Subject Matter Experts and Content Development

TeamOJT Tip of the Month for April, 2005

The best people to develop content are right under your nose. And they are not instructional designers, trainers, or even subject matter experts (SMEs). The best people are the employees who regularly do the job. The content development group should include subject matter experts who contribute technical knowledge, other employees who know the job but are not considered experts, newer employees, and even trainees. Trainers and instructional designers can facilitate the process, but should not input content, unless they do the job on a regular basis.

A well-rounded employee team is an absolute necessity if you want good content that guarantees the training will target the right information at the right level of detail. Unfortunately, this simple fact is rarely recognized in today's gosh gee-whiz, chaotic training environment. And the result is that training seldom works. It's the wrong training at the wrong level of detail with no employee ownership. Well-balanced employee training teams can call in other experts for assistance if needed. In my experience, this rarely happens. You can also form numerous teams if you have several employees who do the same job - this cuts development time drastically. Or cross-functional teams might be called for.

Here's why you should beware what subject matter experts tell you. (There's nothing new here - this information has been well-documented by numerous learning experts).

Subject matter experts:

have developed their own unique way of doing the job which is usually not the best way to train others
have developed shortcuts over the years that may work for them, but is not the best way to do the job
might have learned the job incorrectly and not even be aware of it
have long ago forgotten why they do many parts of a task - trainees need to know why
have forgotten what it's like to be a trainee
often leave out information or details that are essential for trainees
do not necessarily have good communication skills
cram too much into too short a time
can't distinguish between "need to know" and "nice to know."
will leave out critical pre-requisite tasks that need to be trained
overestimate the knowledge, skills, and experience of trainees

As a former Boeing engineer, I have witnessed the above many times. Teams of non-destructive test engineers throughout the entire company discovered that their procedures - written for the customer airlines - were lacking in necessary details, were ambiguous, and in some cases grossly inaccurate. They discovered this by participating in groups to develop on-line training content for customer airlines. These groups included experts, non-experts, trainee engineers, and airline inspectors. It was only with the participation and questioning of the non-expert group members that the "experts" realized their mistakes. They discovered for the first time that engineers are fallible. As one "expert" engineer commented to me, "Boy, I just can't believe how many holes are in our procedures!

To write content that is at the right level of detail for trainees, it is essential to involve non-experts. They serve the vital function of questioning the experts about things they don't understand - they ask the "why," "where," "when," "how," and "what." And they learn in the process. Even the experts learn.

Human Performance Applications
Phone: (206) 447-0860
FAX: (206) 447-3410
E-mail: diane@teamojt.com