Reset & Refocus: Enablement Advice for An Impactful 2026
This briefing distils practical ideas, mental models, and decision frames from a live conversation with three experienced enablement leaders, anchored around two themes: reset and refocus.
Key highlights
1) Reset is a leadership act
Reset works best when you treat it as a deliberate choice, not something the calendar gives you.
It starts with revisiting your charter, questioning inherited priorities, and making explicit trade-offs before activity takes over.
It starts with revisiting your charter, questioning inherited priorities, and making explicit trade-offs before activity takes over.
“For me, it’s re-establishing my charter. We know what worked this year is not going to work next year, and that’s okay.”
– Devon McDermott
– Devon McDermott
2) Focus comes from subtraction before you add anything
Enablement work tends to accumulate without expiry dates, which creates a quiet “maintenance tax”.
The report offers a practical subtraction method: treat your commitments like portfolio triage (keep, fix, pause, sunset), and turn new requests into explicit trade-offs.
The report offers a practical subtraction method: treat your commitments like portfolio triage (keep, fix, pause, sunset), and turn new requests into explicit trade-offs.
3) Refocus by finding the constraint in the sales system
Instead of broad roadmaps that spread effort thin, refocus starts with diagnosis: where deals stall, where conversion drops, where cycle time balloons, and which behaviour gap sits underneath.
Diagnosing with the right approach also supports segmentation over averages, so you do not “fix the wrong problem”.
Diagnosing with the right approach also supports segmentation over averages, so you do not “fix the wrong problem”.
“If you look at stages of the sales process and where deals are getting stuck, that usually tells you where enablement should focus.”
– Lawrence Wayne O’Connor
– Lawrence Wayne O’Connor
4) Influence direction early with a point of view
Early-year priorities remain fluid, and that creates a narrow window to shape direction before decisions lock in.
The report outlines what “point of view” means in practice: a clear recommendation, supported by a small set of signals, with explicit trade-offs.
The report outlines what “point of view” means in practice: a clear recommendation, supported by a small set of signals, with explicit trade-offs.
What you’ll get
- A clear definition of “reset” and what it looks like in practice (including charter re-statement and boundary-setting).
- A simple “stop-doing” audit and the criteria to sunset work that no longer has pull.
- A diagnostic loop to identify constraints, select the smallest lever, instrument measurement, run a short test, and decide whether to scale or stop.
- Guidance on building influence with leaders by bringing judgment rather than just activity reporting.
Who this briefing is for
- Enablement leaders who feel the year starts “in motion” and want to regain leverage early.
- Enablement teams carrying too many parallel initiatives, too much maintenance, and too little protected focus.
- Practitioners who want to connect enablement effort to business outcomes through clearer diagnosis and measurement.