Right now, the economy is booming, companies are hiring at a tremendous pace, and everyone is stretched thin—especially learning and development professionals. As learning and development professionals, we’re often asked to do more with less. If you find yourself in this position, you might be asking yourself, “how can I survive this level of demand and still provide excellent value to my organization and excellent opportunities for my learners?”
Employing outside vendors is a great option—they provide a wonderful service while saving you time. The truth is, however, many smaller learning & development organizations simply don’t have the budget to accommodate hiring vendors. In all honesty, the answer may come from within: subject matter experts!
SME’s offer many advantages for learning and development teams: they know your audience, your organization, and the subject! But those of us who have worked extensively with SME’s know that with all the good comes some difficulty as well.
In this interactive conversation, we’ll discuss:
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Four different “types” of SME’s
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Develop strategies for working with each type
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How to effectively coach and manage relationships
You’ll leave with a plan for improving the outcomes achieved by your SME’s and a new weapon for improving your overall learning and development offerings.
Eric Atkins is a self-described learning and development (L&D) junkie. During his recovery from being a writing teacher (don’t worry, he won’t correct your grammar—unless you ask!), Eric discovered instructional design and hasn’t looked back. He worked as an instructional designer and learning technologist in the financial service industry before joining Brasfield & Gorrie in 2010, where he currently leads the Career Development Team.
Eric is a former President of the Birmingham Chapter of the Association for Talent Development (ATD) and is currently serving as the Chair of the Associated General Contractors of America’s Training, Education, and Development Steering Committee. He earned his Certified Professional in Learning and Performance (CPLP) in January 2019.