What if we aren’t the expert
When I first started in a training role, I was fortunately an expert on most of the topics I trained. I knew the material and could train people, write content, and fill an agenda off the cuff. I could come up with new ways to explain things and new activities on the fly. Then, I transitioned into a more formal instructional designer role. I changed the topics I worked on and I wasn’t the expert anymore. It was shocking. I had relied on my expertise so much I didn’t need to lean on sound instructional design principles. This pushed me to quickly get back up to speed on how to organize the needs in a training program, write good objectives, work with experts, and collect what I needed.
I learned to build strong involvement with experts. The Bedrock process relies on experts to tell us what they know and how things should be organized. Following the Bedrock method helps you engage with your experts, document their advice, and organize things in a way that makes sense to those who do the job.
Consider this when working with experts,
Put them at ease - Your experts may know their stuff but it doesn’t mean they are comfortable with someone looking over their shoulder and asking them pointed questions on everything they do. You can make them nervous if you interrogate them rather than have a friendly chat. Reassure them that you won’t share the exact details of what they say and do. Rather you will combine and average the information from multiple experts. Let them know you are interested in their expertise and not that you are looking for mistakes or ways to get them in trouble. Help them trust that you have their interest in mind.
Share your expertise - You are an expert in how people learn. They are a content expert. Respect their expertise and they will respect yours. Take a few minutes when starting to work with a new expert to explain how you plan to work together. If you are clear in the roles and responsibilities, it helps to avoid disagreements later on.
Be respectful - Your time with your expert is valuable. You should respect their time and come to the meetings prepared and ready to dive into the content. Do your homework. Try not to ask basic questions you can easily find the answers to if you look something up. Don’t waste their time. Make the most of the time together and avoid the need for repeating things because you weren’t ready or weren’t paying attention.
Help them see the benefit - Your experts have a job to do. They don’t have the time to spend with you to talk about what they do. You have to demonstrate how working with you provides them with some value. If they only talk to you because their manager told them to, you’ll get compliance at best and you won’t get their full attention and engagement. Help them see how they benefit from the time with you. It could be that new people joining their team will be more capable. It could be that new people won’t need to ask them as many questions and they will have more time to do what they do. The value depends on the organization, the training content, and the expert.
Listen - Your expert will share more than he or she realizes. Your expert will share stories and small details about a task but you’ll only catch them if you are present in the moment, listen with the intent of understanding, and take the time to document things they say and do.
Be humble - The experts you work with have likely spent years if not decades refining and polishing their craft. It can be easy to dismiss someone when their opinions differ from our own. It’s easy to critique what an expert says as important or not important. Chances are if the expert says something is important to teach or to know, we should make every effort to include it in the final program.
Balance History Lessons with Actions - Many experts build their knowledge over years and through experience. Those experiences turn into stories and can help to relay the value in knowing something or doing something. It can explain the why of something. However, sometimes stories focus on how things used to be rather than how they are today. Work to include stories that share the why, but consider adjusting stories that only tell history without connecting to something they do today.
Pay attention to what they do and say - Sometimes an expert explains something the way it should be. It’s reasonable and makes sense. However, if we watch them do the task, we may see slight variations between what they say and do. They may leave things out because they forget, it’s a smaller detail, or they thought it may not be an “approved” method for doing a task. Whenever you can watch your expert do a task whenever possible.
Be patient - Your experts have been doing this work for years or decades and that makes the actions more automatic. It can become very difficult to think through each thing they do because their brains have built this task into more of an instinct and reaction than conscious logical thought. They are often on autopilot. When you ask them to go slow and break it down, it can take them time to think through it.
What other ideas do you have to make the most of working with your experts? How do you capture what you need? How do you manage the relationship?