Are Your Internal & External Teams: A subject Matter Expert or Learning Epert?

Dear HR , Training and Learning & Development Heads

Yesterday, I met HRDF committee that wanted to know more about TLMM services and how this can add value to their regulations.  During our conversation, there was one manager who says her portfolio is to validate Subject Matter Experts only.  She has to ensure the proposals are ‘meaty’ and full of substance.  My question, to her was what  if the Expert himself is not a learner.  He is only an expert on his subject but beyond that he has no clue?  Well …of course my question was not answered.  So I begin digging for information and came across this article on line.

1.                  Meet the Subject Matter Expert

For example, training professionals at pharmaceutical and medical device companies often have either A) years of experience in sales or product development, B) an advanced degree in a related field, C) a clinical background or D) access to people within their organization who have these characteristics. They know their products inside and out… but they do not know how to close a specific performance gap that is happening or how to give their learners the knowledge and skills they need to be successful in their roles?

These individuals are subject matter experts. They know their content, but they are not experts at teaching this content to others. It might seem counterintuitive, but the expert is not always the best teacher.

2.                  Meet the Learning and Performance Experts

To drive success, both a Learning Expert and a Performance Expert are needed. These are often the same individual, or members of a team. They can be part of an internal training department or an external training vendor. Whoever they are, they perform the essential tasks of identifying the performance gap, figuring out how to close it and identifying how to teach the knowledge and skills that are most important in the best way possible.

3.                  What is a Performance Expert?

Performance Experts know how to get to the root of a problem. They conduct analysis and gather data through a variety of means (surveys, focus groups, interviews, job shadowing, etc) to get a real picture of the current state of training. They pinpoint the performance issue and are able to see what training can fix… and what is outside of training’s sphere of influence.

4.                  What is a Learning Expert?

A learning expert understands how people learn. They are skilled instructional designers and are able to create interaction-rich learning experiences that support a given outcome. In the corporate world, a learning expert should also have an understanding of the business needs of a given learning experience and design it in a way that supports those needs.

5.                  Finding the Right Balance

The right balance, depends on the project and particular business need. Our own approach has been to focus on learning and performance first while also building knowledge and skill in the specific industries that we most often work with.

In Conclusion: Think about this:

What balance of Trainer/ Training Provider/ Consultant expertise works best for you? Do you have subject matter experts, learning experts and performance experts as your Internal Team and as your External Vendors?

Hope you can learn through this sharings.