Why feedback is crucial for your community

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Working with startup founders in many different fields taught me something precious: what worked for James may (and more probably, won't) work for John.

Even if they were basically trying to achieve the same goal, or learn the same thing. We all come from a different time and place, with different education, backgrounds, beliefs, capacities...

How many times did you catch yourself thinking "Is he/she dumb? That shit's easy / obvious"?

The thing is, it's way harder to help people succeed than it is to succeed yourself. Because what you went through, the tools you used, the path you chose, may not be the ones that will make someone else successful.

And it takes years of experience. And empathy.

But you can speed up the process though: if you use feedback.

I'm not saying it won't be brutal. Sometimes, people's honest opinions are harsh on the ego. But that's the fastest path to growth.

When I teach CEOs communication and team leading skills, I always start with a simple exercise: Tangram. This game is simple in appearance, you just have to form a general shape (a house, a cat, a boat...) using several simple geometric shapes. It's easy when you're alone: your perception, your understanding, your methodology...

But now, imagine you're back to back with a team member, and you have to make HIM/HER form the boat, or the house, using your voice only.

You can't show. You can't see.

How will you know if they understood the assignment? If you both have the same goal in mind? If when you say "on the right", you're both talking about the same "right"? (and many more funny situations you'd have to witness to believe they're true)

Simple: use feedback.

"Do you understand what the end goal is?"

"Do you have all you need to reach it?"

"What resources do you have in front of you at the moment?"

The same goes for your community, your courses, the value you (think) you bring, the way to evaluate your users' success...

Ask. For. Feedback. Always. At every step.

You don't know if your product is ready? -> Release it and ask for feedback.

You don't know if course X or Y would be useful? (would suck to spend 5h recording it for nothing, right?) -> Make a survey, get feedback, make a decision.

Did you help the user reach his/her goal? Ask. Tell them you'd love having a before/after, and use it as a testimonial (and/or as a way to improve).

Pin a post at the top of your community asking for brutal honesty about what's working and what's not.

Create surveys after each module. Or link a custom GHL form in your course for in-depth feedback.

The point is, you need to create an ongoing dialogue with your learners. You need to show them that their input matters and that you're actually listening.

Because the truth is, feedback is useless if you don't act on it.

You've got to be ready to iterate based on what you're hearing. If multiple students are struggling with a concept, don't just shrug it off.

That's not them. That's you.

Rework your explanation. Provide more examples.

Create additional resources.

Continuously refining your content based on real student experiences is how you link teaching and actual learning.

Use quizzes, assignments, and projects into your course. It will reinforce learning, but these tools also give you hard data on where knowledge gaps still exist.

So seek feedback, constantly. Iterate on that feedback, and measure actual learning, not just content consumption.

It's not an easy path, but it's the best way to ensure you're delivering real, life-changing value to your community.

So go on and start those feedback loops. Your members will thank you for it.

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