Adoption Curve: Episode 10

Why "Being Trained" Isn't Enough

Background context: Nick never set out to lead enablement at a high-growth company like Databricks. But after years in sales and instructional design, he saw a gap: training programs were helping reps learn, but not necessarily helping them perform.

🎤 "I originally saw every problem as a knowledge gap," he says. "But over time I realized — it’s not what they know, it’s what they do."— Nick Lawrence

That mindset shift led Nick to build a performance consulting approach to enablement. One where the true measure isn’t attendance or engagement, but whether people can produce real work to a defined standard.

Key Insight #1: Enablement is Performance Consulting

Most enablement teams default to order-taking: a request comes in, and they deliver a training. But Nick reframes that work as performance consulting.

At Databricks, Nick emphasizes the consultative role of enablement: identifying business outcomes, diagnosing performance gaps, and recommending targeted solutions that often extend beyond training.

Example: Instead of launching a generic "discovery skills" session, his team would map the expected outcome (higher qualified pipeline), identify the output (a completed current state assessment), and build enablement around producing that work.

🎤 "It’s not bad to be an order taker. The problem is what happens after the order. Do you just check a box, or do you uncover the root problem and solve for it?"— Nick Lawrence

Key Insight #2: Competence > Competencies

Nick draws a clear line between "competencies" (skills, traits, behaviors) and "competence" (work performed to standard). It’s a small language shift that carries major strategic weight.

Rather than train in isolation, his team ties every skill back to a real deliverable: an account plan, a business case, a POV deck. The result? Reps aren’t just more skilled; they’re demonstrably more effective.

Example: During discovery training, reps learn questioning techniques in the context of producing a current state assessment — giving them both the skill and the application.

🎤 "Even if you get all reps to 100% on your competency map, so what? Unless it drives outcomes, it’s not enough."— Nick Lawrence

Key Insight #3: Define Deliverables That Matter

For Nick, the most powerful thing enablement can do is define performance — not just as outcomes like win rates, but as the work that drives those outcomes.

By anchoring to outputs like POV documents, business cases, and current state analyses, Nick’s team ensures enablement efforts are always aligned with real business impact.

Example: Instead of tracking activity ("completed call planning"), they inspect the asset itself ("is the call plan thorough, timely, and actionable?").

🎤 "Performance is outcomes and outputs. If the rep left tomorrow, what would they leave behind? That’s what you inspect."— Nick Lawrence

Free Adoption Template: The OOO Framework

The Problem: Enablement programs often feel abstract, disconnected from real performance

The Solution: Use Nick’s performance model builder to anchor initiatives in business value.

Define Outcomes - What business metrics matter? (e.g. Pipeline growth, win rates)
List Outputs - What must reps produce to drive those outcomes? (e.g. POV decks, Account plans)
Identify Obstacles - What's preventing high-quality outputs today? (e.g. Skill gaps, process confusion)
Map Solutions - Choose targeted interventions tied to each obstacle. (e.g. training, tooling, coaching)
Set Standards - Define what "good looks like for each deliverable". If you can't define performance, you can't improve it. Start with the outputs.