Building Internal Relationships

Submitted by Stephanie Middaugh in April 2024.

Stephanie is currently the Head of Global Enablement at Pinecone as well as the Enablement Squad's Co-Founder. She has been in Enablement and Sales Operations for over a decade and started Phoenix GTM Consulting, an Enablement Consulting firm, in 2023. You can find her on LinkedIn here.

💡 Enablement Tip of the Week: Building internal relationships is one of the most critical parts of the Enablement role. 🤗

🤯 This isn't a mind-blowing post, but it's an important reminder. Whether you're a team of 1 at a small start-up ( 🙋🏼‍♀️ ) or a large Enablement team at an Enterprise company, the relationships you build with your executive leaders, your cross-functional stakeholders, your front-line managers, AND your Reps are, in my opinion, one of the most important things you can do in your role.

🧭 Executive leaders will (or should 🙃 ) be able to provide you with the strategic goals of the organization which you can then strategize and build your Enablement programs to support. 💪🏼 Your cross-functional stakeholders are the ones who will help you accomplish and deliver on those initiatives. 🩺 Your front-line managers are the ones who will give you insight into the pulse of the field AND provide top-down support and reinforcement for your initiatives. 🥾 And your Reps, those are your boots on the ground, they will tell you what's *actually* happening and give you great, albeit sometimes hard, feedback. 🗣️

😵‍💫 This relationship-building doesn't have to take over your calendar or schedule either. Figure out what cadence works best for you & your team(s). 🗓️ Bi-weekly? Monthly? Quarterly? If you find that you're canceling your sync more often than having them, adjust the recurrence. And don't be afraid to use async options like a recap or check-ins via Slack, Teams, etc.

💛 You don't necessarily have to skip through the office, although let's be honest, that's awesome 😆 - but making yourself available and building those relationships can make a HUGE difference in your Enablement practice.