What does it mean to be a leader in commercial enablement? One thing for certain, this is not for the weak of heart! To be successful, sales enablement leaders must aspire to lead differently by engaging the ecosystem around them to “bend space and time” and overcome internal blockers to sales conversations. We find that mostly tactically driven people who are focused on only their individual success, their isolated team, and aren't willing to think differently don’t achieve this kind of leadership impact.
Many enablement leaders are looking for something different and want to elevate their role and impact to work across silos and drive outcomes with others. There is a big difference between focusing on "me" and focusing on "we". High Growth Sales Leaders focus on "we." And that's what this program is about.
Embracing uncertainty
We live in a fast-paced, ever-changing world, and our company is an even more extreme manifestation of that. That’s why we’re focusing these sessions on how to be a manager in a high-growth environment. Remember: in turbulence, the greatest danger isn’t the turbulence itself — it’s acting with yesterday’s logic.
To demonstrate this, we watched a short animation about the fourth industrial revolution we’re living through and the world of hyper-connection. We’re at a kind of turning point: will we try to pretend we’re still living in the previous era or embrace the changes?
Plus, the pandemic has shown us that we’re navigating a global, digital world with no roadmap and where we must think systematically.
A term that encapsulates the modern-day well is VUCA: volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous.
As a leader, it’s up to you to drive performance in your team and how they impact the organization.
Taking Action
Past managers felt they had to anticipate where they were going, but this is no longer possible. So instead, your challenge is to get everyone into a learning and growth mindset so they can stay agile and open amid chaos. Technical skills, in particular, are constantly changing, so we all need to learn along the way.
Many people see change as the enemy and something to fear, but managers should manage change through frequent, transparent communication rather than minimize change.
Since people are afraid of the consequences of change and not change itself, you need to show them that staying the same is more painful than shifting.
Still, that doesn’t mean you have to deny that navigating all this change is challenging. You might burn out at some point, but it’s okay to use others for support and acknowledge that you’re struggling.
Also, your effectiveness as a leader doesn’t always have the answer — it’s knowing what point you’re at right now and pondering the most relevant questions.
What it means: Look to the future
Part of your job as a manager is to build a strategy and a plan. What is different today? Everyone needs to evolve in real-time, yourself included.
It’s more important than ever that everyone in the team understands their role in the change and the value created by putting the business strategy into action. So how do team members fit into the more comprehensive view of the company’s vision?