones leads to individual team members’ success, and our organization is more successful in the long run– even if it takes reprioritizing time, which I know is not easy, but the impact is worth it!

What might this look like for you in your leadership day to day? Is it starting with setting aside a couple of hours once a week? Or asking your team to find a spot on your calendar once a month? How will you carve out time to invest more in the people that move the work forward?

Testimonials

"Lisa did a fantastic job with our entire strategic planning team. Her process was beyond organized. As a new administrator, I was able to lean on Lisa for her expertise and knowledge of strategic planning. She did everything from meeting organization and to facilitating subgroups, focus groups and staff culture surveys. Her work with the school board and administrative team was respectful, while also filled with appropriate advice and constructive feedback. I could not imagine going through this process without Lisa. She will continue to be a trusted resource for years to come."
Jamie DeWitt
School Leader, NexTech High School
"Lumen Impact Group has been critical in supporting Bluum’s efforts in Idaho to manage our $17.1 million federal Charter School Program grant. As one of the country’s first non-profit organizations to receive federal CSP funding, the stakes for our work are very high, and our efforts to help open, expand and replicate public charter schools face scrutiny. I sleep better knowing Lumen Impact Group has worked closely with us to build our processes, procedures and playbook for managing the responsibility of directing and overseeing a significant federal grant. I highly recommend them to others. They are true pros."
Terry Ryan
CEO, Bluum
"As a family-owned and operated company, we needed to preserve our culture and define our mission, vision and values better as we grew. Lumen Impact Group helped capture a variety of diverse perspectives and hopes for the future in a way that connected everyone involved. Lumen Impact Group helped us create a clear strategic focus and for our future stabilized our culture. Lisa also coached our leadership team in supporting implementation."
Mark Smith
President, Krapohl Ford & Lincoln
"Lisa Diaz and Lumen Impact provided invaluable support to Colorado Charter Facility Solutions during our start-up phase. I was the new non-profit organization’s executive director (and only employee at the time), and Lisa knew answers to questions that I did not even know to ask. She made sure the board of directors was set up correctly and that the organizational documents were in place. Lisa helped me establish the organization’s goals and ways to track progress. Lisa is organized, patient and kind, and worked quickly, thoroughly and collaboratively. She is a good listener and even acted as an executive coach/therapist at times. When necessary, Lisa can be direct, yet she is always focused on the goals of the organization and its success. I highly recommend Lisa Diaz and Lumen Impact Group. "
Jane Ellis
Executive Director, Colorado Charter Facility Solutions
"I have worked with Lumen Impact Group at both the individual and organizational level. As a coach, Lisa has a natural ability to get to the heart of the matter quickly and to ask questions that help her clients translate insight into action. Each team member who has worked with Lisa in a coaching capacity has demonstrated visible growth that has positively impacted individual and team performance. As an organization, we are trying to be purposeful about the culture we are creating, as a means of best fulfilling our mission. Lumen Impact Group has been a tremendous thought partner along the way and has facilitated critical steps in a collaborative yet efficient and fun way. Our team was in awe at how much we accomplished collectively in a short period of time. We are moving toward our ideal culture much more quickly than I thought possible, and I have no doubt it is because of Lumen Impact Group’s guidance. "
Kasey Miller
Chief of Staff, National Association of Charter School Authorizers