The difference between enablement that’s busy and enablement that works
If everything feels urgent, here’s how to cut through the noise.
Most enablement teams I meet aren’t lazy. They’re overwhelmed.
New deck request from Sales? ✅
Onboarding refresh for CS? ✅
Another training for Product Marketing? Sure, why not.
Before you know it, your Asana board looks impressive… But adoption is low. Nothing’s finished. And you’re too busy to prove impact.
Let’s fix that.
Busy ≠ strategic
Activity does not equal effectiveness.
Just because you’re building doesn’t mean you’re moving the business forward.
In fact, the fastest way to burn out your enablement team is to say yes to everything. When everything is a priority, nothing really gets prioritized.
Stop playing enablement whack-a-mole
We’ve all been there:
Sales asks for a new playbook
CS wants to revamp QBRs
Leadership suddenly wants to train everyone on a new ICP
Individually? Valid requests.
Collectively? A recipe for chaos.
Reactive enablement is a trap. You spend your time responding, not leading. Before you even start sorting through requests, pause and ask:
Does this support the company’s strategy?
Enablement only works when it drives execution of what matters most. (If you missed last edition on this, catch up here.)
Once you’re clear on that, then use the matrix to sort what’s worth doing now.
Use this matrix to cut through the noise
Here’s how I help teams prioritize what actually matters: (this isn’t rocket science, but it is powerful when used intentionally)
Use this matrix to prioritize enablement initiatives based on business impact and effort.
How to use this in real life
I once had a VP Sales, CS Director, and RevOps head all throw urgent enablement needs at me in one week.
Instead of scrambling, I invited them to a 45-min live workshop. We mapped everything into the matrix - together.
What happened?
We killed 4 initiatives (nobody missed them)
We rallied around 2 quick wins
We planned 1 strategic bet for next quarter
Bonus: They were bought in before I built anything.
Prioritization isn’t a just skill. It’s a survival strategy.
Enablement doesn’t fail because of bad ideas.
It fails because we try to do too much, too soon, for too many.
This matrix helps you zoom out, decide what actually drives revenue, and say “not now” with confidence.
Want the full planning toolkit?
I walk through this framework (and more) in The Enablement Handbook - a free guide for turning strategy into scalable execution.
Download it ➡️ here.
And yes - all past editions of Scaling Smarter are now on the website. You can also register there to get next ones by emails.
Let’s build smarter, not just busier.
Want help applying this? That's what I do at Scaling Edge.
— Ambre
