A fresh perspective: The power of beginning at the end

This article comes from Sr. Director of Sales & Field Enablement at Zixi, Eric Mingorance’s talk, ‘Begin with the end in mind’, at our 2023 New York Sales Enablement Summit.

Check out the full event replay in the membership dashboard.

We often think of a journey as one step at a time, or progress as linear, but I want to rework this with a radical but effective concept: beginning with the end in mind.

As a sales enablement leader with a passion for improvement and a penchant for problem-solving, I'm always looking for ways to shake things up and create more impactful strategies.

The question is:

How do we go beyond simply 'delivering' training to actually ensuring it aligns with our business outcomes?

I’d like to share my thoughts on this very topic, distilling some of my key insights to help you flip your approach to sales enablement on its head.

We'll base our discussion in the Kirkpatrick model and explore how we can effectively reorient our strategies to focus on results.

From setting clear, tangible goals to ensuring alignment across all teams, and implementing a robust, continuous feedback loop, we'll explore all the crucial steps that you can implement in your organization to drive real results.

So, without further ado, let's kickstart our journey of 'beginning at the end.' 🛣️

Reinforcement: Our halftime pep talk
Flipping the Kirkpatrick model
Changing behaviors
Final thoughts

Reinforcement: Our halftime pep talk

We've all been there: the halfway mark, where you pause, reassess, and brace yourself for the sprint to the finish line, I like to think of it like the Super Bowl halftime.

When teams huddle in the locker room, you don’t suddenly announce a brand-new change in strategy, you focus on reinforcement - reminding the team of the groundwork already laid and boosting their motivation.

That's how I want you to think of this enablement training approach. We're not reinventing the wheel. Instead, we’re revisiting and reinforcing things you already know, breathing new life into them, and gearing up for the next big push. 💪

Flipping the Kirkpatrick model

To begin with the end in mind, we need to revisit an old favorite in training methodology: the Kirkpatrick model.

But we're going to flip it, rearranging the four levels to align better with our KPIs to help us focus on changing behavior and establishing clear outcome objectives or performance goals. 🔄

I like to meet each level with a question to keep us anchored to our end goal:

🔻Level 4: "Did it make a difference?"

🔻Level 3 :"Are they using it (Behavior)?"

🔻Level 2: "Did they learn it?”

🔻Level 1: "Did they like it?".

Why begin at the end?

Beginning at the end means starting strategic planning from the desired business outcomes rather than the training content.

With this approach, we can reverse engineer our learning programs to ensure that they are tied directly to those outcomes, which is the most crucial step towards better alignment.

For instance, let's say the desired business outcome is to increase the sales conversion rate.

Rather than developing a generic sales training program, we should ask ourselves what specific skills or behaviors will contribute to improving the conversion rate.

Maybe it's negotiation techniques, or perhaps it's better lead qualification. Identifying these links from the outset ensures that our learning programs are both targeted and effective.

An important part of this is also engaging stakeholders in these initial conversations, to identify the current metrics being monitored, and to ask what data prompted the need for training.

Take a moment to reflect. Are stakeholders saying, "We're not selling enough widgets (or insert any other product here) How can we change that?"?

While training might not always be the solution, it's a great starting point. It helps us identify what's important, what needs measuring, and what doesn't.

This is the consulting phase, where we stop taking orders and start offering strategic advice, earning a seat at the decision-making table.

Changing behaviors

I'm not the first to turn this model on its head, and I won't be the last. Why? Because it works. Big players like IBM, Hilton, and Cisco are all doing it.

Here’s one example to pull out that works with our journey analogy - Bridgestone Tires.

By focusing on the end goal of reducing workplace injuries and accidents, they saw a significant 30% decrease in accidents and a whopping 45% reduction in lost workdays. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding.

Here's where things get really interesting - we want to link our training outcomes to actual behavior changes.

We need to drill down to the problem we're trying to solve and the behavior that will move the needle on that problem.

We need to ask, "What should people be able to do?" and "Why aren't they doing it now?". By doing so, we focus on the actions that will make a tangible difference.

Practicing behavioral change

Practice makes perfect, right? But not just any practice - deliberate, focused practice. We need to create safe spaces where people can experiment, make mistakes, and learn from them.

Here's the challenge: behavioral change is not always observable, particularly in a virtual environment. But we can engineer situations to observe these changes, much like placing a microscope over a petri dish.

Think of it like having a workout buddy.

You are far more likely to hit the gym when you know someone else is counting on you to show up. The same principle applies to learning and behavioral change. 🏋️

By fostering a culture of peer-to-peer accountability, we scale these changes.

We lean into the power of our teams, creating an environment where everyone is invested in everyone else's success.

This is not about micromanagement; it's about camaraderie, mutual support, and shared growth.

Final thoughts

To wrap up, let's circle back to where we started: beginning with the end in mind. This doesn't mean we ignore the journey or the steps along the way.

Instead, it's about keeping our eyes on the prize, being clear about what we're striving to achieve, and ensuring our efforts align with those goals.

By turning the Kirkpatrick model upside down, embracing stakeholder metrics, linking training outcomes to behavioral change, creating safe practice environments, fostering peer-to-peer accountability, and focusing on actionable knowledge, we set the stage for a transformative approach to sales enablement.

Remember, it's not about reinventing the wheel; it's about ensuring that the wheel is spinning in the right direction. With the end in mind, we can drive meaningful change, impact KPIs, and achieve measurable success.

So, let's get out there and shake things up, and in doing so, truly make a difference!