What is an effective means to educate non-academic colleagues of the importance and time needed for Adjunct Lecturing research?
As @NateEldredge mentioned, technically research is probably not part of the duties of an Adjunct Lecturer.

That being said, you could explain that as an adjunct it is natural for you to develop your CV further so that you may be considered for teaching higher-level courses, increase in rank, service on interesting committees, etc., in which case research will be important.