Data is now influential in nearly all decisions made in schools, nonprofits, and social-impact organizations. However, the mechanisms that have been developed to gather it have become further disconnected from the people they are supposed to represent through their work and their lives. Instead of helping leaders understand what is going on on the ground, most data processes make rich experiences oversimplified, promote careful reporting, and add distance between decision-makers and the realities of the day. When individuals do not know how their data will be used, they will automatically modify the message, compromising accuracy and limiting what an organization can learn from the information collected. Alternative directions can be achieved by understanding data as a relational practice. When meaning is constructed in conversation rather than dictated downward, individuals can clarify the situation, challenge presumptions, and influence how revelation results in action. Organizations with a strong inclination toward transparency, mutual explanation, and shared responsibility create the conditions in which honesty is not feared, and information is entrusted to development rather than treated as a threat. Measurement based on relationships not only enhances understanding of organizations but also empowers them, putting organizations in a position to act with greater trust, fairness, and clarity.
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