Helping Your SME Figure Out What Really Matters

Heidi Feickert

Managing a subject matter expert (SME) effectively, getting the information you need, and guiding a SME through the development process are often the biggest hurdles in getting the project done right and on-time. This project involved the deadly combination of a client, who was a SME.

As an onsite contractor at a government office here in DC, my assignment was to create a portfolio of project management training. When I started on the project, I was introduced to a key stakeholder—he was a SME and also the client for risk management content. Being very enthusiastic about his subject area, he had created his own training to jump start implementation.

Confident that his training was comprehensive, my SME insisted his class materials needed no editing and should be used as a model for the new classes. For a two-hour class, there were:

  • 87 PowerPoint slides
  • A "hands-on" exercise
  • Multiple screen captures per-slide.

Reviewing the materials, I figured they could be legally classified as a deadly weapon for Death By PowerPoint.

We've all faced Death By PowerPoint. Some of us (yes, yes, raise your hands in the back row) might even admit to having inflicted it. The real challenge here was not to create more engaging training. It lay in working with the SME, directing his enthusiasm productively, and creating a successful process launch within the organization.

In the age of email, I believe in face-to-face contact. Luckily, I had desk space near the SME and regularly stopped into his office to chat. Doing this let me informally find out his goals in the organization and his background with training. This informal research was key to deciding how to create accessible training from the tsunami of content.

I tried explaining the changes needed to create training that would stick with the learners. My SME was inflexible, believing his "just-the-facts-ma'am" philosophy was the only way to train. All the facts?for him, those 87 slides covered what anyone had to know on risk management. Since no training class should last longer than two hours, he concluded: all 87 slides would be presented in two hours, with an exercise for hands-on practice.

I never actually saw him present the class, but I think he must have taken a class in speed talking for auctioneers.

Strategizing on how to kick off this project, I decided a straightforward tactic explaining instructional design quality was not working. Instead, reflecting on the conversations I'd had with the SME, I took on two goals which seemed crutical: (1) demonstrating how the materials could be improved, and (2) showing the SME how he could gain better acceptance for the processes within the organization.

I worked behind the scenes to restructure the content, keeping the overall class appearance unchanged. Volunteering to facilitate the existing class, I informally asked which topics were most important. All other slides were axed from the class, stapled together with a new cover as an appendix. I created threaded examples and resorted the slides to separate topics. I then facilitated the class, excusing the minor changes in flow as necessary since I lacked the expertise of a SME.

Not surprisingly, the training went over much better than the original. Recognition for training quality went to the SME and the program got a great kickoff within the organization.

What did I learn?

  1. Know what role you are playing on a project. An instructional designer's primary concern is performance improvement, in this case through providing high quality training. A project manager needs to focus primarily on achieving the client's key objectives. In this case, making steps toward the overall project goals opened the door to improving the training quality.
  2. Show me works better than tell me. Sometimes you're better off showing a client how things can work better rather than describing.
  3. Building long term trust with a client or SME may be more urgent than producing excellent training. In the long run, opportunities to improve training quality emerge over time; building a good relationship starts on Day One.