PART 5 — Working With SMEs: Your Secret Weapon (or Your Worst Nightmare) (Part 5 of 6)

1. The Simple Version: Who Are SMEs?

Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) are:

👉People who know the content
(even if they don’t know how to teach it)

Instructional Designers are:

👉 People who know how to teach the content
(even if they don’t know the domain deeply)

When both work together, you get excellence.
When they don’t… you get a 90-slide PowerPoint that summons existential dread.

2. What a REAL SME Actually Is (Not the Fake Corporate Version)

People throw around “SME” too casually.
In ID, a real SME has a very specific meaning.

Here’s the clean, accurate, Sri-level definition:

A true SME is someone who:

✔️ Has verified expertise

A real SME brings deep knowledge backed by:

years of experience
certifications
formal training
real-world problem-solving
recognized competence

They don’t just know what to do —
they know why, when, how, and what happens when things go wrong.

✔️ Is recognized by the organization as the authority

Not “Dave from Accounting who’s been here a year.”

A genuine SME has credibility validated by:

leadership
peers
industry standing
track record

✔️ Understands the consequences of incorrect performance

Real SMEs know what’s at stake:

safety
compliance
accuracy
quality
customer impact
legal implications

This is why SME insight is non-negotiable.

✔️ Knows the job under real-world conditions

Not theory.
Not assumptions.

Real conditions:

stress
time pressure
broken systems
customer chaos
practical shortcuts
edge cases
exceptions to rules

This makes their knowledge practical and accurate.

✔️ Can explain concepts — even if messy

They might not be great teachers,
but they can:

talk through scenarios
explain decisions
recall steps
share nuance
differentiate conditions

Their explanations may be chaotic —
that’s where YOU shine.

✔️ Provide accuracy, not curriculum

This is crucial:

SMEs validate the content.
IDs structure the learning.

SMEs = “Here’s what’s correct.”
IDs = “Here’s how they’ll learn it.”

When both respect the boundary, courses become masterpieces.

✔️ Are essential for credibility

No matter how strong your design is,
no training is legit unless a SME says:

✔️ “Yes, this is correct.”

SMEs ensure:

accuracy
compliance
industry alignment
professional validity

Without SMEs, training becomes fanfiction.

How to Spot a Fake SME (Sri-Style)

Fake SMEs sound like:

❌ “Just put all this in a slide.”
❌ “This is all common sense.”
❌ “Everything is important.”
❌ “I don’t have time — can you just create something?”
❌ “Learners will figure it out.”
❌ “I already made the course — here’s 120 slides.”

Real SMEs are the opposite:

✔️ They engage
✔️ They validate
✔️ They clarify
✔️ They help prioritize
✔️ They share examples and mistakes
✔️ They collaborate

3. The Real Job: You’re Not Just an ID — You’re a Translator

SMEs speak expert.
Learners speak beginner.

YOU speak both.

Your job is to:

🔹 Extract knowledge
🔹 Organize it
🔹 Simplify it
🔹 Structure it
🔹 Sequence it
🔹 Remove clutter
🔹 Fill gaps
🔹 Ensure accuracy
🔹 Align everything to learning outcomes

SMEs give you raw materials.
You turn it into an actual learning experience.

4. Influence Without Authority (The ID Superpower)

As an ID, you almost NEVER have authority over SMEs.
You can’t force anything.

But you CAN:

✔️ influence

✔️ guide

✔️ facilitate

✔️ lead gently

✔️ create clarity

✔️ build trust

This is the ninja samurai art of Instructional Design. LOL

5. How to Build Influence With SMEs

5.1. Understand Their World First

Ask:

What pressures are they under?
What are their deadlines?
What frustrates them?
What motivates them?
What does success look like for them?

People cooperate when they feel understood.

5.2. Be Brutally Clear About Roles

Your responsibility:

design
structure
pedagogy
assessment alignment

Their responsibility:

content accuracy
context
exceptions
details

State this early to avoid chaos.

5.3. Save Them Time (The Golden Rule of SMEs)

Nothing builds trust faster.

Examples:

turn their rough notes into a clean outline
rewrite confusing content
build drafts for them to review
organize their messy files
send them summaries, not essays

Become the person who reduces their workload.
They’ll love you forever.

5.4. Demonstrate Your Value Early

Show your superpower in the first meeting:

simplify something complex
turn chaos into clarity
organize content
strengthen objectives
improve a messy slide
show a clean learning structure
solve a small problem for them

Credibility established.

5.5. Communicate Like a Laser

SMEs HATE:

vague emails
unclear deadlines
too many options
long explanations
unnecessary jargon

They want:

✔️ clarity
✔️ brevity
✔️ accuracy
✔️ directness

Make communication painless.

5.6. Ask Them to Teach You Something

This does THREE big things:

Reveals how they understand the content
Exposes their natural organization
Builds emotional connection

SMEs love teaching.
Use that energy.

5.7. Connect Their Content to Your World

Say things like:

“Oh, that’s just like ___ in my field.”

This makes them feel:

✔️ heard
✔️ valued
✔️ respected
✔️ appreciated

Emotional connection = smoother collaboration.

6. Red Flags & How to Handle Them (The Sri-Style Survival Guide)

🚩 The “Everything is important” SME

Solution: bring them back to performance goals.

🚩 The “I already made the course” SME

Solution: frame ID as value-add, not replacement.

🚩 The “I have no time” SME

Solution: micro-meetings + specific tasks + drafts ready to approve.

🚩 The Control Freak

Solution: align roles early; gently defend boundaries.

🚩 The Ghost

Solution: set expectations in writing; document everything.

7. The Sri-Style Reality Punchline

Working with SMEs is half psychology, half strategy, half diplomacy,
and somehow still half magic.

Yes, that again adds up to more than 100%.
SME collaboration always does.

But here’s the truth:

A great Instructional Designer turns ANY SME into a partner.
Because YOU create clarity.
YOU design structure.
YOU guide the process.
YOU extract brilliance.
YOU transform expertise into learning.

SMEs aren’t obstacles.
They’re catalysts — when you handle them the right way.

8. Coming Up Next — PART 6

Project Management for Instructional Designers:
Managing Chaos Without Losing Your Mind
This chapter is full of reality:

deadlines that move
files that multiply
people who forget things
milestone management
collaboration flow
quality control
how IDs keep projects on track (when everyone else derails them)