Check out iorad's interactive tutorial builder: https://www.iorad.com

What Smart L&D Leaders Do Before Launching New Tech: Yasmin Gutierrez on Change Management & Adoption

In this episode of The Adoption Curve, I sit down with Yasmin Gutierrez, Director of Director of Culture & Capability Enablement at Phillips 66, to discuss how to audit your tech stack and share practical frameworks for learning and development leaders.

Yasmin reveals why "tech is the enabler, not the solution" and explains why building adoption starts with understanding the people behind the process. We also dive into her adoption readiness framework and Megan Torrance’s Technology Implementation Canvas — both of which you can use immediately to improve rollout success and stakeholder buy-in.

If you're an L&D professional, enablement leader, or operations manager looking to improve training effectiveness and maximize tech adoption, this conversation provides the exact steps you need.

💡 FREE RESOURCE:

Tech Stack Adoption Optimization Guide - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tMiJD5c-t_lmyftMyQvtBH2qP_GnhKpR/view?usp=drive_link

💡 BONUS TOOL: Technology Implementation Canvas - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kf35i0Ty-q4EiHPreRwbzVfPUOMR8-Gv/view?usp=sharing

SOCIALS:

👨‍💻 Connect with Sean - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-adams-sales/

👨‍💻 Connect with Yasmin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/yasmingutierrez/

🌍 IORAD website - https://www.iorad.com

⏰ TIMESTAMPS

00:00: Introduction & Yasmin’s L&D journey

04:50: What to do in your first 90 days as a new L&D leader

07:30: How to evaluate in-flight tech initiatives

10:15: Diagnosing low adoption post-implementation

12:10: How to partner with vendors to improve utilization

19:45: Focus group strategies for adoption feedback

24:00: Building a change management plan that sticks

33:40: Visualizing the rollout with Yasmin's strategic canvas

38:50: Customization vs. configuration: What’s scalable

45:00: How to measure impact and ROI in L&D

#LearningAndDevelopment #EmployeeEnablement #TechAdoption #SoftwareImplementation #ChangeManagement #TrainingEffectiveness

Check out iorad's interactive tutorial builder: https://www.iorad.comHow Ashton Williams Operationalized Enablement for 13,000+ Reps at SalesforceIn this episode of The Adoption Curve, I sit down with Ashton Williams, Director of Enablement for SMB at Salesforce, to discuss how to scale enablement across massive organizations and share practical frameworks for enablement and L&D leaders.Ashton reveals why “scale forces strategy” and explains how enablers can escape the operational muck by aligning with revenue outcomes and thinking like business leaders. We also dive into her Enablement Prioritization Playbook — a simple model to map, balance, and justify what you focus on next.If you're a learning leader, enablement strategist, or ops manager trying to lead high-impact initiatives across complex orgs, this conversation delivers the strategic clarity you need.💡 FREE RESOURCE: Enablement Prioritization Playbook - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YCaNU4L2ngMsINWZ6PqQrqMi051puVfJ/view?usp=sharingSOCIALS:👨‍💻 Connect with Sean - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-adams-sales/👨‍💻 Connect with Ashton - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashtonwill/🌍 IORAD website - https://www.iorad.com⏰ TIMESTAMPS00:00: Ashton’s journey from sales to enablement leadership04:10: Why scale forces strategy (and how to adapt)06:39: The 3-priority framework to drive enablement focus09:05: Selling enablement like sales: champions, buy-in, and consensus12:55: Orchestrating cross-functional alignment16:03: The health check system: Reach, Readiness, Behavior21:46: Launching Slack’s AI product with a global field kickoff29:29: Driving internal tech adoption through peer advocacy40:18: Lessons from the Slack → Salesforce acquisition#LearningAndDevelopment #EmployeeEnablement #TechAdoption #ChangeManagement #KnowledgeTransfer #SoftwareImplementation

Check out iorad’s interactive tutorial builder: https://www.iorad.com

What SaaS Buyers Really Want: How to Remove Friction and Drive Adoption

This is a special collab episode between The Adoption Curve and SaaS Therapy, where Sean Adams and Todd Kirk team up to explore what SaaS buyers truly value after the sale—removing friction, driving adoption, and turning tools into outcomes.

Todd (VP of Software Engagement Advisory at BrainStorm Inc.) and Sean (Chief Revenue Officer at iorad) blend their experiences from both sides of the SaaS table to unpack:

• Why features don’t sell—outcomes do• How IT champions think (and what they really want from vendors)

• The mindset shift from implementation to adoption

• Tactics you can use immediately to reduce post-sale friction

If you're a product leader, customer success manager, or SaaS founder aiming to increase adoption and reduce churn, this episode delivers a roadmap for building real, lasting value.

💡 FREE RESOURCE: THE PROACTIVE POST-SALE PLAYBOOK – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hnHqqu8P58e5ha-sGa0u5ldejjxb-lmh/view?usp=sharing

SOCIALS

👨‍💻 Connect with Sean — https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-adams-sales/

👨‍💻 Connect with Todd — https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddjeffreykirk/

🌍 IORAD website — https://www.iorad.com⏰

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 — Episode intro & podcast crossover

04:30 — What SaaS buyers are really looking for

10:15 — Common friction points in onboarding

17:45 — Strategies to remove friction and increase adoption

24:30 — How to surface unseen value for IT champions

30:10 — Translating adoption into expansion

#SoftwareAdoption #UserEnablement #SaaSSuccess #CustomerOutcomes #TechImplementation

Check out iorad's interactive tutorial builder: https://www.iorad.com

Simplifying Complexity in Partner Enablement with Merav Ammar

In this episode of The Adoption Curve, I sit down with Merav Ammar, Partner Enablement Leader at SentinelOne, to discuss how to simplify partner ecosystems and share practical frameworks for learning and development leaders.

Merav reveals why partner enablement must go far beyond sales training and explains why breaking roles into four clear functions—Sell, Deliver, Manage, Build—is the key to scalable success. We also dive into her enablement persona framework that you can implement immediately to tailor content and drive partner activation at scale.

If you're an L&D professional, enablement leader, or partner program manager looking to scale partner adoption and improve training effectiveness, this conversation provides the exact steps you need.

💡 FREE RESOURCE: The Scalable Partner Enablement Playbook - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gNGsgQ23r4y0cC7-fthCnHcSKsyv3AML/view?usp=sharing

SOCIALS:

👨‍💻 Connect with Sean - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-adams-sales/

👨‍💻 Connect with Merav - https://www.linkedin.com/in/meravammar/

🌍 IORAD website - https://www.iorad.com

⏰ TIMESTAMPS

00:00: Introduction to partner enablement at SentinelOne

03:01: Why being on the price list ≠ partner readiness

06:50: Breaking down partner personas by function

14:22: The “one shot” mindset in partner activation

21:34: Mapping the partner journey and enabling self-service

26:18: Expanding beyond partner tiers with capability paths

35:00: How demo labs reduce friction and show real value

44:10: Community, feedback loops, and gamified recognition

#SoftwareAdoption #PartnerEnablement #TechnologyImplementation #TrainingEffectiveness #LearningAndDevelopment #UserAdoption

Check out iorad's interactive tutorial builder: https://www.iorad.com

Scaling Customer Success with Samantha Murray: Experience as a Growth Lever

In this episode of The Adoption Curve, I sit down with Samantha Murray, Go-to-Market & Customer Experience Strategist at AlignedCX, to discuss how to use experience as a growth lever and share practical frameworks for learning and development leaders.

Samantha reveals why adoption is a two-way street and explains how aligning internal teams to customer outcomes drives faster scale. We also dive into her People Experience as a Product operating model—an agile, empathy-driven framework you can implement immediately to improve technology adoption and training effectiveness.

If you're an L&D professional, enablement leader, or customer success manager looking to increase user adoption and remove friction from the customer journey, this conversation gives you the exact playbook to start today.

💡 FREE RESOURCE: THE SERVICE BLUEPRINT FOR ADOPTION – https://book.iorad.com/adoption-curve

SOCIALS:

👨‍💻 Connect with Sean – https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-adams-sales/

👩‍💻 Connect with Samantha – https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-murray613/

🌍 IORAD website – https://www.iorad.com

⏰ TIMESTAMPS

00:00 – Samantha’s career journey from marketing to customer success

06:41 – Early-stage strategies for scaling customer enablement

09:35 – Adoption as a two-way street: customer & company alignment

12:40 – Building empathy through user research & journey mapping

16:51 – Shifting from outputs to business outcomes

25:16 – The 4-stage People Experience as a Product methodology

33:42 – Prioritizing solutions with the Cost of Delay framework

38:13 – Using service design to uncover internal friction points

48:37 – Leveraging partner ecosystems for customer success

#LearningAndDevelopment #EmployeeEnablement #TechAdoption #CustomerSuccess #ChangeManagement #InteractiveTraining

Check out iorad's interactive tutorial builder: https://www.iorad.comCustomer Education Activation Playbook: Courtney Sembler on Driving Adoption Through LearningIn this episode of The Adoption Curve, I sit down with Courtney Sembler, Senior Director of HubSpot Academy, to discuss building a global education engine and share practical frameworks for learning and development leaders.Courtney reveals how customer education can directly drive retention, activation, and acquisition—and explains why starting with small wins is critical to gaining leadership buy-in. We also dive into her four-quadrant team model and HubSpot Academy’s proactive product sync strategy that you can implement immediately to scale education content without sacrificing quality.If you're a customer education leader, enablement strategist, or L&D professional looking to operationalize your academy or training team, this conversation provides the exact steps you need.💡 FREE RESOURCE: Customer Education Activation Framework - book.iorad.com/adoption-curveSOCIALS:👨‍💻 Connect with Sean - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-adams-sales/👨‍💻 Connect with Courtney - https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtney-sembler-b3394951/🌍 IORAD website - https://www.iorad.com⏰ TIMESTAMPS00:00: Courtney’s 10-year journey at HubSpot03:32: How HubSpot Academy got started and scaled06:01: Getting buy-in from leadership for customer education08:23: Breaking down the 65-person global team10:02: ROI metrics: 700K leads, 13% retention lift12:53: Navigating internal partnerships across CS, Marketing & Product19:27: Automating product education updates with Zapier24:04: Content localization and standardization tips28:47: Using the “Why, How, What” framework for video lessons39:41: AI’s role in content accuracy, efficiency, and personalization46:05: Why AI won’t replace CE—but it will supercharge your strategy#SoftwareAdoption #CustomerEducation #EmployeeEnablement #InteractiveTraining #ChangeManagement #TechStackOptimization

Check out iorad's interactive tutorial builder: https://www.iorad.comDigital Training for Industrial Teams with Thaddeus Tsohantaridis: Lessons from the FieldIn this episode of The Adoption Curve, I sit down with Thaddeus Tsohantaridis, Director of Training at Phoenix Global, to discuss building effective digital training systems for industrial teams and share practical frameworks for learning and development professionals.Thaddeus reveals why replicating classroom training over Zoom fails and explains why understanding “what success looks like for each learner” is the key to buy-in. We also dive into his peer-driven curriculum design strategy that you can implement immediately to improve hands-on training outcomes in field-based roles.If you're an L&D leader, enablement manager, or operations trainer looking to modernize training for manufacturing, construction, or infrastructure teams, this conversation provides the exact steps you need.💡 FREE RESOURCE: FIELD-FIRST CHANGE MANAGEMENT WORKSHEET - https://book.iorad.com/adoption-curveSOCIALS:👨‍💻 Connect with Sean - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-adams-sales/

👨‍💻 Connect with Thaddeus - https://www.linkedin.com/in/thaddeustsohantaridis/

🌍 IORAD website - https://www.iorad.com

⏰ TIMESTAMPS00:00: Thaddeus’ journey from academia to corporate training04:25: Building training in infrastructure & steel industries07:45: Lessons from adapting live training during COVID13:20: Making digital documentation accessible in the field18:00: Teaching the “why” behind digital transformation23:10: Coaching workers through change with empathy32:00: How to co-create curriculum with field experts38:30: Tying L&D metrics to real business outcomes#LearningAndDevelopment #EmployeeEnablement #TechAdoption #SoftwareImplementation #KnowledgeTransfer #JustInTimeLearning

Check out iorad's interactive tutorial builder: https://www.iorad.com

The Enablement Framework That Drives Real Revenue: Nick Lawrence on Performance Modeling

In this episode of The Adoption Curve, I sit down with Nick Lawrence, Revenue Enablement Lead at Databricks, to discuss shifting from skills training to outcome-driven enablement and share practical frameworks for learning & development leaders, enablement specialists, and sales ops professionals.

Nick reveals the importance of focusing on “competence” — the actual outputs reps produce — rather than just competencies, and explains why true enablement is about designing the environment for performance, not just delivering knowledge.

We also dive into his performance modeling framework—outcomes, outputs, and obstacles—that you can implement immediately to improve measurable pipeline and win-rate outcomes.

If you’re an L&D professional, enablement leader, or sales operations manager looking to align training with real business results, this conversation provides the exact steps you need.

💡 FREE RESOURCE: The OUTCOMES → OUTPUTS → OBSTACLES Framework - book.iorad.com/adoption-curve-episode-10

SOCIALS:

👨‍💻 Connect with Sean – https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-adams-sales/

👨‍💻 Connect with Nick – https://www.linkedin.com/in/elevatingenablement/

🌍 IORAD website – https://www.iorad.com

⏰ TIMESTAMPS

00:00: Intro & Nick’s transition into revenue enablement

02:11: Defining enablement vs training vs performance consulting

09:34: Competence vs competencies—what truly matters

14:06: How to map outcomes → outputs → enablement actions

20:30: Bringing tools into strategy, not the other way around

25:44: Environment vs event: designing systems, not webinars

33:07: Incentives, champions & change management tips

38:10: How to measure enablement impact beyond SPR

#EmployeeEnablement #L&Dstrategy #ChangeManagement #TechAdoption #PerformanceEnablement

Check out iorad's interactive tutorial builder: https://www.iorad.com

In this episode of The Adoption Curve, I sit down with Heidi Kirby, Founder of the Useful L&D Community, to discuss how learning professionals can escape the order-taking trap and become strategic business partners inside their organizations.

Heidi reveals why “completion is a useless metric” and explains how to use everyday data to prove impact—even without a dashboard. We also dive into evidence-based instructional design, like Mayer’s Multimedia Principles, that you can implement immediately to improve training retention and reduce cognitive overload.

If you're a learning strategist, customer education leader, or instructional designer looking to increase your internal visibility and deliver measurable value, this conversation provides the exact steps you need.

💡 FREE RESOURCE: The 5-Step Strategic Pushback Framework - book.iorad.com/adoption-curve-episode-9

SOCIALS:

👨‍💻 Connect with Sean - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-adams-sales/

👨‍💻 Connect with Heidi - https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidikriz/

🌍 IORAD website - https://www.iorad.com

⏰ TIMESTAMPS

00:00: From NASA to community founder: Heidi’s L&D journey

03:09: How to be seen as strategic (before you get the title)

06:15: Avoiding the “order taker” trap in L&D

08:25: Tactfully pushing back on bad learning requests11:45: Using "invisible data" to measure learning ROI

14:50: How customer education can drive down support costs

18:44: Evidence-based design with Mayer’s Multimedia Principles

24:14: Why course completion ≠ success in training

26:49: Teaching only the 20% people actually use

33:00: How to measure confidence, autonomy, and true adoption

34:29: Cross-functional buy-in for successful tech rollouts

38:31: Why L&D pros should network—without needing a reason

#LearningAndDevelopment #TechAdoption #InstructionalDesign #TrainingEffectiveness #EmployeeEnablement #CustomerEducation

Check out iorad's interactive tutorial builder: https://www.iorad.com

In this episode of The Adoption Curve, I sit down with Sara Madsen, L&D Leader at Border States, to discuss strategic learning enablement during software rollouts and share practical frameworks for learning and development professionals.

Sara reveals how involving L&D early can reduce chaos and explains why training ROI should be measured by behavioral change, not course completions. We also dive into her “Go/No-Go” planning approach and pilot team selection method that you can implement immediately to improve rollout outcomes.

If you're an L&D professional, enablement leader, or implementation project manager looking to avoid rushed rollouts and build trust across departments, this conversation provides the exact steps you need.

💡 FREE RESOURCE: Software Training Rollout Success Kit - http://book.iorad.com/adoption-curve-episode-8

SOCIALS:

👨‍💻 Connect with Sean - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-adams-sales/

👨‍💻 Connect with Sara - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sara-madsen-1a45bb78/

🌍 IORAD website - https://www.iorad.com

⏰ TIMESTAMPS

00:00: Introducing Sara Madsen & Border States’ L&D scope

02:14: What happens when L&D is brought in too late

03:44: Building trust with IT and project managers

06:01: Executive sponsorship + "bribe with candy" tactic

09:23: Why ghostwriting for execs leads to better rollout messaging

10:35: Running an effective pilot: picking the right people

12:03: Help desk training = your first line of defense

14:42: What is a "Go/No-Go Date" and why it protects L&D

17:27: Getting IT to lock down a stable version before training

20:26: Using Iorad to keep up with constant changes

22:12: How to assign roles across multi-team software projects

26:27: Internal hype videos + marketing partnerships for rollout

29:45: Short-form tutorials + self-serve help embedded in apps

34:53: How to redefine training “success” from usage to behavior

37:05: Calculating ROI: Time saved for SMEs & faster delivery

39:47: End-of-year highlight reels to tell L&D’s impact story

#LearningAndDevelopment #EmployeeEnablement #TechAdoption #SoftwareImplementation #TrainingEffectiveness #ChangeManagement