👋 Welcome to the latest issue of The Enablement Edge newsletter!
In this one, we’re talking about:
- 1 Key Concept – Sales competencies guide (SDR, AE, AM, CSM)
- 1 Best Practice – Building an engaging & effective SKO agenda
- 1 Mistake to Avoid – Not vocalising your enablement charter
- 1 Enablement Challenge – Change management
🔑 Key Concept
Sales has never been one-size-fits-all. And yet, for many companies, sales competencies still are.
After months of hard (and I mean hard) work, I’ve finally completed something I’ve wanted to build for a long time: The Ultimate Guide to Sales Competencies.
This article – created in partnership with Hyperbound – is the culmination of an in-depth effort to identify, analyse, and structure the most critical competencies for the four most common customer-facing roles in any modern GTM organisation: SDRs, AEs, AMs, and CSMs.
But this guide is only the tip of the iceberg.
Scroll through and you’ll also find dedicated deep-dives for each of those roles (yep, clickable too 😉) – covering the specific skills, behaviours, and knowledge areas that distinguish top performers from the rest. Or at the very least, give you a clear picture of what “good” looks like.
The goal was to create a resource that’s practical, flexible, and relevant for everyone across the revenue organisation – from individual contributors to leadership, and even HR or L&D partners.
More specifically, these competency maps can support:
- Recruitment & hiring – by defining what strong SDRs, AEs, AMs, or CSMs look like and ensuring alignment on role fit.
- Training & development – by helping Enablement and L&D teams design targeted programmes and spot skill gaps.
- Performance management – by giving leaders a structured way to evaluate and coach team members.
- Career progression – by clarifying expectations and helping ICs understand what it takes to grow.
It’s a lot to take in – and intentionally so. Because these are the kinds of resources I wish I had earlier in my own journey. And now that they exist, I hope they’ll bring clarity and confidence to yours too.
Let me know what resonates.
✅ Best Practice
I’ve been there, you’ve been there.
Sales kick-offs try to do too much, agendas packed to bursting, with every department vying for a slot and every leader wanting their fifteen minutes.
End result?
Reps tune out, energy tanks, and the real purpose of the SKO gets lost in the noise.
So, how do you build an agenda that actually delivers? Well, I tapped into the collective knowledge of the enablement community for my SKO best practices article, and this is what my contributors had to say on the subject.
Ruthless focus beats “more is better”
Todd Lienart put it perfectly: “Less is more, when it comes to content.”
If a session doesn’t give reps something they can use next week, it’s just taking up space.
Mat Hill’s advice? “Spend less time on theoretical, and more time on practical.”
I couldn’t agree more. Every slot on the agenda should earn its keep.
Gatekeeping isn’t a dirty word
Tim Carlson’s approach is simple: every topic, every presenter, every slide gets a sanity check.
Is it relevant to the SKO’s goals?
Is this the right venue?
Or is it something that could have been an email?
I’ve seen agendas transformed by this kind of discipline.
Keep the execs brief and the sessions hands-on
Paul Harvey’s shared:
“Limit main stage time for execs and concentrate on outcomes for the whole sales team.”
If there are too many keynotes, you’ll lose the room.
Instead, build in role-based tracks and hands-on workshops, let people practice, not just listen.
Storyboard the flow and respect the need for breaks
Ever sat through back-to-back sessions with no time to breathe?
It’s brutal.
Map your agenda like a story, each session leading naturally to the next.
And don’t forget breaks.
Make it special – bring in fresh voices
Budget allowing, an outside speaker can shake things up.
Just make sure it is someone whose story talks to the salespeople.
Bring in someone who’ll challenge your team’s thinking and make the day memorable.
Make sure to check out the article I linked above if you want to level up your SKOs!
🙅♂️ Mistake to Avoid
Many enablement teams pour (a lot of) effort into creating a formal charter that outlines their mission, scope, and strategic direction.
And then they file it away, only taking it out if hot potatoes start flying around and people start playing the blame game.
By treating your enablement charter as an internal, almost esoteric, document, you leave crucial stakeholders (sales leadership, finance, marketing, ops, etc.) in the dark.
As a result, they start seeing enablement as “the people who handle sales training”, or a “task-dump” rather than understanding your broader purpose, goals, or the resources you have (or lack).
Your enablement charter should be public knowledge.
It clarifies roles, responsibilities, and metrics for success.
It shows the organisation what you do, and, just as importantly, what you don’t do.
This ensures last-minute requests and reactive tasks don’t derail your main objectives.
If someone insists on those last-minute requests, your charter makes it mandatory for them to take responsibility for the last-minute request and explain why it was deemed more important than what your team had agreed to do.
Vocalising your charter can contribute among many other things to elevate enablement from a mere support function to a strategic partner.
Make time to vocalise it, share it in cross-departmental meetings, attach it to project briefs, and refer to it whenever a new request or idea arises.
In other words, if nobody sees your roadmap, don’t be surprised when they assume you don’t have one.
🎯 Enablement Challenge
As I've discovered in my many conversations with enablement leaders across the globe, managing change ranks among our most formidable challenges, no matter the size of the organisation, the GTM unit, or how entrenched everyone is.
Matthew Brown captured it perfectly:
"For me, the key challenges are all grounded in change management. Almost everything we seek to do is about change, whether that be about helping a buyer, a seller, a sales leader, or others change something…their opinion, their desire to implement change, their process, their actions, whatever!"
But here's the paradox: despite working in organisations that constantly evolve, triggering meaningful change requires enormous effort.
Even when enablement has earned its seat at the strategy table, the sheer volume of change can be overwhelming.
It is for this reason that balance is key.
We must pace change carefully, provide adequate support, and recognise progress.
Regular check-ins and feedback sessions help teams feel heard and valued amidst the turbulence.
So how do we tackle this challenge? Here are some approaches I've found effective:
- Nurture a value-driven mindset
Frame every change around the real-world impact it will have on customers and commercial outcomes.
Help teams connect the dots between the change and how it helps them win more, retain more, or improve productivity.
For example, don’t just say “we’re adopting a new tool” – say, “this will cut down admin by 30% and help you respond to buyers faster.”
- Embed learning into existing workflows
Instead of launching large-scale learning initiatives that disrupt routines, build enablement into daily systems.
For example, use CRM prompts, Slack nudges, AI co-pilots assistance, or just-in-time videos that show up inside sales tools when reps are executing key tasks.
Culture of learning becomes real when training feels like a helpful companion, not an interruption.
- Be brave enough to simplify
As James Swift advised:
“Being brave enough to tear down something you’ve built with sweat and tears, and starting again rather than just adding on top of existing infrastructure is difficult but necessary.”
When tech stacks, processes, or playbooks get too layered, the cost of inertia skyrockets. Audit regularly. Kill your darlings.
- Run lightweight experiments first
Rather than rolling out change org-wide, test with one team, measure traction, and scale what works. Use a “3-3-3” principle: pilot with 3 users for 3 weeks with 3 key measures.
This builds internal champions, surfaces roadblocks early, and reduces risk.
- Prioritise ruthlessly
Use a simple two-axis grid – business impact vs. change effort – to assess what truly deserves your attention.
Share this prioritisation logic with stakeholders to build trust and transparency.
Change fatigue often comes from trying to fix everything at once.
- Communicate the “why” – again and again
Repeat the strategic purpose of the change in multiple formats: all-hands, team meetings, one-on-ones, async videos.
Make sure the message is consistent but adapted to different roles; what matters to an AE may be very different from what resonates with a CSM.
Change is part of our daily reality in enablement, but navigating it well takes more than intention.
It takes structure, empathy, and the courage to do things differently when needed.
When we approach change with clarity and care, it becomes less of a disruption and more of a catalyst for progress.
I’d love to hear from you:
What’s helped you lead change effectively in your organisation?
These are my 6 article picks for this issue from The Enablement Insight:
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