Learning Principle 1: Learning is a Catalyst for Growth & Change
- Mike Byrnes
- May 21
- 2 min read
Learning Is a Catalyst: How Growth Begins with Enablement
I’ve always believed that great learning doesn’t just fill knowledge gaps—it sparks movement. In sales enablement, that movement shows up as confidence, clarity, and the courage to try something different. When done right, learning becomes a catalyst for growth—not just in individual performance, but in team culture and company results.
Over the years, I’ve seen one thing hold true: when learning challenges people in the right way, change follows. And I’ve watched that principle prove itself again and again—especially in moments when teams were under pressure, navigating pivots, or chasing ambitious goals. Every time learning truly lands, it’s because it nudges the status quo—just enough to open up something new.
Change starts with tension. Learning creates the spark.
Years ago, I was rolling out a new positioning framework to a mid-market sales team. The company was shifting into a more value-led narrative, but the reps were stuck in feature-speak because it was what they were used to. We could’ve launched a slide deck and called it enablement. Instead, we created a learning experience that unpacked why the old approach no longer worked—and let them grapple with the implications.
The breakthrough came when one rep said, “So... are we saying we’ve been doing it wrong this whole time?” That discomfort? That was the moment learning started doing its job. It wasn’t about shaming—it was about opening a new door. And notice she said “WE’VE been doing it wrong”. That simple word was the acceptance after the spark.
As Peter Senge once said in The Fifth Discipline, “People don’t resist change. They resist being changed.” Learning, when framed as a catalyst, gives people agency in the change.
Catalysts are designed for movement—not maintenance.
The role of enablement isn’t just to support—it’s to challenge, inspire, and evolve. We often get asked to “reinforce what’s already there,” and yes, that’s still important, but the real magic happens when enablement introduces a new way of thinking. That might be a fresh sales approach, a bold objection handling model, or a new mindset on coaching.
Think about Daniel Pink’s idea in Drive: people are motivated by autonomy, mastery, and purpose. If your enablement initiative doesn’t tap into those motivators, you’re not creating a catalyst—you’re creating compliance.
From theory to traction: Measuring the impact of learning as a catalyst.
You know a learning initiative has been a catalyst when it shows up in the numbers and the narrative. In one case, a blended onboarding experience I designed cut ramp time by 45%. But what really stuck with me was a manager who told me, “She’s asking better questions in week two than most reps ask in month two.”
Catalytic learning shows up in:
Better questions
New habits
Changed language
Improved performance
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