How to Build an Enablement Function from Scratch with Nicole Ward from OneSource Virtual

Description

In this episode, Steve Watt and Amber Mellano are joined by Nicole Ward, Senior Director of Revenue Enablement at OneSource Virtual (OSV), to learn why she joined the organization as their first enablement hire and how she and the team found so much success. 

Nicole is an industry expert and thought leader who joined OSV after a decade of managing an award-winning team of enablement innovators at Citrix. Today, you’ll hear all about her remarkable achievements with OSV. Her highlights include a substantial reduction in new hire ramp time and time-to-first-opportunity, along with impressive improvements in deal sizes and win rates that she attributes to her strategic approach and collaboration with various business functions. 

Throughout the interview, Nicole emphasizes the importance of obtaining executive buy-in and stakeholder alignment early in the process to ensure success. She advocates for focusing on a few key pillars and avoiding the temptation to “boil the ocean” when first starting. Nicole’s emphasis on leveraging data, maintaining ongoing communication, and building cross-functional relationships demonstrates how critical these elements are for effective enablement.  

By sharing her experience and practical advice, Nicole provides a clear roadmap for building a robust enablement function that can adapt and thrive amid organizational change. 

Show Notes

Jump into the conversation:  

[04:31] Nicole’s key to enablement 

[05:56] Coming in as the first enablement hire 

[07:52] When do you know that you’re ready for the next opportunity? 

[09:56] Building out the enablement function before day one 

[13:01] How to leverage the greater team around you 

[15:50] The data behind Nicole and OSV’s success 

[18:40] Why you need to partner with your fellow business functions 

[22:06] Being thrown into the deep end 

[28:25] Nicole’s advice for others 

[30:45] On the Edge 

About Nicole:

Nicole Ward is a passionate and technology-forward global revenue enablement leader with over 14 years in the field. She is currently the Senior Director of Revenue Enablement at OneSource Virtual after a decade of managing an award-winning team of enablement innovators at Citrix.   

Nicole believes that a successful enablement program must be centered around empathy and be inclusive of all customer-facing teams. Nicole is a bridge builder who will work cross-functionally to drive productivity and ensure satisfaction with enablement programs. She is data-driven and process-oriented with a laser focus on bringing enablement into the context of actual opportunities with CRM integrations.  

On the personal side, Nicole is a multi-tasking mom who resides in London, Ontario, Canada with her husband James and two small children. She enjoys cooking, cycling, traveling, and she dreams of pursuing a sommelier certification someday. Fun fact: Prior to starting her family, Nicole was one of Canada’s early lifestyle “influencers” and launched Canada’s first conference targeted to style influencers in 2013. 

Episode highlight:

“In enablement, we are bridge builders, and we are serial collaborators. It’s all about connecting with people across the organization to understand what they do, how can I learn from them, what can they learn from me, how can I support them, what are their goals, can I attach myself to their goals, especially if they were key stakeholders in enablement. It’s all about building your internal network.”