One Valley Community Foundation
Client Success Story:
Since 1998, One Valley Community Foundation has served the communities of the Gallatin Valley by matching donors with causes they believe in, focusing financial resources to facilitate change, offering resources and opportunities for other area nonprofits, and acting as a facilitator for those larger community-wide conversations.
The Situation
One Valley Executive Director, Bridget Wilkinson, was leading the charge in elevating the organization from a small nonprofit to a true community leader. Facing a season of rapid growth — and the new challenges and opportunities that would inevitably arise from that growth — this pivotal moment called for meaningful, effective outside support. In addition, the Executive Director was approaching a departure for maternity leave and needed to balance personal and professional demands through effective, graceful action. How would One Valley scale quickly yet thoughtfully, supporting its team as well as its community?
Knowing that she needed a true co-pilot in her corner, Bridget began working with K. Lum Consulting for Organizational Leadership Coaching. Karen provided essential, strategic consultation, guiding Bridget and One Valley in clarifying and achieving their goals.
"As a leader, you always hope you're learning and growing and becoming a better version of yourself. Karen has empowered me to trust myself. She's taught me that you don't have to be perfect. You just do your best. Leadership is a lesson in humility. But she's helped me do my best, and then trust that what I'm doing is right."
The Approach
Karen’s Coaching & Consultation Approach for One Valley
Entering as a strategic partner, supporting tactical planning, decision making, and execution on key internal issues, including personnel, team structure, communication, and effective leadership
Creating space to thoughtfully address key initiatives, issues, and proactive strategies for the organization
Adapting with on-the-fly flexibility to each new session topic, determined by the client's real-time areas of concern
Providing ongoing opportunities for reflection and growth as a leader
"Karen doesn't sugarcoat it; she tells you what you need to hear, as a leader, when other people won't. She helps identify your blind spots. But she does it in a way that's constructive and even comforting. She builds trust so that you can receive that type of feedback in an actionable way."
The Results
With Karen's guidance, expertise, and support in their corner, One Valley navigated nimbly through rapid expansion with intentionality and integrity, supporting their team while caring for their community. The organization’s leader gained confidence in herself and her new strategies. She was introduced to and adopted a new framework for leading goal-setting and accountability within the organization. With coaching in new facilitation techniques, she utilized improved communication and collaboration methods with her team during one-on-one meetings, team planning sessions, and her overarching approach to leadership.
The team adopted these new frameworks and meeting structures to support clarity, performance, and professional development. They gained clarity and structure from their leader during a key period of growth.
"Working with Karen for leadership coaching or team coaching is absolutely worth it. The value she brings to any organization is significant, and this is coming from an organization that's very fiscally mindful of its money. If you're ready to show up with the intention of learning and the willingness to do the work, Karen offers the unbiased support needed to make hard decisions, scale in a very positive way, and evolve your approach to leadership as a team and as individuals."
— Bridget Wilkinson, One Valley Executive Director
