You Say You’re Making an Impact. Can You Prove It?
Most organizations can tell you how many people came through a program. They know how many people registered, how many completed it and probably have testimonials from people who said the experience was valuable. All of that information matters, but it still does not answer a bigger question: what actually changed because someone participated?
That question sits at the center of my conversation with Dr. Shontoria Walker, Founder and Executive Director of Education PowerED and the person helping She Can Work build a much deeper data and impact practice. Shontoria first experienced our work as a founder inside the Core Program. Today, she helps us understand what is happening inside our programs, what women are learning, where they are getting stuck and whether the outcomes we say we want are actually happening.
Measuring Impact Starts Before the Survey
One of the first things Shontoria wants an organization to define is what it actually hopes to change. If you run an accelerator, for example, is the goal simply for people to finish it? Do you want participants to understand their business models better, increase revenue, become more prepared for capital or make stronger leadership decisions? Until the outcome is clear, it is difficult to know what information is worth collecting.
That sounds obvious, but Shontoria sees organizations jump into surveys and data collection before answering that question. The result can be a lot of information without much clarity about what any of it means. Her approach starts with the outcome and works backward, identifying the milestones and evidence that can show whether people are actually moving toward it.
The Survey Is Only One Part of the Story
When Shontoria first worked with our Grow program, surveys were part of the process, but they were not the entire process. She attended sessions, observed what was happening in the room, listened to the questions women asked, conducted one-on-one conversations and eventually led a focus group. We were looking at what participants reported alongside what we were seeing and hearing in real time.
That mattered because sometimes the most important thing happening in a program does not fit neatly inside a checkbox. In individual interviews, women talked about carrying businesses, families, children, parents and personal struggles while still trying to show up as if none of those things existed. Without that context, a program leader might read disengagement as a lack of commitment. With better information, you may realize the program needs a different kind of support, pacing or follow-up.
The Data Has to Change Something
One of the strongest points Shontoria made during our conversation was about responsiveness. Participants can tell you what is working, tell you what is not and give you information that reveals a clear pattern. But if nothing changes after you learn it, the data becomes little more than documentation.
That does not mean changing an entire program every time someone gives feedback. Strong leadership still requires judgment. At She Can Work, I need to stay clear about where a program is supposed to take women while being flexible enough to adjust how we help them get there. The data gives us more precision in making those decisions.
Better Data Helps Us Tell a Better Story About the Work
As we have gotten better at documenting outcomes, we have also gotten better at explaining our value to partners and funders. Instead of only saying women had a great experience, we can begin showing what changed, how we know and what we learned from it. We are also seeing women come into our programs because other women are talking about what they experienced, while partners are asking more questions because there is stronger evidence behind the story we are telling.
That is probably the biggest lesson from my conversation with Shontoria. Data is not something you collect after the real work is finished. Used well, it becomes part of how you do the work better.
In our full conversation on The She Can Work Podcast, Shontoria and I talk much more about program evaluation, participant voice, leadership humility, funding, the unseen experiences women business owners are carrying and what it really takes to move from saying you create impact to being able to prove it.
