Enablement is about driving performance to meet business objectives with the tools, training, and support needed to be successful. It’s about aligning the people, processes, and technology with learning opportunities to drive mutual success.
Types of Enablement
If you ask ten different enablement practitioners to define their work, you’ll likely get ten different responses. That’s because there are several types of enablement, and no true agreed upon definition – although I like mine above. Consider just the few types of enablement listed below:
- GTM (Go-to-Market) Enablement
- Sales Enablement
- Revenue Enablement
- Technical Enablement
- Partner Enablement
- Product Enablement
- Digital Enablement
Education v. Enablement
There is often a misconception that enablement is the same thing as education or learning and development. This is an important piece of the puzzle, but it is not the the complete picture. Education is typically more formal in nature, consisting of learning in one or more formats that has been designed to transfer specific knowledge and/or skills. Education programs can be experiential, elearning, live, facilitated sessions, blended learning, podcasts, or any other number of modalities.
When should education be used as part of an enablement strategy?
Formal education programs are best positioned strategically at induction and inflection points. What do I mean by induction and inflection points? Induction points can look like onboarding for a new employee, client, or partner. They could also look like a new product kickoff where information is introduced for the first time. Inflection points occur at changes in the business. This might be release changes in a SaaS organization or in line with market changes in the industry.
Enablement involves these education components, but it also involves both prescriptive strategic and tactical elements related to the specific type of enablement.
The 5 Es of Enablement
So if enablement is about more than just education, what else is there? Again, if you talk to ten different practitioners, you’ll get ten different answers. And those answers may vary depending on the type of enablement with which the practitioner is most familiar. I categorize enablement into five main components:
- Education
- Experience
- Engagement
- Environment
- Expectations
I’ll dive into each of these in the future, as well as tips and tricks for measuring the impact and success of your enablement strategy. Comment below with your take on the question: What is enablement?
Melissa Kruminas 
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