Of all the sessions I teach in my new online course, this really is the one I am most passionate about. It’s the session I spent the most time on and so far has received the most encouraging feedback—and the reason is simple: building a foundation of feedback is the most important part of communication, especially for nonprofits and mission-driven businesses.
You’ve probably heard me say this before, but it’s worth repeating:
“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” – George Bernard Shaw
I weave that quote into everything I do, even every Zoom call, because it’s never been more relevant than it is today. In the digital age—with social media, videos, and content flying out across every platform—it’s easy to think we’re communicating effectively just because we’ve hit “publish.”
But noise is not communication. True communication happens when a message is heard, understood, and responded to. That only happens when we get feedback.
The Illusion of Communication
Early in my communications journey, I was drawn to the exciting stuff—the new tools, the creative media, the platforms like Facebook and YouTube that felt full of possibility. Like a lot of people stepping into this space, I thought, “If we build great websites and make cool videos, we’ll grow.”
But early on, I had a conversation that changed everything. I was meeting with the director of a large nonprofit that provides medical care in remote parts of the world. He asked a simple question:
“How many visits does your website get?”
We scrambled to find the number and proudly gave it to him. Then we asked, “Is that good?”
He just looked at us and said, “I don’t know. But get more.”
That moment, as basic as it was, flipped a switch in my mind. We had no context for whether we were doing well or not. We had no baseline, no benchmarks, and no feedback guiding our communication.
You Can’t Improve What You Don’t Measure
That conversation led me to realize how little we were actually measuring. We were working hard to promote a training program, but our student numbers were declining. We knew how many website visits we got, but beyond that, we had no insight into what was working or where people were dropping off.
That’s when I started digging into the process—the journey from the first moment someone hears about your organization to the moment they actually engage. Whether that’s enrolling in a course, making a donation, or buying a product, there’s a path people take, and we need to know where we’re helping them move forward and where we’re losing them.
Without feedback at every stage of that journey, we were just guessing.
Systems and CRMs: The Tools That Changed Everything
At first, I didn’t want to get into systems. I wanted to stay in the creative lane—videos, marketing, media and these new platforms called Social media. But I quickly realized great media doesn’t mean anything without feedback.
That’s when I started working with CRM systems (Customer Relationship Management). Not because I set out to, but because I didn't want my teammates and myself to invest anymore time in the work we were doing until we really knew if it was even making any difference. Tools like HubSpot opened my eyes to how we could track communication, follow up effectively, and keep clear records of every interaction.
When you have systems in place to measure and manage relationships, you stop flying blind. You start learning. You start seeing what actually works—and that’s where growth happens.
Feedback Changed Everything
One of my favorite examples is when we noticed a drop in student applications. Our team was still making lots of phone calls—something we knew was key to engagement—but applications were down.
Because we were measuring both calls and applications, we knew something was off. So we asked questions, got feedback, and discovered that in their push to make more calls, our team had skipped key parts of the conversationthat we’d found essential.
The next month, they made fewer calls but with better quality, and applications went up again. That only happened because we had feedback—because we were measuring, tracking, and able to respond.
Create a Culture of Feedback
We didn’t stop there. We started surveying our students when they arrived. One time, I learned that a student had found us not through our website or ads—but through Pinterest. She had searched a keyword, found our profile, and traveled across the world to join us. Without feedback, we never would’ve known that channel mattered.
Whether you’re working with donors, customers, or students, feedback turns failures into learning and learning into growth. It’s not just about reporting; it’s about building a culture where you’re constantly asking:
• What’s working?
• Where are we losing people?
• How can we improve?
Final Thoughts
Here’s the thing—if you’re not measuring, it’s not important to you. And if you don’t have a way to get regular feedback, you’re not really communicating—you’re just making noise.
Start simple. Track website visits. Follow up with leads. Survey the people you serve. Build reports. Use a CRM. Find out what’s actually happening and let that shape everything else.
I’m passionate about this because I’ve seen firsthand how feedback changed my approach to communication. It took me from guessing to growing. It’s why I believe this is the most important thing I teach.
So take stock of where you’re at. Ask the hard questions. Build the foundation of feedback—and everything else will go further because of it.
LEARN MORE ABOUT MY ONLINE COURSE