Lumen Impact Group
Lumen Impact Group

Blog

A Conversation about CSP Grants with Dawna Taylor from the Colorado League of Charter Schools

Congratulations to our partners at the Colorado League of Charter Schools who received a $68 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Charter Schools Program (CSP) this year! We sat down with Dawna Taylor from the League to talk about this significant accomplishment for their organization and their plans for distributing these funds to […]

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Your Strategic Plan is Done– Now What?: How Operational Planning Makes Strategic Plans a Reality

There’s something energizing about strategic planning. After days of focused work to build a plan at the board level, you feel accomplished and excited as you present the plan to your team. But, now what?  With so many competing demands for your time and energy, how will your team prioritize follow-through on the actions that […]

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picture of women meeting together

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

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. […]

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The Long Game: Sustaining Data Collection for Lasting Insights

By Cori Egan, Junior Partner Like the rest of the world, I have been soaking up Paris Olympics coverage over the past few weeks and my most important takeaway is that champions are not made overnight. Whether it’s the relentless training of the gymnasts or the strategic plays of a water polo team, success is […]

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Data in Action: The Power of Turning Numbers into Narratives

By Cori Egan, Junior Partner “With great power comes great responsibility.” — This famous line from Spider-Man rings true not just for superheroes, but for organizations managing their data. At Lumen, we believe that with the right data, organizations can harness their power for continuous improvement and create lasting impact. In our previous post, we […]

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Unlocking Success with a Dash of Data: How Data Storytelling Helps Tell the Full Story for Schools and Nonprofits

By Cori Egan, Junior Partner “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” — Ferris Bueller might have been talking about seizing the day, but we at Lumen like to think he was also hinting at the importance of data analysis and sensemaking in […]

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Vision Stories: A Practical (And Surprisingly Simple!) Tool To Successfully Initiate Change

When you’re looking to make a shift, start something new, or refresh something that maybe isn’t working as you’d expected, how do you make sure that the change you’re implementing is actually going to help you reach your desired goal?  At Lumen Impact Group, we have found that building a common understanding of success is […]

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Strategic Planning: A Roadmap for When the Going Gets Tough

The old saying goes, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” This timeless phrase has encouraged sports teams, workers, and everyday folks facing seemingly impossible conditions. Dory in Finding Nemo has a similar proverb to live by: “Just keep swimming!” But how? And where? It seems that when people or organizations get bogged […]

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It’s Not Enough to Just Show Up: Encouraging Participation in Board Meetings

By: Amy Ruck Kagan, Senior Partner In my capacity on the charter school board, I’ve come to understand that our meetings are where the rubber meets the road. Whether due to busy schedules or competing priorities, the time we spend in these meetings is often the primary opportunity to move our work forward. Recognizing the […]

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Preparing for Meetings: How Planning Makes You a Team Player

By: Amy Ruck Kagan, Senior Partner Think back to that first school board meeting, the one that felt like a complete disaster. I remember mine and the feelings of fear and anxiety that took over. It was a mess—no structure, no direction, just a bunch of people talking in circles. I couldn’t help but wish […]

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Board Service: What I Wish I Knew as a First-Time School Board Member

By: Amy Ruck Kagan, Senior Partner As someone who works with school boards for a living, I thought that becoming a board member at my kids’ charter school would be pretty straightforward. After all, years of working in the field have made me acutely aware of all the challenges that come with board service, and […]

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When the Word “Feedback” Makes You Squirm: Tips and Tricks for Making the Giving of Feedback Accessible.

Leaders – what comes to mind when you hear the word “feedback?” Does it give you flashbacks to uncomfortable performance reviews, remind you of conversations you need to have but are trying to avoid, or bring to mind elements of your team performance that need a bit of a boost? The word “feedback” can strike […]

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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