Lumen Impact Group
Lumen Impact Group

The Long Game: Sustaining Data Collection for Lasting Insights

Published: August 21, 2024

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 built on consistent effort and long-term planning. The same principle applies to data collection in your school or organization. Gathering data is not a one-time event; it requires sustained systems, processes, and routines over months and years to truly understand long-term trends and drive meaningful change.

The Long Game of Data Collection

Think of data collection as a marathon, not a sprint. Just as a marathon runner must train consistently, schools and organizations must collect data consistently. One year of data is like a single snapshot in an athlete’s career—it can tell part of the story, but it doesn’t capture the full picture. Consider Simone Biles’ heartbreaking Tokyo Olympics in 2021 where she dropped out of competition. That is certainly part of her story—and an important one for her own growth—but only looking at that one year would ignore the 11 medals she has won along with her world renown GOAT status. Long-term data collection allows you to see trends, successes, and areas for improvement over time, much like how an athlete tracks progress and adjusts their training regimen based on performance and their own goals and needs.

Building Systems and Processes

In the world of sports, teams rely on playbooks, strategies, and routines to achieve their goals. Similarly, your organization needs robust systems and processes for data collection. Whether you use an Excel sheet, a sophisticated data tracking application like Monday.com, or a CRM like Salesforce, having a structured approach is crucial. These tools help organize data, making it easier to analyze and interpret over time.

Establishing Norms and Routines

Just as a sports team practices regularly, your organization needs to establish norms around data collection. This includes consistent updates and tracking of performance

metrics year after year. By creating a routine, you ensure that data collection becomes an integral part of your organization’s culture, leading to more accurate and reliable insights.

The Power of Long-Term Trends

Data trends don’t lie. They provide valuable information about what is consistently working—or not—year after year. In the same way that a coach reviews past games and watches film to plan, analyzing long-term data helps your organization identify patterns, predict outcomes, and make informed decisions. This strategic approach enables you to address potential pitfalls and leverage successes to achieve your long-term goals.

Playing the long game in data collection is essential for understanding the true pulse of your school or organization. Like a dedicated athlete or a strategic sports team, your organization must commit to sustained effort and continuous improvement. By establishing systems, processes, and routines for data collection, you can gain deeper insights and drive lasting success.

Embrace the marathon of data collection and remember: the champions of data-driven decision-making are those who stay the course and play the long game.

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