Prompted from a great call with Emily Mason at Thinqi earlier this week I got to thinking; if what you’re doing is irrelevant, silence will tell you faster than any survey.

We talk about engagement like it’s always a win. People are engaging – great. People aren’t engaging – bad.

But what if engagement is telling you things you don’t want to hear?

A management development programme gets high attendance but people leave frustrated. A new system drives lots of questions, all about how confusing it is. A community space lights up as people tell you what’s wrong with the platform.

It’s tempting to treat that as failure. But bad engagement is still data. It’s telling you something about fit, timing, delivery, trust, or relevance and you can – and SHOULD – use it.

No engagement is worse. No feedback, no signs, no signals and you’re flying blind.

So don’t fear the negative. At least it means people care enough to respond. The real test is whether you’ll act on what they’re telling you or bury it under the next ‘engagement drive’.