Lumen Impact Group
Lumen Impact Group

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How to Listen to Your Teachers: Tips and Thoughts for School Leaders Who Want to Lean into Feedback 

By Lisa Diaz, Lumen Impact Group  97% of teachers “wish decision-makers would listen to teachers’ opinions and perspectives,” according to a recent poll of more than 1200 pre-k-12 teachers (Listen to Your Teacher!). Teachers are telling us loud and clear that in this time of unprecedented teacher shortages, they have feedback to give, and they […]

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What If There IS an “I” In Team? The Necessity of Diverse Styles in Teamwork

By: Cori Egan I was involved in sports when I was young, which means that, at a young age, the idea of a group of people working toward a collective goal was a big part of my life.  The teams I was on and the work that I put into them allowed me the opportunity […]

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A gate of locks, a universal symbol for commitment. Or Loyalty?

Commitment over Loyalty (And Why We Think There’s A Difference)

By: Stephanie VanDyk  It is impossible to make an impact without commitment. And yet, our culture seems to have a bit of an aversion to the idea of commitment. This is likely because of its similarity to the concept of loyalty, which is often associated with words like “blind” or “false.” Decades ago, it was […]

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A woman sits at a desk, practicing meditation to help reset her mind.

How Mindfulness and Compassion Can Transform Your Workplace

By: Laura Groth Mindfulness and capitalism may not sound like a classic pairing. I am here to tell you that they actually go together like peanut butter and jelly. My personal mindfulness journey began with a deep dive in silent meditation retreats. I actually got involved in them right before the COVID lockdown. To those […]

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A pop up book of a dinosaur, illustrating how resilience allows us to pop back up.

3 Ways Pop-Up Books Can Teach You Resilience

Lisa Diaz is the owner and founder of Lumen Impact Group. She will be kicking off this blog series, which will highlight the organizational values at Lumen. To learn more about our organizational values, click here. Do you remember the children’s pop-up books that you used to play with? Maybe you still enjoy them with […]

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Gave Up on Your New Year’s Resolution? This Is for You.

Like many teams and individuals around the world, you may have started this year off setting big goals. We certainly did! 2021 was an incredible year for us at Lumen Impact Group with our team growing from two employees to five (more on that later). As last year was wrapping up, we knew we were […]

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The Problem With Velcro

The problem with Velcro is—it sticks. Recently, I have been exploring why it is so easy to focus on the challenges or negative elements in our work and leadership and much harder to focus on the positive “good news” elements of what we do. What I’ve discovered is that it is actually how our brain […]

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image of muddy water

As Clear As Mud: How to Share Expectations for Ground-Breaking Work

So, you’ve explained, you’ve re-explained, and you feel great about the expectations you’ve laid out. “I was very clear!” You remind yourself. Then, it’s results time, and you’re left confused, frustrated, maybe even angry because the work did not take on the path that you EXPRESSLY asked for. The path and result that you had pictured […]

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Testimonials

"They don’t tell you what you want to hear. They tell you what you need to hear. That makes a huge difference. We needed to understand our weaknesses in order to make the organization work right, and I was overwhelmed by how they really got it and they helped us to get it too. They were able to do it in a way that really made me want to understand the goals we needed to focus on. I believe Lumen was absolutely the best we could have found."
Barbara Sellinger
Cresthaven Academy
"I’ve been in nonprofits for 30+ years and have used the services of many consultants, but I have never been so comfortable with their commitment to helping us. It was as if the Lumen team shared our need to have a successful outcome and they were committed to the notion that they would indeed bring value to what we were doing. "
Caroline Novak
Alabama School Readiness Alliance
"The Lumen team did a really good job sharing the hard truths with us. Their findings were different from what we were expecting, but they used the information to push us farther than we originally planned. They were candid and didn’t hide anything from us. We’re now on the path to developing products that are very different from what we’ve done before but are hopefully much more useful for the people we serve."
Drew Jacobs
National Alliance of Public Charter Schools
"The management of a federal CSP grant is a really niche area that requires a tremendous depth of expertise and technical know-how. You need to have a microscopic attention to detail when it comes to compliance and reporting timeliness. The Lumen team is excellent at all of the above. "
Tyler Barnett
New Schools for Alabama
"In my coaching, we make really strong, specific plans for next steps and then we follow up on them in our next conversation. We try to keep those next steps really manageable. When I’m busy, I can’t layer a ton of personal growth on top of my other responsibilities, so we make plans for growth that are baked into the work I’m already doing. That has been really helpful for me. "
Kristen Forbriger
City Fund
"With everything in the CSP world, Lumen has someone on their team with the experience and focus to guide you through the processes. They partnered with us through what would have been a very difficult process had we tried to stumble through it on our own... we probably could have muddled through it as a team, but with their support it was much more smooth, efficient, and professional."
Shannon Greer
Utah Association of Public Charter Schools
"As I got to know the Lumen team, their questions and willingness to support us made it clear they were a good match. They were very engaged, quick to respond, and aligned with how we think as an organization."
Donterrio Marzetti
KIPP Tulsa Public Charter Schools