How to convert the toughest SME

30 MARCH 2010 BY CATHY MOORE

You want to create an action-packed online experience that revolutionizes learners
behavior. Your subject matter expert wants you to faithfully reproduce every lovingly
polished bullet of their 217-slide PowerPoint presentation. Is there any hope for your
relationship?
Everyone knows that in any relationship, its the other person who needs to change. So
lets change your SME.

1. Read what they gave you.
Before you do anything else, read all 217 slides. Respect the effort that the SME has
put into their work and try to understand what they wrote. And make a note for future
projects: Dont let SMEs create PowerPoints. Ask them for an informal brain dump
instead, or an interview, or any other format that they wont put so much work into.
2. Involve them from the beginning
If you use Action Mapping, include the SME in the very first discussions with your client,
when you identify the goal. Ask the SME to help answer these questions:
Why does this course (or project) need to exist?
What would happen if we didnt create the course? How much could that cost the
company?
What is the one clear change we want to see happen as a result of our course?
How can we tell if the change has occurred? How can we measure it?
3. Ask them to help identify what people need to do
and why they arent doing it
Once the SME agrees with the business goal of the course, ask them to help you
identify what people need to do on their jobs to reach that goal.
Often, the SME is too close to the process to see it from the birds-eye view that you
need. Some questions that might help:
Which people are involved in the process or action?
How would you describe each persons role to a 10-year-old?
Could you walk me through the basic process from beginning to end?
What would happen if Person X didnt do their part?
Is this step optional, or is it required to reach our goal?
Whats a common mistake at this point?
What information or support do people have? Do they use it? If not, why not?
What pressures are people under?
Are people rewarded if they achieve the performance we need? How?
4. Ask them to help brainstorm activities and limit information
For each on-the-job action that you want your materials to teach, ask the SME to help
you think of an online activity that gives learners a chance to practice the action (not
recognize facts).
Often, its easier for SMEs to respond to your ideas first, before coming up with their
own. So sketch a sacrificial prototype activity that you know wont be quite right, and
show it to the SME. Theyll be happy to correct you, and that might be all the
momentum they need to begin offering their own ideas.
If your SME keeps suggesting fact checks instead of more realistic decision-making
activities, you might try the following questions:
If a person doesnt know that fact, what do they do wrong on the job? How would
that affect our goal?
How could you tell by watching me do my job that I know that bit of information?
What mistakes do new people make?
What mistakes do people make when they get over-confident?
This helps remind the SME that the only information
that should go into the material is the info thats required to perform the activities. If
the SME wants to add more information, ask them to identify the activity for which its
vital.
This last phase can be challenging for the SME, because youll be chopping information
that they cherish. If the chopping gets too painful for them, consider creating an optional
place for the nice to know information and linking to it in the course.
For more ideas on working with SMEs, check these out:
Julie Dirksens first ID Webcomic: the SME just wants to help!
Tips on handling SMEs by Jon Aleckson
Working with subject matter experts. Great point: Your challenge is to honor their
passion without compromising the instructional effectiveness of your program.
Normal Lamonts fun slide show, The SME Test (brace yourself for some brain
surgery)
What did I miss?
How have you created good partnerships with SMEs? What questions do you ask to get
the kind of information and activity ideas that you need?
Comments
1. Sergey says:
30 March 2010 at 10:35 am
Great post! We always encounter 1 or 2 people on the team who want us to faithfully
reproduce 217 slides. We usually use clients e-learning project managers to influence
them.
2. Jennifer says:
30 March 2010 at 2:52 pm
Great post, Cathy! I Its a universal challenge. We recently did a series posts on the
same topic.
http://www.bottomlineperformance.com/lolblog/?p=1252
3. Jennifer says:
31 March 2010 at 6:57 pm
Great post the slide show your recommended is very accurate!
One of the challenges working with SMEs is that they find it difficult to understand that
the people you will be training are not expected to be become SMEs as a result of the
training. Additionally, many SMEs may feel threatened as they often feel their point of
difference is their knowledge so the 217 powerpoint is often an exercise to point out
that they know more than anyone else.
I had to work with a very, very entrenched SME. He had been approached by others in
regards to a particular learning process and handed them a 217 page size 10 font word
document. I took a different approach. I talked to him about their being 4 levles of
knowledge & skill:
1. Basic
2. Intermediate
3. Advanced
4 .Super User
I explained that he is a SuperUser and that our goal is not to replicate his skill set, but
to use his skills and knowledge to help develop accurate and effiecient training.
Together, we developed descriptions of the knowledge and skills each level requires.
These later became our learning objectives (pre-requisites for the next level up).
This helped him understand that I knew that he was a SuperUser not because of formal
learning, but because of formal and informal learning, because of his first hand
experience and because he had had opportunities to learn from mistakes. And that we
needed him to continue developing his knowledge and skills as an SME.
He never handed me the 200 page document. Instead, he presented me with a list of
procedures that a Basic user needs to know.
And he was eager and proud to be part of the design process. And our output was
much more effective.
I find using this approach encourages collaboration and the SME feels that their input is
respected and valued (as it always is).
o James Goldsmith says:
1 June 2012 at 11:25 am
You make some great points, Jennifer. In addition to breaking it down from Basic to
Super User (or something equivalent), I also ask my SMEs to help me identify what is:
1) essential information, 2) supporting information, and 3) nice to know for the category
I am targeting (typically Basic or Intermediate). This additional step provides me with
even greater clarity as I organize the materials and look for the most appropriate
learning strategies to make the content most relevant to learners.
4. Sumeet Moghe says:
1 April 2010 at 1:34 pm
Hi Cathy,
This was a great post. Id written something on these lines about a year back take a
look
Sumeet
5. Cathy Moore says:
1 April 2010 at 2:59 pm
Thanks, everyone, for your comments and your links to more ideas.
One thread that appears to be common is that we need to make sure the SME
understands that:
1. We value ALL their information, and
2. Were cutting some of that information because our goal is to get learners to a basic
level of proficiency, not to clone the SME.
I agree that its also essential to learn as much as you can independently and to show
the SME that youve done your homework. This includes reading what they gave you.
When Im the SME theres nothing more annoying than realizing that my colleague
hasnt read what I wrote. That rings all sorts of alarm bells and tempts me to go into
micro-managing mode.
6. Cathy Moore says:
1 April 2010 at 6:14 pm
Heres a LinkedIn discussion that covers some related ground: How do you get and
keep stakeholders involved during training development?
7. Christy Tucker says:
2 April 2010 at 8:07 am
Were cutting some of that information because our goal is to get learners to a basic
level of proficiency, not to clone the SME.
Thats a great way to explain it. I think its too easy for our relationship with the SME to
become adversarial, when we really are aiming for the same ultimate goal of helping
learners. (Well, nearly all the timethere are some SMEs out there who are more
interested in showing off their own expertise. But some IDs are that way too.)
8. Norman says:
3 April 2010 at 5:23 am
Normal Lamont? Not what some people say!
9. amanda says:
16 May 2010 at 11:01 pm
I am new to the instructional design process and have never worked directly with an
SME. My recent work with the design theories have helped slow down the lesson
planning process of which I am used to as an elementary teacher.
10. Michelle says:
16 July 2010 at 8:13 am
I work in state government & Im new to the field. SMEs are already asking me to put
their narrarated presentation in our LMS. They arent interested in meeting and need it
done yesterday. What can I say to change their minds? Im afraid that they arent
interested in facilitating learning.
11. Courseworks says:
23 July 2012 at 3:21 am
You showed some great aspects of converting tough SMEs. Working with SMEs is a
great challenge which is faced by every student. If a student can successfully handle
his/her SMEs then he/she can also become a successful learner.
12. Christopher Pappas says:
27 February 2013 at 4:54 am
Hi Cathy,
I find your article really useful. You may also find useful my answer at the question Is it
necessary for an Instructional Designer to be a Subject Matter
Expert? http://elearningindustry.com/is-it-necessary-for-an-instructional-designer-to-
be-an-subject-matter-expert
Have a wonderful day,
Christopher Pappas
Trackbacks
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