The SME – Can’t Live With Them / Don’t Live Without Them

In any training assessment and resulting instructional design I’ve always found myself working with a subject matter expert,(SME).  Working with SMEs is both a enjoyable and difficult.  SMEs have, usually through extensive experience, a tremendous amount of information on a topic that you need.  So what’s wrong with that?  Well, traditionally SMEs see all information as flat, linear, and equally important.  You need to design four hours of training and they insist that you really need 12 hours to do the job properly.  So what can you do?

Suggestion:  During my first meeting with a Subject Matter Expert I ask them to describe the job that we are creating training for.  In the process the SME, with my feedback and questioning, builds a priority pyramid by the end of our session.  With the pyramid I have a way to introduce them to the 80/20 rule.  Once they have explained the function of job and tasks associated with the job, I ask them to  use their job description and identify approximately 20% of the tasks that would be required to succeed at the job roughly 80% of the time, (top of the pyramid).  I also acknowledge that the job requires much more than just the tasks &  knowledge represented by the 20% but we’re just looking at those tasks &  knowledge that are required for the employee to perform well on a normal day.

In short order the SME has identified those tasks & knowledge that a new employee would need to be successful on the job on a typical day.  It has also made it much easier to chunk down the instructional design into critical performance points that  allow the learner to internalize and apply new skills easily and quickly.

The Training Telephone

I’ve designed and delivered lots of sales training in my career.  I was frustrated by high testing scores that followed my training sessions and the low (rock bottom) retention scores 90 days after the workshops concluded. So, I dared a group of sales trainees to help me create a support program that resulted in scores that increased over time.  Well, they agreed to help, on the condition they could be totally honest.  It was only through their honesty that I learned what worked and what didn’t.

I wasn’t naive enough to believe that they would be using their workbooks for reference when they left class.  Lugging around a sales training workbook for reference was out of the question.  So, with their help, I designed a trunk-load of DVDs, CDs, and PPTs for their laptops. After 30 days they said no, thumbs down to my efforts.  The design of the support materials had merit but they didn’t like taking their  laptop unless they were making a presentation.  So, now what?

One sales person mentioned that the only technology she carried at all times was her cell phone, why couldn’t I make something that would work on the cell phone.

So, with their guidance I chunked the sales info even further.  I followed their recommendations  to the letter resulting in 10 audio/video segments 2 – 3 minutes in length, delivered to their cell phones.  Guess what, the 30 day feedback was all thumbs up.  The best part, their retention scores and sales interactions began to improve.  The reason, they had just what they needed, where and when they needed it. 

After using the information for reference over time it became committed to memory and easy to apply successfully.  I also found this to be a sound practice for field service and field techs.  I’m now working on applications for several other jobs. Give it a try, it works.

The Short Attention Span Learner

With all that we know about today’s learner I still experience training that must have been designed in the 1950’s.  Trainers droning on and on believing that class participants are hanging on their every word.  Hanging maybe, but not on their every word certainly.

I think of the bloated content that I used to deliver years ago and think of how hard I was making it for students to absorb and retain what I was teaching.  Today we add multimedia to the bloated script and call it interactive, well maybe, but I think overload is overload no matter how it’s delivered.

As trainers we need to know that our students need to do something, apply something, create something, or discuss something about every 5 minutes during a session. I’m a big fan of 5 minute Instructional Design.  Chunk your information down to its essence then give it to the class in small digestible chunks.  Create an activity for the students after every chunk and let them apply the learning.  I know that seems like a lot of work for the instructional designer but I’ve seen it work, time and time again.