What you'll learn
- Move from abstract competencies to measurable outputs
- Treat enablement like performance consulting, not order-taking
- Map backwards from outcomes to drive clarity and adoption
Meet our guest
Nick is the Manager of Global Sales Enablement at Databricks. With a background in instructional design and a passion for sales performance, Nick blends deep expertise in enablement strategy, consulting, and measurable impact. He builds “Enablement Environments” that help reps produce the outputs that drive performance through practical support, reinforcement, scenario-based learning, and coaching.
A former Purdue wrestler, he earned All-Big Ten honors, qualified for the NCAA tournament, and received Purdue’s 2015 Most Dedicated Wrestler award. That experience shaped his approach to accountability, ownership, and staying energized through adversity. Outside of work, he is a husband and father of two daughters who enjoys nature, hiking, reading, and homeschooling with his family.
Why "Being Trained" Isn't Enough
Background context: Nick never set out to lead enablement at a high-growth company like Databricks. But after years in sales and instructional design, he saw a gap: training programs were helping reps learn, but not necessarily helping them perform.
🎤 "I originally saw every problem as a knowledge gap," he says. "But over time I realized — it’s not what they know, it’s what they do."— Nick Lawrence
That mindset shift led Nick to build a performance consulting approach to enablement. One where the true measure isn’t attendance or engagement, but whether people can produce real work to a defined standard.
Enablement is Performance Consulting
Most enablement teams default to order-taking: a request comes in, and they deliver a training. But Nick reframes that work as performance consulting.
At Databricks, Nick emphasizes the consultative role of enablement: identifying business outcomes, diagnosing performance gaps, and recommending targeted solutions that often extend beyond training.
Example: Instead of launching a generic "discovery skills" session, his team would map the expected outcome (higher qualified pipeline), identify the output (a completed current state assessment), and build enablement around producing that work.
🎤 "It’s not bad to be an order taker. The problem is what happens after the order. Do you just check a box, or do you uncover the root problem and solve for it?"— Nick Lawrence
Competence > Competencies
Nick draws a clear line between "competencies" (skills, traits, behaviors) and "competence" (work performed to standard). It’s a small language shift that carries major strategic weight.
Rather than train in isolation, his team ties every skill back to a real deliverable: an account plan, a business case, a POV deck. The result? Reps aren’t just more skilled; they’re demonstrably more effective.
Example: During discovery training, reps learn questioning techniques in the context of producing a current state assessment — giving them both the skill and the application.
🎤 "Even if you get all reps to 100% on your competency map, so what? Unless it drives outcomes, it’s not enough."— Nick Lawrence
Define Deliverables That Matter
For Nick, the most powerful thing enablement can do is define performance — not just as outcomes like win rates, but as the work that drives those outcomes.
By anchoring to outputs like POV documents, business cases, and current state analyses, Nick’s team ensures enablement efforts are always aligned with real business impact.
Example: Instead of tracking activity ("completed call planning"), they inspect the asset itself ("is the call plan thorough, timely, and actionable?").
🎤 "Performance is outcomes and outputs. If the rep left tomorrow, what would they leave behind? That’s what you inspect."— Nick Lawrence
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