WORKING WITH SMES

WORKING WITH SMES

"One of the most difficult challenges I face is working efficiently with subject-matter experts (SMEs) to create online courses," says a reader. "I'm constantly trying to identify better ways to work with new SMEs, to motivate them, and to make their task of communicating the necessary content easier."

Can others offer advice, insights, and/or tips regarding how to work effectively with SMEs?

Here's a response:

Tita Beal (anntares@yahoo.com) has used the following strategies with subject experts including private-banking department heads, oil-drilling product managers, pharmaceutical-company scientists, telecommunications engineers, and others.

1. Do your homework carefully so you can begin an interview with a clear explanation of what you want to discuss, why, and how long it will take (under 30 minutes), as well as a list of questions with space to write answers.

2. Train yourself to take continual notes while making eye contact in case your experts balk at a tape recorder. Make code symbols (e.g., asterisk, check, etc.) as you write to remind yourself where there's an important point, a follow-up question you need to ask, or a "to do" item.

3. Begin the interview by setting the right collaborative tone. For example, "I'm going to ask you some questions that will sound simple, but sometimes are hard to answer. And don't worry. If you want, I'll show you my first outlines and drafts so you have a chance to correct anything I didn't get right, and add anything you may not think of today."Beal learned to do this the hard way when an expert got furious at her for asking "stupid questions" but later had the good grace to apologize and say, "Your questions about needed results and assumptions were so simple, I should have already thought through the answers. I felt stupid so I called you stupid. Apologies. Can we start again?"

4. If you need the experts' support and "buy-in," consider giving them credit in the materials or an invitation to speak in an on-site or online panel to the participants. ("I reshaped a long discussion into 10 tips, gave the expert a byline and invited him to moderate a session in a two-day seminar," says Beal. "He beat the bushes to make sure people attended 'his' seminar." (Keep in mind the Taoist definition of leadership, recommends Beal: "When the best leader's work is done, the people say, 'We did it ourselves!'")

5. Don't make busy experts teach you their expertise. They'll become very impatient and exasperated. If you can't understand a technical term but sort of understand what the expert is talking about, spell it phonetically and ask someone else or do some research. If you need to understand a concept or term to make any sense of the conversation, ask something like, "If we have to explain this to new hires or newly promoted people, how would you define that in plain English?"

6. Don't get into semantic arguments. You may need to develop "behavioral objectives" a certain way or you may have strong opinions about what is a benefit vs. a feature. However, just listen to the expert's discussion of needed performance, results, and ways to assess quality of performance. You can create the perfect statement of objectives or list of features/benefits later.

7. Listen for generic concepts and skills underneath the specific details that experts will discuss. For example, have in the back of your mind questions like, "What results must they produce? What conceptual framework guides their thinking? What's their 'Choose from Column A, B, C mental menu of options' that they refer to unconsciously when they make a decision? What are the experts' underlying assumptions/evaluations in that case example?"

8. Finally, a last resort: If someone refuses to answer your questions with dismissive comments like, "Sales reps know all that," start packing up and say very politely, "I guess this training program isn't needed. I'll explain that to X." (X = the expert's own manager or a senior executive who has requested or approved the proposal to develop the training program.)

Beal is an instructional designer and consultant based in New York, N.Y.