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Writer's pictureWhitney Sieck, CPTD

How to Hire an Enablement Manager


There are a variety of roles available when building your enablement organizational structure. The most common role is the skilled generalist, the "Enablement Manager." This is a tough role to hire for because there is a strong balance of business acumen and soft skills required to excel in the role. In this post, I'll share the attributes I look for and the recruiting process I'd use to hire an enablement manager. It's crucial to be crystal clear on this in order to be a good talent partner to your recruiter.


What to Look For

  • A stellar communicator, someone who is clear, concise, and keep audiences compelled no matter what the topic, ability to educate and inspire

  • An avid listener, someone who values and solicits feedback from multiple stakeholders - other team members, cross-functional leaders and the staff they enable

  • A phenomenal teammate, someone capable of high performance and flexibility in a dynamic environment, understands where they add the most value and can prioritize accordingly

  • An entrepreneur, someone who takes pride in maturing the enablement function beyond their projects and proactively identifies opportunities to impact the business

  • A data enthusiast, someone who builds and tracks critical metrics that achieve big picture team goals, they take quick action with conviction and know how to measure success

  • A program manager, someone who gets a thrill out of structure and keeping programs organized, always anticipating (and overcoming) roadblocks, ability to mobilize & influence stakeholders in the best interest of the business, demonstrates excellent time management to focus on tactical achievements

  • A consultant, leveraging SMEs and cross-functional partners to accomplish more at scale, ability to collaborate with a multitude of personalities, ability to partner with senior leadership and be there strategic partner to manage their business

  • A lifelong learner, someone who is passionate about learning more and sharing what they learn at scale

Recruiting Process

  • Step 1: Recruiter Phone Screen Ensure the basics of the job description are covered and that salary expectations are in line with the approved band. Set expectations for the hiring process.

  • Step 2: Hiring Manager Phone Screen Dig into the details. Ensure examples provided include clarity on situation, task, action and result.

  • Step 3: Take Home Test/Work Product Sample This ensures the candidate has some skin in the game and shows the quality of work they take pride in.

(Steps 4-9 would typically be completed in a half day onsite interview process, alternate considerations should be made for a remote interview experience)

  • Step 4: Panel Presentation Involve leader level stakeholders who can judge relevance of content for their current challenges. Engagement is key in the presentation - can the candidate adapt their style based on information shared through the process. Questions should revolve around why they chose the topic and how they would implement, reinforce and evaluate the training impact.

  • Step 5: Culture Add Have the candidate meet with cross-functional partners to share scenario-based examples that relate to company culture and values.

  • Step 6: Coffee Chat Brief break in the interview day to have a casual conversation with reps that they would be enabling.

  • Step 7: Hiring Manager Interview As poor manager relationships are often the top reason for attrition, it's critical to ensure there is synergy in desired manager:staff dynamics. Also, use this as an opportunity to see what part of the role is most motivating to them versus what aspects could be potentially draining. This will bring clarity to if priorities are aligned.

  • Step 8: Case Study This is a great opportunity to partner the candidate with team members to work through a common scenario that the candidate may face (call coaching, making determinations on when to scale vs when to create segment-specific content, etc). It will give you insight into their thought process and allow peers to be involved in building the team.

  • Step 9: Executive Interview (Optional) I often reserve this interview for if I'm really torn between candidates or if there is more selling to do for a candidate to feel confident about the opportunity.

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